Donna McPartland
SLM 521
Teacher Made Web Sites – Elective #5
Teacher Made Web Sites
Life
Science Connections – This is the web page of a 7th grade
life science teacher. She describes
her web page as a means of connecting parents and students in her class to the
activities taking place in her classroom.
Her site gives the year’s course schedule, and includes links that
will give her students what they need to complete each unit. She has included
lots of links to other science web sites.
She has a section on grading which allows her students to calculate
their own grades. She has included
links to the school, the district, and a site with information about the
city. She has included a section on
FAQ’s which is helpful to those who visit the site. She has given
permission for any of us to link her web site to ours, and has even provided
the individual URLs for all the unique components on her site. Date visited –
6/04/06. http://vilenski.org/science/index.html
Commendations:
1. The
site is very easy to navigate; you can move around quickly and smoothly. The links on the home page are right up
on the tool bar, clearly labeled.
There isn’t a lot of clutter on the page to distract you. The site map is very helpful, showing
everything that is on the site, with links to everything.
2. As
an extension to her regular science program, her site includes a Life Science
Safari and a Human Body Adventures slide show, which are animated, include
sound, and offer her students a chance to explore science beyond their class in
school.
3. This
site is extremely motivational with graphics, animation, sound, and slide
shows. As part of her program she
includes as a classification review, a game show, Who Wants to be a Scientist;
as part of her evolution unit she includes Sherlock Homes and the Case of the
Missing Dinosaur Bones; and students learn about evolution and genetics in the
scary Welcome to Phantom Manor show.
Recommendations:
1. Even
though I commented positively that her home page was uncluttered, I
couldn’t help but notice that the home page was not as inviting were the
other parts of the site.
2. I
can’t think of other recommendations. After all, who am I to find fault with a
site that has received, as I counted them, about 25 awards, commendations, and
honors, and has been linked to outstanding professional sites.
3. I
am disappointed to see that Ms.Vilenski is not
teaching life science this year!
Mrs.
Munn’s Social Studies Classroom – This web page is that of an 8th
grade social studies teacher. She
has included things on her site that are useful, including a list of units of
study, materials needed for the class, grading policy, make-up work and
extra-help policies, and classroom rules. She has included a resource page in
which is provided links to social studies sites on the Internet for students
and teachers. Date visited – 6/04/06. http://www.bpcsd.org/bpms/teachers/munn/main.htm
Commendations:
1. She
has a very nice commentary on the importance of studying history on her home
page, along with some quotes from famous people regarding the importance of
history. This is a nice touch and looks good.
2. On
her units of study page she clearly describes the project that will take the
place of a final exam, a collaborative effort to depict a ten-year span in
American history.
3. The
text is large enough to read easily and there is nothing interfering with the
text. The link buttons are easily
discernable and navigation is smooth and easy.
Recommendations:
1. The
only pictures are on the home page, and all three of those are animated. On the home page it would be better if
all three pictures didn’t move constantly. There should be a few pictures on the
other pages, for interest.
2. On
the page where the units of study are listed, it would have been helpful to
include links to planned activities, or lesson outlines, or links to web sites
to enhance the unit. What is there
is a good parent connection, but adding these pieces would help provide a
better student connection to the class.
3. She
has included a page showing samples of projects. However, she needs to get more close-up
shots of the charts, since they don’t show up very well. She needs to spread the pictures out a
little so the page doesn’t look cluttered. It would be helpful if she added
comments or explanations with the pictures to provide clarification as to what
the pictures were representing.