"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." (George Washington Carver)
1. "Okay ...I have one --Satisfied?"
"I post announcements, and such - I have information about the program there"
"I occasionally post photos of students and their projects -"
"I have an "About the Teacher" article -"
"THAT SHOULD ABOUT DO IT!" : )
The Unopened Gift...
1. One-Stop Shopping --EFFICIENCY
Embedding primary source documents, video, maps etc. within the classroom website as you work on Lesson Plans means that everything in THERE, READY, WAITING; it is there for the lesson and can be accessed by students on individual laptops, ipads, etc. during the lesson, and it is there after the lesson for student use at home. LESS "WASTED TIME."
2. "CONTROLLED" RICH & RELEVANT RESOURCES
The Super Bowl ad several years ago, showing the cowboy herding cats, is a lot like picking and choosing internet resources for learning; both are likely to be a joy and a challenge --both can also be frustrating and unproductive. The process of selecting resources is magnified when it is the student who is picking and choosing. While all students require mastery in this skill, the use of teacher selected references for instruction saves time and insures the likelihood of student success in a timely fashion.
3. GREAT TOOL FOR Public Relations
The word "organic" is often used to mean "constituting an integral part of the whole." Websites, if they are to be organically effective, must be ever changing and continually paralleling what is occurring in the classroom. Parents and grandparents desire to see inside the walls of their child's learning environment, to know what is happening --however, if the website is little more than assignment posting, we have missed out on a great tool for showing our stuff. There is a saying that goes: "People need to be reminded of what they already know." The classroom website is a great tool for reminding parents and others of the wonderful things that are happening!
4. SERVES AS A TEACHER RESOURCE PORTFOLIO & HISTORICAL RECORD
As teachers add teaching resources to their classroom websites, they have an ever accessible storehouse recording where they have been, where they are, and where they need to head next, that is always there. In years to come, the teacher can draw from previous sources and add new ones that can be used in the classroom and shared with other educators.
Teachers are continually overwhelmed by long lists of web resources acquired at workshops and conferences. While the quality of such "lists" is stellar, there is such a thing as "too many." Most teachers have folder upon folder of units and resource notebooks that are difficult to locate at the right time and are often forgotten. The website allows the teacher to easily locate previous information --to pick and choose.
The teacher portfolio can also serve as an excellent source for classroom documentation as well, bringing reality that overused buzz-word --classroom "transparency."
Sharing resources with other teachers is easier when they are stored on the classroom website --COLLABORATION!
THE WEBSITE ALSO SERVES TO SHOWCASE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IN YOUR PROGRAM. I STILL HAVE KIDDOS LOOK UP THINGS THEY DID TO SEE THE PHOTOS!
Teachers are continually overwhelmed by long lists of web resources acquired at workshops and conferences. While the quality of such "lists" is stellar, there is such a thing as "too many." Most teachers have folder upon folder of units and resource notebooks that are difficult to locate at the right time and are often forgotten. The website allows the teacher to easily locate previous information --to pick and choose.
The teacher portfolio can also serve as an excellent source for classroom documentation as well, bringing reality that overused buzz-word --classroom "transparency."
Sharing resources with other teachers is easier when they are stored on the classroom website --COLLABORATION!
THE WEBSITE ALSO SERVES TO SHOWCASE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IN YOUR PROGRAM. I STILL HAVE KIDDOS LOOK UP THINGS THEY DID TO SEE THE PHOTOS!
