Using Teacher/Class Web Pages
to Enhance Classroom Learning

A MiddleWeb Listserv conversation

After Brenda opened a discussion about the importance of breaking larger assignments down into manageable pieces, Marsha pointed readers to ways teachers are using technology to do this by creating their own online class web pages.

I couldn't agree with Brenda more. Breaking down assignments is absolutely critical. We use something called the KOAST method....It uses many Understanding by Design principles and then gets everything online for the kids. That way they can check at each step of the way. My friend has a webpage that shows how this method is in use with a Communication Arts class of sophomores.

http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvw_wilson/CAIII.htm

Even though this is a HS example, you'll be surprised at how chunked up the big huge assignment is, how there are checkpoints all along the way and continuing reinforcement of lesson objectives.

I really love the way she uses bookmarks....she passes them out each week with the assignment on the bookmark. That way the reading and the questions are all there in the book as the kids read. Pretty cool!

- Marsha

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Anne Jolly, who's currently a staff developer, put out a challenge to MiddleWeb readers.

I took a look at this site that Marsha mentioned. I've gotta admit that this web stuff has me drooling to get back into the classroom and use the web for communicating and supplementing my instruction.

This particular site gives the students a holistic look at their assignment and goals. It's written in a reader-friendly manner. I can imagine parents loving this, too. No more "Did John (or Mary) have homework this week?"

I've have an idea that I'd like to throw out. I want to share the Web and some of its uses with teachers in the schools I work with. (I work in schools where some teachers don't even use email . . . much less use the web to supplement instruction!)

What if we worked together on the MW list to decide on characteristics and content of the "ideal" middle school web site for various subjects? We haven't had a collaborative effort in awhile.

Do any of you have web sites similar to this that we can look at? It doesn't have to be a great or wonderful site, but one that you're willing to throw open to us to examine for useful characteristics. What we learn from this may help all of us provide better web sites for middle schoolers! I do imagine, however, that what's "ideal" will vary from place to place.

(Is this a bit like peer observation online?)

At some point we'll need to talk about the kids that don't have access to the web at home...sigh. Oh well, I'd like to get some instructional web site ideas under development first.

- Anne

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Terry shared his class web page.

Our seventh grade site is still evolving, but it has been helpful to parents and students so far this year. Our biggest problem has been in getting into a routine of keeping it updated. http://www.reynlow.com/tide/

- Terry

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Anne commented on Terry's' class page.

Terry, thanks for the link to your web site! Some really neat things I think I'd like to see as "givens" on a web site such as this are the "Just for Parents" sections where parents can get an overview of what's in store for their kids, and the calendar with the assignments on it. I think the calendar approach is so much more helpful for middle-schoolers because it helps them to organize time frames mentally. I noticed that beneath one of the calendars the assignments were spelled out.

I imagine this does take additional time from teaches, but I think it would be worth it! Does anyone else see anything there they would like to adopt for the "ideal" web page? (There are other really neat areas!)

One question - where's the science page?

- Anne

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Bill was anxious about the various web sites maintained at his school.

I love this topic, and would be glad to dive in. I maintain three areas of websites which pertain to middle school... my homework page, an online newsletter, and a "what our students are doing" page. Oh, and our "snow day" page! I don't have any webpage creation software, and do these pages through hand-coding and with a home scanner, digital camera, and a shareware graphics program to process my images, so they're a little Spartan in look and feel. Anyway, they can be found at:

http://k12s.phast.umass.edu/~bivey/homework.html
http://www.pinecobble.org/Messenger/ContentsMessenger.html
http://www.pinecobble.org/00_StudentSection.html
http://www.pinecobble.org/Snow.html

Once we've seen more websites, I'll begin sharing here what my experiences are with kids and parents and how looking at other people's work is causing my ideas to evolve.

- Bill

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Anne complimented Bill on the different aspects of his web sites.

Bill, I really do like the Pine Cobble school web site, and the student section site! What a neat way to feature students and their work! I think this would be one "given" for a website -- it's a place where student work is spotlighted/ (I especially like the "This Week in Science" area! :-)

Does one particular person at your school keep this site updated? It seems to serve a number of purposes for the students, parents, and community.

Your assignment site is neat as well . . . it keeps things nicely organized for the students. Take a look at the calendar on Terry's website and see what you think about that way of presenting assignments.

Any favorite things about Bill's web site that anyone else wants to throw out?

- Anne

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Bill explained some of the logistics about maintaining his school web pages.

Thanks, Anne, for your kind words and suggestions. Stephen Stroud, one of the best science teachers I've ever seen, writes up the "This Week in Science" pages and I'll pass your compliment on to him.

I maintain the student section of the website virtually single-handedly, although on rare occasions a teacher will write me some text or give me a couple of pictures to be scanned. I also code and upload all the newsletter pages. Basically, a couple of parents volunteered to redo the website two years ago if the school would agree to maintain it, and so far, given that I'm the only one on staff who knows how to do so...

I like presenting assignments in calendar format, though I notice even on Terry's school's page they have a list below the calendar in a similar format to my page. I feel like I would need to shorten my descriptions of homework in order to use a calendar format - something I could do, but prefer not to. I do print out a hard copy of my page to copy and distribute to students, plus I handwrite daily assignments on the white board in the upper left hand corner for students who prefer to copy homework into their assignment pad. After a few false starts among the 6th graders each September (I teach grades 6-9, so the older kids already know the routine), all the kids pretty well figure the system out.

As a private school, our website must also appeal to former students and families as well as potential students and families - alumni/ae relations and admissions/marketing. Stoneleigh-Burnham is somewhat better at this than is Pine Cobble, with the pertinent main pages as follows:

the alumnae home page:
http://www.sbschool.org/pages/alumnae.cfm
the admissions home page:
http://www.sbschool.org/pages/admission.html

The librarian's resource page at SBS is pretty amazing:
http://www.sbschool.org/pages/library.html

I hope all this is helpful...

- Bill

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Jean asked for some feedback on her class web page.

I'd love to have some critical assessment of my website. I am open to comments and am willing to do anything to make it more useful - and more used. I have had a number of parents tell me they've found my site helpful, but I don't think many ever even think to look at it. When it comes to my journal assignments, I discuss them in class, but I won't do so until at least someone in the class can tell me what my website said. I ask who knows what the assignment is, and I've even stooped to reward the person who knows with a piece of candy. Please - any and all comments are welcome.

http://fly.hiwaay.net/~etherida/main.htm

- Jean

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Bev responded to Jean's request for feedback.

Jean asked for feedback concerning her website: http://fly.hiwaay.net/~etherida/main.htm

Here goes--I was impressed by the amount of planning and thinking that went into the whole journal thing. I've purposely not called any writing my kids do this year simply "journal" writing, since in previous years the kids kept a daily journal that they wrote on topics assigned by teachers for ten to fifteen minutes and were graded on amount written. This seemed to reinforce for them the idea that writing involves nothing more than putting pen or pencil to paper and letting words flow (or seep) out. Getting them to pre-write, revise, and edit resembles pulling teeth. So, this year, the only journal I have them keep is a reading response journal solely for purposes of responding to what they read. That's maintained in-class.

In addition, they write what I call "Free-writing" according to a daily schedule of topics given to them in 4 week chunks and turned in daily for five points. Grade is based on length. (sounds like a daily journal, doesn't it?) I've explained several times that the purpose is similar to daily SSR--to build fluency. These topics are carefully planned to pique their interests, drawing on a file of prompts I've accumulated over the years. Only a handful "do" them on a regular basis; others only "do" the ones I have them write as bell-ringers and seem distraught when they get only 30 or 40 out of 225 points yet not distraught enough to write the free-writing on their own! I thought this free-writing would failure-proof my class but it has backfired.

Thanks to you, I'm tossing that gimmick and going to a weekly writing journal similar to what you designed. Since only a handful of our kids have internet access, I'll have to provide a printed list of instructions and topics, but I think I can "chunk" and scaffold (my new buzz-word) and monitor much more effectively. -In addition, they'll be practicing the writing process--at least the first two steps.

Carrying a piece of writing forward through the remaining steps every two or three weeks should fatten the portfolio that follows them to ninth grade, too. Those few kids who seem to enjoy the satisfaction of turning in a daily "free-write" can continue--and I'll use occasional free-writes in class, too. Thanks for providing me some "scaffolding" in improving my classes....May I steal your format and some of your prompts?

I've one question--how many of your students have internet access at home? Do you have a system of parent-teacher communication via email?

- Bev

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Anne added her thoughts on Jeans' class web page.

Wow, Jean. That's impressive - really impressive!

This must have taken a lot of up-front work. Do you find it time-consuming to maintain once it's posted?

One thing that impresses me is that your personal web site contains links that range from student information to State Dept of Ed information. I also really enjoyed browsing the "Mystery Unit Links." The unique "keepers" I'd identify here, though, are the journal links and information. I don't think I've seen those before - what a useful site!

- Anne

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Jean responded to Anne's question about whether her class web page creates a lot of work for her.

This is the second version of my page. I revamped it last summer, and although it took a good deal of time to create, it was fun. Now I update assignments once a week and then tweak them daily when I check my email.

It really doesn't take that long to fix the daily assignments. The time consuming part is deciding on the journal topics and planning those mentally. Actually posting them is quick.

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

- Jean

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Stacey explained the purpose of her class web page.

I don't have a project type website, since I do not have the resources to create one as of now.

The purpose of my website is so my kids will have links for their online research. Eventually, I would like to do something more.
Here it is, though.

http://school.nj.com/school/lassgbcs?display=links

- Stacey

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Anne noted the value of including online links on class web pages.

Okay - this list of online resources is definitely a "keeper" in my thinking! I plan to pass your website link on to some middle school teachers I'm working with, Stacy, if that's okay.

I think the "ideal" website would definitely include a page of online links . . . maybe one for every subject area and a page of general links for listing links to search engines and such. Thanks for sharing this, Stacy! I checked out your links and they're awesome!

- Anne

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Stacey responded.

Thank you! My links page works because other teachers worked darn hard to put together some awesome sites. My talent is finding them. Feel free to use it.

- Stacey

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Bill offered some advice.

I'm enjoying visiting people's websites. Regarding linking to Google - you can now put Google directly on your website for free. You can take a look at:

http://www.pinecobble.org/resources.html

to see an example (on a totally wimpy and almost pointless resources page, but hey...). The pertinent page on Google is:

http://www.google.com/services/free.html

- Bill

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Kate's posting provided ways that she connects her class web page to her daily classroom work.

This is my classroom site for my middle school classes:

http://stxcountryday.com/kbaker/earthsciweb/index.htm

The notes page is for the PowerPoint I use in class to frame each day's work. It's my plan book that the kids see. Right now, we are moving stuff around on our server, so the notes themselves aren't loading. Should have it fixed by Monday...

I look forward to other ideas to add to the site!
Thank you!

- Kate

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Graphics and animation do much to create an interesting presentation. Anne make note of how Kate effectively used this feature on her class web page.

Kate, you have terrific graphics on your assignment calendar - what an inviting difference that makes!

I also fell in love with the animations! Your web site seems to actually link your kids to computers - I can imagine them using computers as a natural part of their school learning experiences.

Two definite "keepers" for an ideal web site would be the use of graphics to create a friendly environment, and including some areas where kids go to see animations and access links to help them achieve standards for a particular unit. Good stuff! Anyone else notice things they'd like to "keep" if designing an idea website?

- Anne

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Jennifer wondered how web pages could be used as a homework hotline tool.

I have been lurking on this list for the past month or so. Many topics have been very interesting and I thank everyone for their comments. Now I have a question. Currently we have a "homework hotline"- an extension for each grade level on our voice mail system that can be accessed to hear the day's homework. It has been helpful, particularly for parents "helping" check their student's accuracy of recording assignments. We each turn in a slip with the assignment to a designated spot and the designated teacher is responsible to record them at the end of the day. (This 36 week duty is in lieu of 6 weeks of bus duty.)

Many parents and students have asked if this information could go on the website. Of course, it can, but the job seems cumbersome. Does anyone out there do this? How is it done logistically? Who does it? How long does it take? Does each teacher have to do his own or does one person do it? I need the nuts and bolts.

Thanks for your assistance.

- Jennifer

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Cossondra responded to Jennifer's question.

I have my own thru TeacherWeb:

http://teacherweb.com/MI/NewberryMiddleSchool/cossondrageorge/

very easy to update assignments

- Cossondra

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Jean explained how homework posting is managed at her school.

At my school, homework is posted in several ways. For example, I post my own homework from my home server and it is linked to the school site. Some teachers post their own at school during the day. A third option is to give a written copy to students in the T4 class (stands for teaming to teach teachers technology or something close to that), and those students or their teacher posts it.

- Jean

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Bill responded to Jennifer's posting.

I do this - but I am currently the only teacher at either of my schools who does so. Rather than typing out a weekly homework sheet to give my kids, I type assignments directly into a template which I made up myself (it took me about 15 minutes, I think). I also cut and paste the previous week's assignments into "old homework" pages. When I am done, I upload the whole shebang to my personal website, and then double-check that everything works properly before printing out a hard copy. The whole process probably takes an extra 15-20 minutes more than it would to word-process a one-use homework sheet. To my mind, the additional time is well worth it, for the permanent record of my "old homework" pages, for the convenience of kids who have lost their hard copy of the homework sheet and/or their assignment pads, and for the convenience of parents who need to know what their kids are supposed to be doing. I should add that this year, every one of my students is online.

The process for an entire school can be relatively simple or relatively cumbersome depending on how you choose to approach it. If you use a (free) service such as schoolnotes.com, all teachers can be responsible for maintaining their own homework pages simply by cutting and pasting from their word processors (or typing them in directly) - only minutes a day per teacher. Your school might then maintain a single webpage with links to each of those sites, which would only need to be updated when there was a staffing change - usually once during the late summer. Alternatively, you could simply link to schoolnotes.com and ask parents to login to your school. You could also inform parents how to do this on their own in a one-time mailing or enewsletter.

In a different model, you could have teachers pass copies of homework sheets (preferably in digital format) to a webmaster who would be responsible for maintaining them in some sort of organized fashion. This is easiest for the teachers, but it takes much more time for the webmaster than it would for all teachers put together in the above model. Pine Cobble has at various times proposed that our receptionist/secretary (yup, we have just one for a school of 125 kids and a faculty of several dozen including the administrators) take on this task, but without some sort of what-you-see-is-what-you-get software (I've heard good things about DreamWeaver), and given my daily schedule, getting her trained has been problematic.

Your question also relates to the "Idea Idea" thread which is in turn morphing into the "xxx's website" thread, so you may want to look through there. Good luck!

- Bill

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Jean expressed her gratitude for all the feedback provided on her class web page.

Thank you for your feedback. I too, used to use more of a free writing or free-topic kind of journaling. However, I got tired of the how-I-spent-my-weekend and who's-dating-who kind of entries. Also, our school's state writing assessment scores are considerably lower than other scores, and I feel some pressure there to use more direct instruction. Now, when I read the journals (and that is only what I call them out of habit -- another name might be more appropriate), I look for evidence of prewriting and sticking to the topic, organization, or whatever particular focus for the week. Then I try to comment just on those items. That seems to speed the process some for me.

As far as how many have internet access, I would say more than two-thirds. That doesn't mean they use my site or other school sites at home. I always tell them to check on my class computer, the library internet, or on another teacher's computer if they don't plan to do that at home. That covers the bases in my mind. I correspond by email with many parents - some I might add to the point of distraction. They want daily updates, and I just can't keep up with that. We do have an online grade system where parents can see grades updated on a weekly basis. Right now, they just can see the average, but that will soon be changing to seeing the whole grade book (for their child). I don't know how I feel about that. Explaining why a student got whatever grade each test or assignment gets to be quite time-consuming. Most parents, of course, do not approach grades in that manner, but we have several this year that do.

- Jean

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Linda pointed readers to her class web page.

Here's my website. It's been running for about a year. The kids use it daily to check homework assignments and to use the links for class. Any ideas you have for improvement would be helpful.

http://www.myschoolonline.com/ME/Haskell

- Linda

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Starla responded to what she saw on Linda's class web page.

I am a student in college looking for many new ideas to start my classroom with someday, and your site gave me some wonderful ideas. I am very impressed with your website. I really liked the pages on "Stories of Suspense", "Mind Bogglers and the "Identity Units". I would bet that this site is very helpful and interesting to your students. Great work.

- Starla

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Jean offered her input.

Linda, I've just glanced at your site, but I really thought the information for descriptive writing was useful. I wondered about the analogies and daily word links. Are you linking to something or how do you manage that? I'm anxious to look at what else you have.

- Jean

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Linda responded to Jean's question.

The analogy is a weekly activity and the vocabulary is a daily one. I make up quizzes as extra credit each month. They are provided by myschoolonline.

- Linda

PS- Thanks for your input.

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Anne took a look at Linda's class web page and offered feedback.


Linda, you have a great website! Right now I (and hopefully others) are examining websites and using some of the good stuff we see there to come up with an "ideal" website - in other words, a website that contains a lot of useful features.

When I looked at yours, I immediately noticed that it was current (the graphics leave no doubt as to that), and I noticed how much friendlier it is with the animated graphics. That idea is a keeper.

I looked at the Student Showcase and noticed that it hadn't been used. We'd have trouble putting student photos up in some situations, but we'd have no trouble putting student work up. I wonder if you'd thought of using that area as a "Student Work Showcase."

The daily word quiz is definitely a keeper! What a neat idea! And I also like the page where you introduce yourself to your students and put some information about your hobbies, pets, and such. Another keeper!

I'm filing these messages away in a special folder so I can keep a record of all of the "keepers" we're finding. If anyone else wants to add to the list, jump right in here! And thanks to all of you who are posting your web sites!

- Anne

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Linda commented on the new restrictions on what can be posted on class web pages.

Thanks for your input. And yes, the district put an end to posting student pictures. I may be able to load student work with permission and only use first names. I may also be able to list our students of the month awards the same way. Thanks for the idea.

- Linda

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Terry remarked on the goldmine of resources found on the Web and how this tool has benefited both him and his students.

I love the Web and wonder how in the world I kept going for 25 years without it. Books online, teacher sites, lesson plans galore, the Middle Web and its listserv! I feel as though I have relearned this whole teaching thing over the past few web years and feel my classes are much better because of it.

Thanks so much for links to your great sites. I have already "borrowed" more than a year's worth of ideas to add to mine.

- Terry

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Debbie made a request.

I was just wondering if we might archive the websites for those of us who cannot spend time looking at them right now. I'm swamped and have a 25 page paper due next week, but I am very interested in reviewing everyone's work.

I'd also be interested in conversation about what we look for in sites for teachers, students, families etc. but I am in stress overdrive and cannot deal with it until after 12/12.

There may be others on the list who could spend time over their school breaks later this month...is there a way we can post them and set a deadline like we do when we read a text together?

- Debbie

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Wendy shared her class web page.

This is my classroom site for 6th grade life science

http://www.mamsscience.org/sci6/wsheetz.htm

- Wendy

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Anne responded.

Oh, now that opening page is perfect for sixth graders! Funky font, colorful, and only a few initial choices. (Actually, the 7th and 8th grade sites - which I accessed by clicking around - were neat but lacking in personality by comparison.) On your links, who could resist the "mad scientist" and the "Margaritaville" sites?

I like your use of color and graphics, and also the "Resources" page. I'm sure others will find some great web page ideas as well. Thanks for showing us such a wealth of ideas for ideal websites!

- Anne

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Jeff wanted his class web page added to the list of class web pages shared during this discussion string.

I might as well jump on the bandwagon here and post my web page. It is
called Mr. Kash's History Page and can be found at

http://home.earthlink.net/~jkash

- Jeff

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Anne responded with enthusiasm.

Great site, Jeff! You know, I am really intrigued by these animated graphics. Do you have a special program that creates them, or do you locate them on the web?

Another thing that I liked immediately was the quote on the opening page. Do you change that or do you leave it for the year?

Also - your opening page addresses some of the conversations we were having on the list recently about how to honor other's beliefs at Christmas. I'd certainly never heard of "Happy Kwanzaa!"

And I think I answered my animated graphics question by clicking on your "Clip Arts" link in the general history section. The September 11 tribute is especially moving. Thanks so much for sharing this ...you have so many good ideas for an "ideal" web page!

- Anne

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Jeff responded.

You are correct Anne; I download the animated gifs from the web and also have a CD that I use, but mostly the web. As for the quote of the day, it is html code that was pasted in from Positive Quotes of the Day. They allow people to do that.

- Jeff

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Keith, an education media consultant, shared his expertise.

I have followed the thread on teacher web pages. I frequently consult with schools on web page design and management. As indicated in thread messages, all the communication work is taking a big bite out of scant teacher time - too many steps, too many updates. Right now most teachers that have great web pages do it as a labor of love.

One tool that will be coming out soon is Macromedia's Contribute
http://www.macromedia.com/software/contribute/productinfo/features/introtour_web/index.html

(it's a long URL make sure you get all of it).

This software looks really promising for streamlining the web page updates while preserving graphic and other design elements. Basically you can drag and drop Word and other files right into a web page from ANY computer that has the software. Right now software is in Beta test and just on PC side.

If your school is moving to a cohesive, easy to manage site you might pass this info along.

- Keith

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Realizing that our students may be our most available resource, Brenda shared a new option initiative that she is involved with that teaches students the skills of class web page creation in an effort to lessen the workload of teachers.

In the midst of the recent discussion on teacher web pages, I'd like to share a Grade 8 technology option that I'm teaching right now. It's modeled after the WWW.Y program where students are trained to become mentors for teachers in the area of technology integration.

Since September I have been teaching a class of students how to create a quality class page for a teacher. At first they researched some of the quality class pages on the Web. Together we established a set of criteria that the students measured the pages by. In October, the students created a hypothetical class page (using FrontPage...learning FrontPage was part of their training).

They applied what they had found out when researching class pages. When they were done, we had an "unveiling" for admin and each class page was evaluated three times- by a peer, by me and by themselves. We used a rubric modified from a peer-evaluation rubric used by CyberFair.

In November, students worked on the various mentor skills that they would need. Skills like:

- How to introduce yourself to your teacher
- How to run an interview with your teacher (at this meeting the student identified what the teacher wanted included on their page)
- How to work with a teacher that had no idea of what they wanted.
- How to work with a teacher that had "many" ideas of what they wante included on a class page
- How to conduct yourself in a professional way when working with their teacher (ex: promptness, dressing neatly, keeping commitment etc)

We did lots of role playing. The kids learned to write an introductory email to their teacher (that was an assignment in itself).

For the next two months the students will be creating the class page (the teacher will be involved as much as they want to be), keeping it up to date and then in January they will teach their teacher how to update the class page themselves. The goal is that the teacher will be self-sufficient (in terms of updating the page) by the end of January.

This teacher will be part of the students' evaluation. I am overseeing this process and keeping track of what the students are doing (or not doing...). So far it has been a great experience for all concerned.

At the end of January, the semester (and this option) will be over and we will start again with a new crop of kids. When I put out an offer to my staff for teachers who would like to have a WWW.Y student mentor them, I was inundated with requests. We couldn't service all the requests. The kids are thrilled to be in the drivers' seat of this student empowerment model.

- Brenda Dyck

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Anne responded to Brenda's comments.

This idea is terrific, Brenda! Thanks for sharing it.

I, too, was informally tutored by my students every step of the way with computers initially! I had no idea how to do things, but my kids did and they loved being in the driver's seat. Even after I learned how to use technology with moderate proficiency, I still let the kids set up and handle the LCD equipment, show the presentations, and give me ideas on how to make it better. (Some of them actually improved my computer work for me.)

I think this is a great idea for an "ideal" web site...let the students play the major role and take ownership.

- Anne


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