Making My Own Website

So this week in class we have talked about making our own websites. At first I was like oh great... get to try this out again. In high school my class was required to create a website in our keyboarding class. It lasted about 2 days before the teacher gave up on us and we decided to skip this project. No one understood how to add/attach things to their websites. It was frustrating and I was glad when the teacher told us we no longer had complete the assignment.

Now that this is my second attempt at creating my own website I do not feel as frustrated. The site I am using to make my website is called Weebly. I am finding it is very user friendly. I am creating a website with my future classroom and students in mind. I have learnt how to embed a calendar into my website which would be very useful for students and parents because they will be able to see what events are coming up and any other important dates. I have also embedded a video to my home page as a welcoming. I have now realized that creating websites are not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I find they are time consuming, but once it is finished I think it will be rewarding. I will have a site that parents and students can go to at anytime to contact me and find any important material they may need for class.

I think class websites are beneficial. At first I wasn't to sure about the idea, but now that I am creating one I really like the idea. Parents and students have a way to communicate with me at any time or any day. They can see any important dates or events coming up on a class calendar I can embed to the site. I can post assignments or class readings right to the site. I like the idea of handing out hard copies still, but if anyone loses their homework or class material it will always be available online. There will be no more excuses of "the dog ate my homework!" I think this will also help parents stay involved with their child's education because they will always know when something is due, when the next test is, etc. Parents like knowing what is happening at school and I think this could be a great way to keep parents informed.

So even though I was leery at first about creating my own website and using it the classroom I have completely changed my mind and love the idea. I will use a class website in my future class with my students. It takes time to make a website, but there are many positives to having one.