Website

My website was created to be able to allow students, parents, and community members easy current access to information about the class I am "teaching". I created it with the thought in mind that it would be something the parents can check daily for accurate information and resources and also get homework, classroom, and test information. Being a mother, I value current information about my children's learning and wanted that for my website. I hate going to my children’s school website, Active Parent, and not being able to see what their homework is for that week, let alone for that day. As a matter of fact, my daughter in high school is not even in the class anymore and that homework information (the same words have been there since the beginning of school) is the only homework information available. I wanted better for my website. I hope I accomplished that with it. I liked creating the website. I used a template, but rather use something that is not as stringent and something more easily manipulated. I found this one more difficult than ones I had previously worked with. It was more limiting. I thought there should also be a more personal part - the pictures of the class. I know that even high school students like to have their picture posted and this would be able to be used to showcase activities to their parents and friends. This would even be good recruiting for classes that are not required in high school. One class I know this would work well for is BCT, Business & Computer Technology Classes. Creating a class website could showcase the talent in the class, but also show potential students what the course is all about, what kinds of things you learn, and the types of jobs you could get with those skills. Any course could use this tool to showcase their students’ work, help stay in contact with parents, and help keep them informed of class activities, homework, and tests. I think the biggest challenge for teachers is keeping the website updated. Students could actually help with this activity. This could be a weekly job a student holds within the classroom. Students could take turns each week during the year and keep the website updated. The easiest way to begin this assignment would be to create a basic shell together by having discussions about what should be on the website, planning on the categories, and then deciding on their placement.