Reflection Journal week 5: thinking about my own website

Kajder’s belief is that a class website is a tool which extends learning and community (118) She says that the teacher must have “time and desire to build and maintain the site.” (118) These are the main things that I keep thinking about regarding creating a class website. The latter reminds me that I should keep it simple, and that my website (the first year, at least) should contain things which do not require constant updating (perhaps only one section would require weekly responding, or summarizing, like a blog)

Kajder tries to make sure she works only on extending the content of her class, not on additional things. But, browsing through different English websites, I found that some websites which had additional things—little games, links to fun and harmless recreational sites gave me the impression of a teacher speaking directly to her/his students. For example, http://mrcarrillo.com/ gave me a sense of what his classroom must be like—I could envision the “community.” That website had links to other teachers’ websites, and the experience of browsing through them gave me a sense of a larger community of English teachers and students, all working at, essentially, the same task. I have never used a class website before—as a student or a teacher—but it just seems that the teacher sharing fun things and other engaging English websites might help create rapport outside of the classroom.

So what would I include in m class website? This the basic list I can come up with, not really being in a teaching position now: A welcome page with purpose statement, content list (linked to respective pages), tutoring schedules, and contact info; separate pages for syllabus (week to week) and long assignments, summaries of what has been learned or discussed after each term, each unit, or each book (depending on what the content is), so that students can keep track of how they are doing with regard to objectives; a page with teacher bio, both for students and parents, including my professional training and
background. Links would be to sites on grammar and usage (like Purdue’s), writing (the freshman English UMB site, perhaps), and literature websites (according to the content). Finally, I would link to a class blog. This would be the one required participation in this website for students. I would place a weekly writing prompt and require one posting and one response to another student, counting it for homework, or perhaps a small assignment grade. My last year teaching taught me that coming up with numerous grades and meaningful homework assignments (not just busy work, like pointless worksheets) can be a problem—this would be an interactive, reflective activity, which would cover both requirements.

Most of these things could also be hard copies sent home or kept in a binder. Although I think it’s valuable to have info. accessible online in case a student, or parent, is not good at organizing (or keeping) their class handouts or taking notes, I think one of Kajder’s main points throughout her book is important: a web tool, such as a website, should be on the web because it needs to be so, because it is better on line. So, I would place emphasis on the blog, both for students to take part in, and for parents and other teachers to be able to know what the class is doing, thinking, and learning.