My Very First Classroom
When I think back to my first year of teaching, about ten years ago, I remember setting up a website using Geocities. I think it was really just a glorified business card. I used WayBackMachine to take a look at my very first site. It was www.beeyourbest.com back then! It was a place for parents to get my contact information, had some clipart, and a page or two with some photos of our classroom. I’ve been working on an overhaul of my own classroom website and have been thinking a great deal about what I want to include on my new-improved version. One thing I know for sure, a classroom webpage no longer is a product of the teachers work, it should be a product of student work, too. It should become a place for students to collaborate, share, and publish their work to show the world what they are learning.
Here are a few of thoughts I have rolling around in my head while I enjoy Spring Break….
1.) Make a blog a big part of your site. Don’t have time to publish posts? Put a couple of students in charge! Use a free blog like Blogger or WordPress.
2.) Take photos. Lots of photos. Have a student in charge of photography for the day and letting them evaluate from the batch of photos which one best represents what was learned is not only a job they will love, but again, it shares a piece of learning with the world.
3.) Make it interactive. Incorporate wiki’s for students to share links. Use a service like Diigo and link for students to collaborate. Add a wallwisher.com for students to ask and answer each other’s questions. Add a Moodle so students can discuss, share, and work on classwork from home. These simple tools make a page come alive.
4.) Embed a Google Calendar! Google Calendars are EASY to update and can help keep everyone informed of upcoming events. Even more fun, make a calendar and post a “Question of the Day” to inspire learning something new every single day.
5.) Add videos! Let students interview each other and post short clips on a SchoolTube channel set up for your class!
So, got a classroom website (or a favorite you like to visit) that you want to share? Please link it below! I could use some inspiration to get started…
