Teacher-Made Websites

Matthew C. Winner

Teacher-Made Web Sites

May 24, 2005

I investigated a number of teacher-made websites in hopes for some inspiration and a handle on what my new classroom website should have as well as what things I should avoid. I’ve offered my commendations and recommendations for two of the aforementioned sites. I’ve also included some search terms that worked for me went looking online for teacher-made and maintained sites.

Web Site 1:

Ms. Kunz’s Class – This is the online home of Ms. Kunz’s 3^rd grade class. Ms. Kunz is a general education teacher at Village Elementary School in Montgomery County, New Jersey.

The website is packed with useful material for students, parents, and teachers. Parents can see examples of projects their students are working on throughout the school year. The classroom rules and incentives are available as well as explanations of different projects or investigations taking place in the classroom. There are links to applicable websites for students, parents, and teachers, as well as a several poems, quizzes, and anecdotes for the user’s enjoyment.

Kunz, J. (Last updated May 23, 2006). Welcome to Ms. Kunz’s 3^rd Grade Class. Retrieved May 24, 2006, from http://www.mrsgoldsclass.com/

Commendations	The information on the website is organized under a series of tabs including students, parents, teachers, and awards of recognition for the website itself and for the teacher. This allows users to quickly find the information they’re looking for on the site.
	She has included a number of great features for visitors to the websites. The links in the Students Page allow students to continue their education exploration as an extension to what they’ve worked on in class. There are book reviews written by members of the class, tips for “surviving” the 3^rd grade, and reminders of class practices such as the steps of the writing process.
	The site is updated frequently. Additions and changes are listed in an “updates” scroll on the main page. I especially liked the new websites she’s “discovered” to share with her students. The links could easily serve as jump-off points for class discussions and independent student discovery.
Recommendations	The colors on the site often make text difficult to read. Although the webmaster avoided the traditional, often boring layout of black type on white background, the color combinations used on the site are distracting and, at times, make reading the text an unnecessary challenge. I would recommend using a font color and corresponding background that compliment one another and allow for easy readability.
	An overuse of graphics and borders distracted from the content of the website. A graphic accompanied every text link on the site. In addition, there were a handful of animated images and scrolling text that slowed the loading of the site. Depending on the user’s computer processing speed and Internet connection, exploring the site could be time consuming or temperamental. I would recommend limiting the number of graphics per page so as to decrease the website’s downloading time.
	In terms of preference, I would recommend the webmaster be more concise with the material being shared on the site. The amount of content on the site is commendable, but I question whether it’s necessary to post pictures and examples from so many classroom activities throughout the year. At a certain point, there is just so much to look at. I would recommend a timeframe be established for the amount of time content such as student work stays on the site before it is replaced with new material, such as an online bulletin board. This way the site’s content could stay fresh. The old material could be burned to a DVD or used to create an iBook so interested parents and students could still access the material.

Web Site 2:

Mrs. Gordon's Class Web Site – This is the online home of Mrs. Gordon’s 4^th grade class. Mrs. Gordon is a general education teacher at Kula Elementary School in Maui, Hawaii.

This website was a great way to learn about what’s going on in classrooms across the country (and across the Pacific!). Not only could my students log on to this website to learn about some of the activities and celebrations students in Hawaii participate in, the site also has a number of links to other Hawaiian educational organizations. Mrs. Gordon’s students can access the links to learn more about their state while students from the continental United States can appreciate what this site has to offer form an entirely different perspective. The site also links parents with the 4^th grade handbook, copies of permission slips, and curriculum guidelines to help parents stay on track of their student’s learning.

Gordon, L. (Last updated May 1, 2006). Mrs. Gordon’s Class Web Site. Retrieved May 24, 2006, from http://www.k12.hi.us/~lygordon/

Commendations	One aspect I thought was great was the posting of spelling and reading homework. Posting the spelling homework online means students have quick access to their spelling words in case they forget to bring their books home. Mrs. Gordon also posts a list of the approved Accelerated Readers Program books so her students can select titles from the list, check them out from the library, and read independently or with a parent at home. In addition to the book list, Mrs. Gordon has also created a list of website links of favorite children’s authors so her students can learn more about the author of the books they’re enjoying.
	The site’s main menu consisted of five main directional choices, three of which directed the user to a list of website links for students, school information for parents, and a posting of class photos from various events. After clicking on a menu option, the succeeding page gives general information and also contains a side scroll of subject links to help navigate users through the content of the site.
	The webmaster also included a long list of teacher web resources in all subject areas, listed alphabetically, with brief descriptions of almost every link. A few of the sites were directed toward teaching students about the geography, culture, history, and people of Hawaii.
Recommendations	The first thing I noticed when investigating the site was that the pages were very long. I found myself scrolling further and further down a single page of text without any sign of stopping. I would suggest that these long lists of links be broken down into smaller categories to which tabs could be added to the page. This would make navigating the site easier for the user and would help the user find what he or she is looking for faster.
	All of the class photos, some 30+ images, are displayed on one class photo gallery page. This significantly slows down loading of the page and could detract the users from seeing a lot of great photos of the class activities. I would recommend using one photo for each cluster of images, giving the group of photos a title, and then creating hyperlinks from the main photo page to the individual pictures. The hyperlinks could be a brief description of the image. This way the user can download the pictures he or she wants and can skip the rest without slowing down the downloading time.
	As I was reading through the teacher web site links, I realized that, though there are tons of great sites listed, it is very hard to find what you need unless you know the name of the site. The links are listed alphabetically on the site, but by grouping them according to the content or subject area, the user could, again, access the information he or she needs much faster.

Successful Search Terms:

· grade class site (this is the best I’ve found so far!!)

· grade school website

· grade school web site

· grade school class site

· grade class site

· elementary school class site

· k12 class site

· k12 class web site