Who's Website? My Website

In my last post I mentioned using a blog or a website to help me in my classroom. At that point I knew I could make a blog, but I didn't really know what making a website would entail. I always assumed that only people who could build their own computer could figure out how to make something complicated like a website. Now after having learned about them, I think I could have even figured it out on my own, if someone pointed me in the right direction. I'm glad I was given a little more instruction than that! I never imagined that making a website could be so easy.

As a teacher having a website that is easy to understand and navigate will definitely help me communicate with my students. Having a website with all of the information they need in one spot will make the students more accountable for their work. They won't be able to use the excuse "Well I didn't know". My website will have all upcoming events, homework assignments, test dates, and my contact information in case they need clarification on anything. When I was in high school none of my teachers had a website, not that I had a computer back then, so if you didn't know about an assignment or had a question, your only option was to hope their number was in the phone book or find out about it when it was already late. You can access a website from anywhere, so you can always know whats going on.

Engrade is a great tool as well. I like that you can see all of your assignments and what score you got on them. It takes the guess work out of knowing where you stand in a class. Engrade gives you quick and easy feedback. I have had classes that I thought I was doing great in, only to find out at the end of the semester that I was doing the assignments wrong, I was getting low scores on something that could have been easily fixed if someone had let me know they were wrong.

Using both of these tools, a website and Engrade, will help me keep students' parents involved in their kids education. Parents will have access to my website so they also know what and when things are due. I'm not sure how I feel about giving all parents access to Engrade, it might be something I only do if a child is having trouble in my class. I like having the option.

In school I think it is important to know what other teachers are teaching as well. I want my students to be able to transfer their new knowledge to other things they are doing. If all teachers have websites they can see what topics others are covering or see when they have major tests or projects due so that schedules can be arranged around them and make learning as effective for students as possible.

I liked the topic of this weeks video. There are so many resources available to teenagers these days. Why not use them. Kids know how to do so much more now than a lot of older people. I don't know why teachers insist on making them learn the old way, when a new way could be much more affective.

As a teacher I will use both a website and Engrade to help my students understand my class. I will try to incorporate new technologies into my lessons as well, which means I need to keep learning!