Webpage...

I have completed my web-page although I have not released the information to my students yet. I think I am going to wait until the beginning of next year before I do so. I think I am going to continue to update it and use the 4th quarter as a practice for keeping it up to date. Hopefully by next year it will be part of the routine for me and rather than a hassle, it will just be part of the class and my preparation.

As I said before I actually thought scholastic was easy to use and I like the items they suggest you use on class pages. Navigation was simple and while I do not like all of the advertisements and things that ended up on the sides of the page, the rest of the layout is good. All in all I think this is something that is definitely going to be a part of my class, I like the idea of extending the classroom to the home. We are living in a "point and click" world, web-based education is becoming the best way to reach our students.

Webpage...

I've been working tirelessly on my webpage, trying to figure out exactly how often it needs to be updated and what to include. At one point I think I was over-updating, trying to include everything I could think of and everything I came across that I thought would have some relevance. Unfortunately and obviously this was just too much, so I decided on a different course of action. I decided that while it is not operational just yet i would update it as if it were. I think by doing this I can practice keeping up with what needs to be included and at the same time figure out what is useful. So far I have worked out a pretty good system of updating about twice a week and am hoping that by the time this project is due, there will be about 3 weeks of assignments and information on it.

Building A Webpage II

So I have been building my web page and it coming along very easily. Scholastic is simple and extremely user-friendly, which is making the process that much easier.

The challenge so far has been in determining what needs to be included and how often it would have to be updated or rather how often I would be able to update it. I think a class webpage should be a supplement to the classroom but also include information about required assignments. It is because of this that I am afraid there will be too much on the page and may lead to navigation problems, as well as students being a bit overwhelmed, especially at in the first few weeks.

Knowing that I had online classes even during my under-grad days and knowing that online and hybrid classes are really becoming more and more common, I think it is an important to include things like this in high schools even at a basic level. Which brings me back to the original problem, I want this to be functional and can not decide exactly how in depth to go right away.

Building A Webpage...

The idea of building a webpage is something I have long considered but never could find the time or figure out how to organize my content. I always wondered about the practicality of it all, exactly how I would fit it into the lesson plan without overwhelming the students, and what to do if a student did not have internet access, which up until very recetly was a possibility.

Personally I love the idea of adding this to my class. I think it would give students a chance to use the internet for something more then updating their Facebook status. As I mentioned in my previous post, I believe students want to find ways to get away from books and move towards learning materials that are fun and engaging. I think hybrid classes combining the classroom with web based meetings and materials has got to be the way of the future, or rather the present, even in high schools.

Web-Based Resources

I personally do not think there is anything more valuable to our students than the world wide web at this point. I know this is not a novel opinion or ground-breaking idea in any way, but I think it is important to remind ourselves every now and then how much is actually available on the web. Web-based resources obviously provide students with an opportunity to continue a lesson at home, again nothing ground-breaking there. The difference between anything traditional and anything web-based is the fun factor. Let's face it people, the internet and the web are fun and easy and a lot of the stuff is more attention grabbing. Now, imagine yourself in the mind of teenager...books are boring! They do not want to read or go to the library, at this point I think it's fair to say we need the internet and the web.

With most of my classes I have eliminated the idea of doing any kind of traditional research paper and replaced with argumentative essay questions. In these assignments I always instruct students to go to the internet and back up any opinion with the facts that swayed them one way or another citing each web-site used of course. I realize that there is value in knowing how to research something properly, but in a point and click world 99.9% of students are going straight to web for the information anyway. Furthermore, thanks to tools like ERIC and the EBSCO Host, all the information you would normally need for a research paper, is available through web-based sources, why wouldn't we encourage our students to go there? It's easier then pouring through encyclopedias and scholarly journals and because of this students are more likely to push research beyond what is expected of them.

As I said earlier, my opinions aren't ground-breaking but I think we need to remind ourselves sometimes that everything you could possible want ever at anytime, anywhere is probably available on the Web. And if its not there now, fear not, reasearch predicts that over the next three years, the amount of data and information on the web will roughly DOUBLE every 11 HOURS, (1990's Tech, History Channel - Winter 2008.) So if the climate patterns on one of the moons of Jupiter are eluding you this morning, check back after dinner.

Kidspiration

The biggest advantage I can see with Kidspiration is interaction. I have used the program a little bit and have found that using it with the Smart-board can work wonders in the classroom. I personally love the idea of having students learning from each other as opposed to me standing and lecturing non-stop. I feel as though at some point regardless of how exciting I am or how exciting the material is, some students will be lost.

This software is extremely student friendly and can allow the teacher present information in a way that students may not have seen before. It also provides teachers with more efficient ways of organizing information. Before using products like Power Point, I can remember days when I would have information scribbled across the board in different places with no apparent ryhme or reason. Thanks to tools like these, I have been able to better organize myself during class periods and keep students better oranized, it keeps the class on point and helps keep my thoughts straight and keeping my head straight can be 90% of the battle somedays!