Question about Classroom web pages and blogs

[issarissa]

I am currently in school for elementary education and have a question in this area. As a sub I have realized that some teachers have a classroom web page and some do not. I have talked to several teachers about their opinions on it and many say they love the idea of having them but don't because there just isn't enough time. I guess time is always a factor. If any of you out there have class web pages, is it something that the parents really enjoy and find useful? How hard is it to keep up and is it something that you can get the students to help you keep up with? (i am hoping for teaching 4th and 5th grade) Also what about class blogs? Does anyone use that in their classroom?

Thanks!

[Clearly Canadian]

Our school website has a place for teachers to include information about our classrooms. Mostly we use it as a homework board. As a staff we try to post our homework on there everyday. We also use it for class announcements, like field trip forms and deadlines etc. There are spots where kids can drop off assignments electronically. I want to use a blog in my language arts class, like a virtual book club with my grade 7s this year. If you want to take a look at our home page, its
http://plone.rockyview.ab.ca/airdrie

[GoldStar]

My sister made a great website for her classroom, which I thiunk could serve as an example. But I can't post a link until my "probation" period ends :( I think this is becoming more important everyday, particularly for homework.

[dsmms]

Our district is requiring them now. We have had access for a few years, but it has been optional until now. I was one that considered it a useful tool. It does take a bit of time, but it is one more tool for communicating with parents. It makes it very difficult for someone to say that they didn't know what their child was doing in class, or that they were not informed about an upcoming assignment, etc. If a student is sick, they can look at the website to see what they missed. Next year, I hope to use more options available on this site such as blogs and online quizzes.

Our biggest concern is that the parents and students do not seem to make use of it. This year we are taking steps to inform them about how to use it to stay in touch with what is going on in their child's classes. Here is a link to my class webpage:

http://suffridge.westvalleyms.knoxschools.org/modules/groups/integrated_home.phtml?gid=537501&sessionid=

I hope this helps! :D

[MsCoffeeLover]

Our school has class pages, but the media specialist hasn't told too many people or activated their account. I kept asking, so she finally activated mine and gave me all the stuff I would need to set it up.

The class page is the best thing EVER. I teach 7th graders, and you give those jokers something, it doesn't always make it home. I also do the class page for team.

Most people do not have the time, and it can be quite time consuming, but I invest the time setting up communications at the beginning of the year. It just depends upon what you want to have on it.

On our class page, I have sooooooooo many things like calendars and homework and school wide announcements. You can even upload documents, so kids that were absent can get notes, opening activities, etc. Kids that lose a few things between school and home can also get them. Parents LOVE it because they can keep an eye on their kids.

Not everyone takes advantage of it, but it makes your job easier when you do and make those additional resources available even if one or two parents take advantage of it.

I do everything I can on the front end so no one has a reason to contact me at all. When conferences come around, it is always a good thing to have on your side because you have taken that extra step to inform parents as well as help all students succeed.

As for the blog, I tried it, but didn't get a response, and I am fine with that because we had some difficult parents as well as some really mean kids.

[herdgrad]

I agree with MsCoffeeLover. I have one even for third grade. I believe it was used more when I was in 5th, but I just post announcements and "stuff" now. I take pictures of activities, field trips, etc. all year and end up putting it all on a disk as a end of the year present for the kids. However, as the year progresses I upload the images on the website, it seems to draw the parents there...my bait :) The website and my email address is always on the newsletter that goes home. I encourage parents to email me (much easier for me). I also had a previous parent tell me this year that she still checks out my site for upcoming school events because her youngest daughter does not seem to make it home with papers (I had her son in 5th). I had no idea she was looking at my site. My point is that even though you think only a couple of parents are looking, it may benefit more!

[techteacher]

Here here with all those who love class webpages. They take time to keep up, but save more time with parent communication, student independence. I upload the class to do list (I always post it on the monitor when kids come in so it's already created), homework, extra credit opportunities, important links.
Students have their own webpage, created as a wiki. This is where they put stuff they all want to share with each other (I administer, of course).

Don't be put off by the creation time. It'll be worth it.

[MsCoffeeLover]

It was well into the school year before I was able to get the class page, and that was after not letting up. Before the class page was set up, I created an address book for all of the parents on our team. All that contact information that is collected at the beginning of the year is put to good use. It took a good bit of time to enter all the parent email addresses, but it was worth it the rest of the school year.

Parents were consistently informed via email about school happenings and my class and whatever teacher on our team decided to send announcements my way. The announcements continued even though the class page was created. Even then, the students have daily agendas, and my signature is their ticket out the door. Some parents require their students to have agendas signed by each of their teachers, but it is part of our daily procedures.

Whatever means to make information available is what I will do. It makes for a lot of helpful options, reduces the need to be contacted, alleviates a few "I did my homework at school" arguments, and returns accountability to students and parents.

It's a good place to be, and so far I haven't heard an excuse that couldn't be answered by student agendas, emails announcements, and the class page. No one can say, "I didn't know."

Even the teachers on our team make sure to get an email address, ask to see if they have been receiving announcements, and information on the web page.

It's been a blessing. My phone at school doesn't ring much, which is good because I forget to check messages all the time. Maybe next year I won't set up the mailbox for the phone.

[hweber]

The last two years I had a sight on Scholastic and it was pretty easy for me to use, but hard for the parents to get to. Now I created a wiki as a class web page and the parents love it. I will demo it at Open House for the parents and hopefully many of them have the Internet so they can access it. I plan to add a page for pictures (will need to get releases from the parents first I think) as a draw for parents - thanks for the idea herdgrad.

[herdgrad]

hweber...you will need permission from the parents to post pics. We have a school wide permission slip for pictures. Depending on your district we have a policy that if we post a pic on the internet that we only use first names. We do not put last names for safety reasons.

[hweber]

I am in the process of finding a permission form - do you have one? I don't think I'll put names on at all, just Our fourth grade class creating volcanoes or something like that.

[Crystal Pratt]

Speaking as a parent, I don't really go to my kids teacher's pages (if they have one) I do visit edline every day to keep up on their grades though.

I had a webpage at a job a few years ago. Some of the families kept up with it, but really, not many.