Blog Journal 6: Teacher Webpages
Classroom Pages
This week, I'm taking a look at other teacher's classroom pages. I started looking at Florida High, a K-12 school here in Tallahassee that I observe at. I mostly observe in the Kindergarten classrooms, so I decided to take a look at some of the Kindergarten pages. Most teachers have a nice note welcoming students and parents, and cute pictures of their students. Some, like Mrs. Murray, decided to add cute graphics, and others kept their pages plain. Most teachers included a class calendar, letting parents know about big events, like dress up themes for Homecoming week. Lastly, a few teachers decided to add curriculum calendars and resources for parents. These pages showed what the students should be learning all year, and also gave different educational websites, and book suggestions.
I believe that a page like this could help me be effective in communicating with parents. I could post updates about students' progress, lesson plans, and activities. It is often really hard to form a relationship with the students' parents. I think I could help bridge the gap by creating an online community for them. Maybe they could add posts themselves (approved by me), and be able to connect with other parents in the classroom. It is also easier for a lot of parents to stay updated if you make classroom updates and materials available online. Many parents are busy, and do not keep track of the papers we send home. A website is a quick check on their smartphone.
As we transition to creating more technology friendly classrooms, it is hard to know about all of the technological opportunities and how to manage them. To assist future educators with that feat, FSU has a Technology Sandbox. With 3-D printers, smart boards, VR, and more, the Technology Sandbox amazed me. It was great place to explore and learn how to use different educational technology advances. I became acquainted with their smart boards rather quickly, and if I had stayed longer or went a second time, I think I would be pretty confident in running one in front of my students. A smart board can be used for display purposes, they make it easier to draw shapes, they have 3D shapes that students can manipulate, et cetera. I love that the Sandbox gives you an option to decide what you like and don't like. I love the smart boards, but I would not use a 3D printer in my classroom.
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