Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Carrying out my Game Plan

In order to carry out my action plan for incorporating parents in what we are doing in the classroom I have created a classroom website. This website will give parents the information they might find useful in helping their students in my class. There are many things on the website including; useful websites for students to practice skill work, weekly assignments, curriculum goals, and a link to our classroom blog. In order to carry out this plan I consulted with colleagues about the information I should include on my website. I also needed a computer in order to do this.

The other goal that I have is to participate in ongoing professional development opportunities. I will need to collaborate with other teachers as well as my principal to find the best options for me. I will then seek out these opportunities and participate as needed. My hope is that the professional development opportunities will be focused on technology and how to integrate it in the classroom. I have a Promethean Board, so I am always up for learning how to better use it in the classroom. Students really enjoy having an interactive board to learn the skills, and I want to make sure that I stay as up to date with the new things that you can do with the Promethean Board.

I hope that through these steps I am getting closer to meeting my goals.

5 comments:

  1. Linzie,
    Your webpage sounds like a great resource for encouraging and assisting parent involvement. I have an online calendar through http://assignaday.4teachers.org that works really well for helping some of my students and their parents keep up with what is going on in the classroom. This is especially useful when students are out, which happens all too often with my seniors. Unfortunately, a great many seem to have little or no access to computers outside of the school, so this resource is not exploited to its full potential. Do most of the parents in the area you serve generally have Internet access at home?
    -Dug

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  2. Linzie,

    I think your first goal will really make parents happy because you are giving the opportunity to practice the skills you teach and master the content. It may take time to find information for all the content you are teaching but I think that must improve the scores of the students who use the site.

    As for your second goal (professional development)you might want to go to http://www.prometheanworld.com/server.php?show=nav.16161] for free online courses. There are also wikis that have information. Self-directed learning (SDL)in action.

    Hope this helps,

    Craig

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  3. Linzie,
    I started a class website last year. At first I was overwhelmed with all the features and wanting to establish EVERYTHING at once. My suggestion to you is to start with the two or three most important features you want then add to it. I started with "helpful links" and "homework", which I have found that students actually use regularly. Now I feel more comfortable and confident to start adding more features. Also,I would suggest setting up a daily or weekly routine updating it, then add more features. As Doug had asked do your students and parents have access to the internet from home? I only ask because this might help you decide what features you want to begin with on your website.
    Jean-Marie

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  4. How great it is that you are able to keep up-to-date with a website and a blog. I struggle just to update our classroom blog daily. Do you think it is neccesary to have a website and a blog? Couldn't you consolidate and use just a blog that contains all of the information your website did as well as your classroom blog? I think you might save yourself some time by doing so. Thanks for your original post.

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  5. Dug and Jean Marie,

    I have found that most parents do have access to internet in our area. They may use the internet at the public library or at work, but they do have access to the internet. This really helps as I plan to use things in my classroom.

    Jody,

    Our classroom websites are mandatory at our school, therefore I have to keep it up. I choose to do the blog because it is a site specifically for my students. This keeps everything separate and no one gets them confused. It would definitely save time if I could just use one site, but it seems that for right now this is the best use of each site.

    Linzie

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