Teacher Made Websites

Ms. Peto

Ms. Peto is a Social Studies high school teacher at Kent Meridian High School in Washington State. Her web site is very well done. The index page features sections on rules and grading, technology, web links, calendar, and a parent section. The index page shows some creativity without too much to confuse a user.

The rules and grading section is very detailed and covers almost every aspect of behavior and grading in her classroom, including dress expectations and attendance rules. The parent section features a letter to parents explaining the class and Ms. Peto’s expectations of her students. It also features an opportunity for parents to help in the classroom, either through field trips or other activities. The nicest part about the site is the past projects feature. Students can visit past projects that other students have done to help them understand more in detail what Ms. Peto’s expectations might be.

I commend her for clearly stating objectives of her classes along with including numerous links that are within the objective sheet. Her links add wonderful additional support to the objectives of the class. I also was very impressed with the number of past projects included in the web site. The site is also superb in its ease of navigation The links are well organized and appropriate for the content. Finally I really liked the detailed list of downloads that can be beneficial to the students projects. For example, downloads for rubrics or sound bites to add to personal projects.

Although the site was very well organized, there are parts that are too detailed I find it hard to believe that a student would read. Specifically, the section on rules and grading, it includes every expectation possible. Secondly, the calendar is a great idea, but when I linked to the site it came up no longer available. The site does not have an update date so I am gong to assume that it has not been updated if the calendar is no longer available. Finally I am not convinced that the section on family is inappropriate. Does a student need to know your entire life? Ms. Peto goes into great detail about her family life. Secondly she includes a copy of her resume. Again I think this is inappropriate for a class web site.

www.rickipeto.com (dated visited 6/27/03)

Mr. Cliff Bishop MATH

Mr. Bishop is a high school pre-algebra teacher. His web page is a result of a featured project from a Masters course on web page design. The web index is very well organized and includes color and graphics. The site features numerous links, for example, templates for completing graphing and other pre-algebra assignments. The site is laid out for easy use and navigation.

I commend him for having a wide variety of topics to navigate through, with many sub links beneath each. I also liked that he includes a current calendar and current assignment lists. This allows students to check on missed assignments. I also enjoyed that he includes an expectation sheet that is well organized and also includes an email address to communicate directly with the teacher. Finally I liked his hot links page. The page links to numerous sites dealing with math and other education sites. This link is very well organized and easy to work with.

I don’t like that the site has not been updated since 9/5/99. The site includes great information but it seems that most of it is out dated, especially comparing it to the update date. I also don’t like that the calendar does not include any other information except for holidays. It is also dated November 1999. Another down fall to the site is that a student must have an email address in order to communicate with the teacher. The teacher specifically asks for an email address from the students. If a student does not have an email address they will be unable to communicate with the teacher. Finally the last problem is that the school notes page is no longer available. Without this page I was unable to find where Mr. Bishop taught and in what state.

http://share1.esd105.wednet.edu/bishopcj/EYES_on_IKE/Pre-Algebra.html (date visited 6/27/03)