Elective 4--Teacher Made Web Sites

Assignment

Submit - Cite two pages that you have found and write a very brief description noting the grade level, subject, and usefulness. Then write three things you would offer as commendations and three things you would write as recommendations for each site.

Mrs. Grogas's Language Arts Page

Description: This is a Middle School English web site created by the teacher, but it looks like it could be used at the school's English Department web site. There are many links to areas like 'homework policy', 'book reports', and 'resources.'

Commendations:

I really like that the picture at the top right had the teacher's room number on it. A small but, nice touch.

The buttons on the left were very clearly marked and it was easy to navigate through the page.

The links for under the Virtual Tours button were excellent. I can see how they would really help students gain valuable background knowledge about the book.

The opening page (home) did an excellent job of being succinct and explaining the current lesson.

Recommendation:

At first, I liked the music that played when the page opened. Beethoven, a nice touch. But, after only a few moments it began to grate on me. The very tinny treble was difficult to listen to. It would have been better if the music stopped after a while. Or, the quality of the music were better.

I liked the links at the bottom of the page, but they were too small. The type was probably the smallest that you can put on a page. I actually missed the links the first time I looked at the page. They were important places to go to, so they should be bigger.

'Student Resources' page was absolutely terrific. But, again the font was too small for the links. Plus, there was no description of the web page that was linked. A description would have helped greatly. (But, there was a ranking system, that was very helpful!)

Over all, I really liked this web page.

Mrs. DeCosa's English Home Page:

Description: This is a 7th grade English classroom web page. This site can be used and visited by parents and student alike. There are many links on this page. Links to 'student work', 'absent students', 'resources', etc.

Commendations:

I like the simplicity of the page. There is a list of links that goes down the page. Everything is clearly labeled in the list.

I really like the trivia question at the top of the page. A simple way to reinforce some of the grammatical/ usage issues for English.

I like that they layout is a pad of paper. A very warm feel.

I love some of the specific links. Great student samples. Excellent calendar of homework and events.

I loved the page that listed qualities of successful students--the parents page.

Recommendation:

The web link for absent students was inactive. That was truly unfortunate. I really wanted to see how they were able to hand absences over the web.

This page was billed as just Mrs. DeCosa's web page, but there were many team materials there. That confused me. On the one hand, I liked that it showed things that were happening in other classes, but it was a little bit unclearly labeled.

Again, the font is too small for the links.

An excellent site.

	I really like that the picture at the top right had the teacher's room number on it. A small but, nice touch.
	The buttons on the left were very clearly marked and it was easy to navigate through the page.
	The links for under the Virtual Tours button were excellent. I can see how they would really help students gain valuable background knowledge about the book.
	The opening page (home) did an excellent job of being succinct and explaining the current lesson.

	At first, I liked the music that played when the page opened. Beethoven, a nice touch. But, after only a few moments it began to grate on me. The very tinny treble was difficult to listen to. It would have been better if the music stopped after a while. Or, the quality of the music were better.
	I liked the links at the bottom of the page, but they were too small. The type was probably the smallest that you can put on a page. I actually missed the links the first time I looked at the page. They were important places to go to, so they should be bigger.
	'Student Resources' page was absolutely terrific. But, again the font was too small for the links. Plus, there was no description of the web page that was linked. A description would have helped greatly. (But, there was a ranking system, that was very helpful!)

	I like the simplicity of the page. There is a list of links that goes down the page. Everything is clearly labeled in the list.
	I really like the trivia question at the top of the page. A simple way to reinforce some of the grammatical/ usage issues for English.
	I like that they layout is a pad of paper. A very warm feel.
	I love some of the specific links. Great student samples. Excellent calendar of homework and events.
	I loved the page that listed qualities of successful students--the parents page.

	The web link for absent students was inactive. That was truly unfortunate. I really wanted to see how they were able to hand absences over the web.
	This page was billed as just Mrs. DeCosa's web page, but there were many team materials there. That confused me. On the one hand, I liked that it showed things that were happening in other classes, but it was a little bit unclearly labeled.
	Again, the font is too small for the links.