Two summers ago, I spent a lot of time crafting my teacher website for what was supposed to be my second grade classroom. I wanted my website to be fun and informative just like my sixth grade one (my principal even commented on how informative my website was and parents knew it would be updated daily and weekly). We were trained on Weebly at my school, and luckily I still have my Weebly account even after leaving the district. Fun and informative websites are critical for teachers. The first thing I do whenever I find out I have a job interview is look at the school website, the administrator websites and the teachers' websites for the team I might be a part of. I want to learn about the classrooms and teachers. Parents and students are the same way. I've seen great websites and I've seen outdated ones. If you're thinking of upgrading your teacher website, here are some of my tips. I love Weebly for websites because it's easy to use and allows teachers to personalize their website. Weebly also has an iPad app, which I love.
1. Must include a picture and biography
Including a picture of yourself is important. Parents want to see what you look like even before they meet you. I also love including a written bio about myself. I have a lot of fun with this. I want my students and parents to know where I went to school, experiences I have and anything I might have done over the summer. I always include important professional development and writing curriculum at Trinity in this bio, as well as a shortened version of my philosophy statement.
2. Information about schedule and homework
I also include a schedule and include information about computer lab and library times. I also like to post my homework schedule too. I want parents to know what their students should be doing. Most of my homework in my sixth grade class was weekly writing/blogging, working on a study guide for a test or an occasional workbook page. I wanted parents to know when homework might be a little different. I also included this information in our grade level newsletter.
3. Class Expectations and Frequently Asked Questions
Having your class expectations and answers to frequently asked questions about procedures and policies on a teacher website is so important for parents and students. Both parents and students know what is expected.
4. Links to Newsletters
Every Friday afternoon, I would attach my newsletter to my teacher website as soon as the PDF version was emailed to parents. I plan to embed the newsletter directly into my website when I return to the classroom again. By including the newsletter on a website, you don't have to worry about it getting lost in a backpack or it getting lost in a flood of emails.
5. Contact form
I like having a contact form directly on my website for parents or students to email me. Students don't have to open up their email account if they're at home and it's convenient.
6. More Resources For Learning
I strongly believe that parents can be our best partners in education. Working with a group of mothers with school-aged children has allowed me to see the parent perspective on education and challenges their children are facing. I'm the only current elementary school teacher on my team, so it's forced me to take off my educator without children hat and listen. Depending on the school, parents often ask what other resources there are and what they can do outside of school to help their student. Because of this, I have an entire page on my website dedicated to reading and math websites, as well as some of my favorite free learning apps. I had a blast creating this page.
7. A website should be updated
So often, I see old teacher websites with newsletters from two years ago, a bio from the last school year and no updated information. Teachers get busy, but I feel that updating a website is so important. I updated mine daily with any class notes from the day (for my absent students) and then every Friday after school with the weekly newsletter, homework assignments, and any important due dates or projects coming up. My sixth grade students and parents loved that they could find any information they needed.
I always have so much fun with my teacher website and some things I plan to explore in the future are adding a link to my class Twitter account, a link to my teacher Instagram account, a Google calendar and a sign up form for volunteering.
Here's a look at the mobile view of my website.
-Elle
1. Must include a picture and biography
Including a picture of yourself is important. Parents want to see what you look like even before they meet you. I also love including a written bio about myself. I have a lot of fun with this. I want my students and parents to know where I went to school, experiences I have and anything I might have done over the summer. I always include important professional development and writing curriculum at Trinity in this bio, as well as a shortened version of my philosophy statement.
2. Information about schedule and homework
I also include a schedule and include information about computer lab and library times. I also like to post my homework schedule too. I want parents to know what their students should be doing. Most of my homework in my sixth grade class was weekly writing/blogging, working on a study guide for a test or an occasional workbook page. I wanted parents to know when homework might be a little different. I also included this information in our grade level newsletter.
3. Class Expectations and Frequently Asked Questions
Having your class expectations and answers to frequently asked questions about procedures and policies on a teacher website is so important for parents and students. Both parents and students know what is expected.
4. Links to Newsletters
Every Friday afternoon, I would attach my newsletter to my teacher website as soon as the PDF version was emailed to parents. I plan to embed the newsletter directly into my website when I return to the classroom again. By including the newsletter on a website, you don't have to worry about it getting lost in a backpack or it getting lost in a flood of emails.
5. Contact form
I like having a contact form directly on my website for parents or students to email me. Students don't have to open up their email account if they're at home and it's convenient.
6. More Resources For Learning
I strongly believe that parents can be our best partners in education. Working with a group of mothers with school-aged children has allowed me to see the parent perspective on education and challenges their children are facing. I'm the only current elementary school teacher on my team, so it's forced me to take off my educator without children hat and listen. Depending on the school, parents often ask what other resources there are and what they can do outside of school to help their student. Because of this, I have an entire page on my website dedicated to reading and math websites, as well as some of my favorite free learning apps. I had a blast creating this page.
7. A website should be updated
So often, I see old teacher websites with newsletters from two years ago, a bio from the last school year and no updated information. Teachers get busy, but I feel that updating a website is so important. I updated mine daily with any class notes from the day (for my absent students) and then every Friday after school with the weekly newsletter, homework assignments, and any important due dates or projects coming up. My sixth grade students and parents loved that they could find any information they needed.
I always have so much fun with my teacher website and some things I plan to explore in the future are adding a link to my class Twitter account, a link to my teacher Instagram account, a Google calendar and a sign up form for volunteering.
Here's a look at the mobile view of my website.
-Elle
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