Noelle S.
Vilella
Elective
Instructional Activity #1
Teacher Made Web Sites
Description:
The first site that I examined was the site belonging to
Mrs. Bogucki’s 5th grade classroom at Anne E. Moncure Elementary
School in Stafford, Virginia. I
found this site to be very useful and informative for both the parents and
students of Mrs. Bogucki’s classroom.
She has covered all of her bases in this site. She has links appropriate for both the
parents and students in all subject areas.
She has schedules and calendars posted as well as updates on what
students will be doing in the upcoming weeks. It is very obvious that Mrs. Bogucki has
her standards set high and is very involved in the current technology available
to her.
Commendations:
One of the
neatest aspects of Mrs. Bogucki’s site was the virtual tour of her
classroom. This feature would be
very useful to students at the beginning of the school year or students who may
be entering the classroom later in the year. This tour gives students the opportunity
to get acquainted to the layout of the classroom before they even get
there. Mrs. Bogucki also has links
to other virtual tours and images that facilitate student curiosity and
learning.
Her student web page feature is also very beneficial. Students are listed by a pen name and
their achievements throughout the year are noted on their individual site. This feature could motivate many
students who would be proud to show off their accomplishments to their friends
and family using the web site.
Another useful feature is the Kids Stuff link. She has linked loads of resources for
her students to use at home to practice and study content covered in the
classroom. The activities listed
are both fun and educational. I
think that almost any student could get motivated with such an exciting class
website.
Recommendations:
Although this seems to be a wonderful resource, I have
noticed that it has not been updated since February of this year. I think that it is very important that a
classroom web site be up to date and functioning in order for both students and
parents to get the most out of it.
It seems that Mrs. Bogucki has put a lot of work into this site. She has won many awards and she states
that it has been in use since 1997.
I was very surprised to see that it was not kept current. A current site would keep students and
parents on track with their assignments and could also cut the time that Mrs.
Bogucki spends making phone calls to parents about work and assignments down to
a minimum. It is also important to
keep a class web site current to make sure that all of the links are in working
order. The students would not
benefit if the links were outdated and unusable.
Another recommendation that I have would be to make the
page a little more user friendly.
There is a lot of information on this site and it seems to have links
everywhere. The curser with the
moving books is also distracting. I
feel that a simpler, less busy, format would make this site more manageable and
easier to navigate for all users.
My last recommendation is to display more student
work. There are spots for
recognition, but the site needs have a place where student examples can be
displayed. This may be helpful for
projects and assignments. If
students could see past examples it could make them feel more comfortable with
their work. Displaying student work
could also motivate students to work harder so that they may have the
opportunity to get their work displayed on the class web site.
Carlson, P. (2002-2006). Welcome Mr. Carlson’s class. Retrieved
May 16, 2006, from http://www.mrcarlsonsclass.com/
Description:
The second site that I examined was the site belonging to Mr. Carlson’s 3rd grade classroom at Second Hill Lane Elementary School in Stratford, Connecticut. As with the first site that I examined, I found this site to be very useful and informative for both the parents and students. There are many links appropriate for both the parents and students use in all subject areas. The daily schedules and calendars are posted and classroom policies and expectations are identified. Mr. Carlson also had excellent links to Web Quests that both parents and students could use to enhance their learning.
Commendations:
The first link that caught my eye was the link for the Classroom
Bookstore. I thought this was a
very unique idea. Mr. Carlson has
all of the information for Scholastic Book Club’s Parent Online Ordering
program. This program gets parents involved in what their children are reading
and gives them the opportunity to purchase books at a reduced rate for their
child. They are also encouraged to
donate books to the classroom or school library. Mr. Carlson even made a list of
recommended books so that the parents could make book choices that are
appropriate for their child.
Mr. Carlson also has a contact link on his site. This is a great way for parents to get
in touch with Mr. Carlson when they have questions or concerns. I feel that it is always important to
have open parent communication. It
couldn’t get any easier than Mr. Carlson’s contact form. He is showing parents that he has made
communication with them a priority.
I also have to commend Mr. Carlson on his user-friendly format. Compared to the first site that I examined, Mr. Carlson has created a very simple and easy to access site. There are not many distractions and the links are straightforward. This type of format would benefit all users. Users will be able to find exactly what they are looking for with just the click of a button.
Recommendations:
As with the
first site that I examined, I have noticed that this site has not been updated
since February of this year. I am
very surprised that each of these educators put so much work into their sites
and then let them get outdated. In
order for a classroom web site to be useful it needs to be up to date. If parents and students begin to
rely on this type of source it could make their life more stressful and this in
turn could begin to cause more of a headache for Mr. Carlson. I feel that if you begin the year
with a site, it would be best to continue it for the remainder of the year.
I would also recommend displaying student work. Mr. Carlson has a link for student work,
but there are not examples available.
When students have their work displayed it gives them a sense of pride
and accomplishment. Motivation is
always important. Displaying
student work samples might just motivate some students to put forth more
effort. It could also be a great
resource for parents. They could
see examples of what their children are doing or expected to do in school.
My last recommendation is for Mr. Carlson to give more
detail about what a Web Quest is on his site. He has links to various Web Quests, but
without further explanation parents may not realize how valuable these tasks
could be to their child. It would
be wonderful if he could somehow encourage parents to work on these tasks with
their child at home. Web Quests are
a great way for students and parents to explore and learn together in a
nontraditional way.