Create Your Own Class Web Page in Just a Few Easy Steps!

Have you ever wanted to create a web page for your class but don't have the right software or skills to do it? Well, all that is changing now! You can create a blog or wiki for free and they are super easy to use. It is a live URL (web page that you can share with parents, students, staff, etc) that you can update as often as you like. You don't need any special software to create the page, just internet access and a computer. Blogs and wikis are easy to edit too. Basically, if you can edit a Word document then you can edit a blog and/or a wiki too.

Blogs

Blog is short for 'web log'. It works as an on-line journal. Blogs can have many classroom uses. Typically, a blog is started by one person (a teacher posts a question to students or writes a paragraph to read) and others can post comments about the question/information. You can add pictures, files, widgets and links too! Here are just a few classroom examples:
o To post materials/resources for parents and students
o Create a class website
o Share student work/ group projects
o Post writing prompts
o Literature circle: student comments, observations, connections, predictions
o There are unlimited possibilities!!!

Check out these examples of Blogs in the Ross District:
http://eldamusic.blogspot.com/
http://trishtechnews.blogspot.com/
http://eldaartblog.blogspot.com/
http://mrsgriffith.edublogs.org/

Wikis

A wiki is a website that you can create or edit without any special technical knowledge, tools or software. Editing a wiki is very much like editing a Word document. The end result is a web page that you can share with other staff, students and/or parents. You can set the privacy settings on wikis to let others change and edit content (great for group projects and working with other staff) or lock it down so only the creator can change information. This use would be more like a 'traditional' website that others can visit and view.

Wikis are great for sharing/organizing information, web quests, posting study guides/homework, classroom resources, links to other sites, etc. You can add pages, links, pictures, widgets, content and more!

Here are a few ides of how to use wikis from: http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

• An elementary class “encyclopedia” on a special topic, such as explorers or state history – to be continued and added to each year!
• Post new spelling or vocabulary words each week
  
• Family Twaditionwiki- elementary students share their family’s ways of preparing Thanksgiving dinner or celebrating birthdays (anonymously, of course) and compare them to practices in other cultures they read and learn about.
• An annotated virtual library: listings and commentary on independent reading students have done throughout the year
• Collaborative book reviews or author studies
  
• A virtual tour of your school as you study “our community” in elementary grades
• A travelogue from a field trip or NON- field trip that the class would have liked to take as A culmination of a unit of study: Our (non) trip to the Capital and what we (wish) we saw.
• Detailed and illustrated descriptions of scientific or governmental processes: how a bill becomes a law, how mountains form, etc.
• A wiki “fan club” for you favorite author(s).
  
• A Where is Wanda wiki: a wiki version of the ever-favorite Flat Stanley project. Have each Wanda host post on the wiki, including the picture they take with Wanda during her visit. Even better: keep an ongoing Google Earth placemarker file to add geographic visuals to Wanda’s wonderful wanderings as a link in the wiki. WOW! Where in the world IS Wiki Wanda?

The link below is a fantastic resource for educational wikis. The site contains background information wikis as well as many ideas for classroom integration through multiple subjects and grade levels. Check it out!
http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/

Personally, I use Blogspot for blogs and Wikispaces for wikis. However, there are many great sites offering free space to create blogs and wikis. Wikispaces offers free educator accounts that restrict advertisements. I have found both Blogspot and Wikisipaces very easy to use. To create your own accounts visit the sites, check out my wiki (linked below) for handouts (created for Blogspot and Wikispaces) or contact me for help!

http://triciakluener.wikispaces.com/Hand+Outs

Good luck!

Welcome Back! Great News for EasyTech and Other Updates!

What's New?

EasyTech:
EasyTech will have a new feature this fall. Students will now be able to save their progress through the interactive lessons! They will be able to 'bookmark' their spots and pick up where they left off in a lesson instead of starting all the way at the begining! The scheduled date for 'bookmarking' lessons to be available is currently October.

We also updated the Classroom and Media pacing calendars (list of lessons) for the EasyTech curriculum. Most of the changes are due to new/updated lessons replacing the outdated ones along with removing some of the review lessons in specific grade levels. The other changes deal with the 'Technology Mastery Grid' that will be implemented this year. If you are wondering what that is and think you missed something, read on! It's new! You haven't missed a thing!

Check your email for a list of updated EasyTech assignments for your grade level.

Technology Mastery Grid:
The grid lists out specific skills for each software program and grade level. The district tech team wants to make sure that all students are learning software skills. It creates a base level skill set that each student should have by the end of each grade level. It will also help the teachers know what skills the students should have when they enter each grade level.

There are 4 levels students will work through from grades K-5:
Introduce
Learn
Proficient
Reinforce
Each level has different skills associated with them depending on the software program and grade level. Software programs covered in the grid include: Word (grades 1-5), Power Point (grades 2-5), Excel (grades 3-5), and Web Browsing (grades 2-5), A/R, EasyTech and Pro-Ohio.

Hopefully everyone had a great summer and is refreshed for the new year. The student data base for EasyTech is up and ready to go. If you need help adding your students to your class or updating your lessons please let me know! I am happy to help!