The W3C Validator
The purpose of my classroom website is to help build a strong partnership between home and school. My website will provide a user friendly way for parents to stay up-to-date on everything going on in their child’s classroom. They would have access to classroom information and procedures, our daily schedule, learning objectives, and links to other important information they will need from our school. Parents have so much information thrown at them throughout the school year, and I would like to provide them with one place that houses everything they will need to access in order for a successful school year. They can visit my website to answer a question they may have about the classroom or an upcoming event, and even see pictures and videos of their child “in action.” If parents would like to extend their child’s learning at home, they will be able to do so with the click of a button. Communication is key in building a strong home-school partnership. When everyone is on board and on the same page, students thrive. I want to make sure parents know what is going on, what they need to be doing, and that I believe their child can be successful and meet their goals. I want them to see that we truly are partners in their child's education.
Parents are inundated with information and paperwork that they must read, fill out, and keep track of each school year. Many times, paperwork gets misplaced, doesn't make it home, or doesn’t make it back to school. I would have all of this important paperwork, as well as the deadlines, on my webiste. Parents would be able to download the form they are needing to fill out and email it to me using the email link on my site. This would help both the parents and myself in that we wouldn't have to shuffle papers back and forth multiple times, especially when they are time sensitive. I will also have a "Quick Links" section that will house important links parents may need to access througout the year, such as our school website, the lunch menu, and a link to our morning broadcast channel. This will help parents know they do not have to bookmark or remember multiple sites - they can go to my website and have one place that houses anything they may need for the school year.
Parents often ask what they can do to help their child at home. I plan to have an “Extend Learning at Home” tab where I will list online learning sites, apps, and videos that they can use at home. One parent that I interviewed mentioned that it would be helpful to have some “how-to” videos to show parents EXACTLY how they can help. I really like this idea – especially when we are learning a new concept or skill. I could easily record one of my students, myself, or the whole class and post it in the “Extend Learning at Home” tab for parents to access.
I teach kindergarten, which is often the first year parents are sending their children to all-day school. With this comes much anxiety – both for the student and the parents. I have found that it really helps parents to see their kids “in action” by providing photos and videos of my class at work. All of the parents I interviewed mentioned photos of their children at school as something they would like seeing on a class website. I plan to have a “Photos” tab that will direct parents to my Google Drive, where I will have folders of photos for each month of the school year. Parents will be able to access these photos, download, save, and share them as they desire.
My audience is the parents, guardians, and family members of my kindergarten students. Their ages range from 30-60. Most of them live with my students, in the Kansas City area. There will also be students with parents in different households, possibly in different cities, states, or countries. Grandparents, aunts, or uncles may also visit my website and could live anywhere. My audience will all have access to the internet, smart phones, and have basic knowledge of browsing the internet and using a website. Users of my website will be those with a direct interest in what is going on in my classroom. They will all be related to a student in my class.
I created a survey of questions that I sent to 5 parents of elementary students. I saw very common themes in their answers. It is clear that they enjoy hearing updates about the classroom, receiving reminders, knowing what their child is learning, seeing their child at work and play, reading quick bullets of information versus having to scroll through lots of text, and having all of this information at their fingertips. I value the viewpoits of these individuals and will be keeping all of their feedback in mind as I design my website. Below is a list of the questions I asked and a summary of the answers received.
1. How do you think a classroom website could be beneficial or helpful for parents?
The parents all agreed that a website would be a great tool to use in order to keep famliies informed and be able to find what they need. They stated that classroom websites can provide valuable information for parents including class schedule, upcoming events, information about curriculum, reminders, etc. It would make things much easier for parents so information isn't misplaced from school to home. It could help give parents tips to encourage parents to work with their child at home. A website could contain pictures of students learning. It would allow one place to get all information with no need to go to other websites.
2. How often would you visit a classroom website maintained by your child’s teacher?
These answers were a little different from each person. One said she'd check it only if she had questions, one said twice a week, one said weekly, one said daily, and one said multiple times a day. I think this really depends on personal preference as well as how often the teacher updates information on the website.
3. What type of items do you think should be included in a classroom website?
There were lots of great ideas for this question. All of the parents thought that curriculum information, a calendar of events, and a class schedule would all be nice to include in a class website. Four out of the five parents would love to see pictures and/or videos of their child at school. One parent suggested a "commonly asked quesitons" section." Another suggested having information on how to contact the school staff.
4. How often does your child’s teacher communicate with you now? Do you think it is too much, too little, or just right?
This question generated many different answers. Two parents hear from their teachers daily. One of those parents loved hearing from the teacher that often, and a second thought it was way too often. Two parents mentioned that they hear from them weekly and both thought that was sufficient. One parent mentioned that they barely hear from their child's teacher and they do not think that is nearly enough.
5. In what way(s) does your child’s teacher communicate with you now? Do you like how you are communicated with?
Teachers seem to share through email, websites, and/or weekly newsletters. All teachers communicated with parents through the use of some form of technology. They all like hearing from their child's teacher through digital methods, but one mentioned that she would prefer having the information more in a brief, bulleted form than in narrative form. She stated that she is too busy to read through paragraphs and just wants to get the information as quickly and easily as possible.
6. What specific things about your child’s classroom are you most interested in?
Parents are interested in deadlines for things that need turned in, upcoming dates, photos and videos (this answer was given 3 times), links to websites and resources, and what their child is learning.
7. What types of media (photos, videos, etc) would you like to see on a classroom website?
All five surveys mentioned photos. Parents want to see photos of their kids at school! For the younger students, a parent suggested "how to" videos to help the parents understand what we are doing with their chidlren. Some of the parents would like to see videos of the kids working and playing. One parent would love links to other websites.
Mrs. Wakefield's Classroom: This website is colorful and looks like it was designed for young children, however I’m not sure parents would appreciate it’s “cutsiness” as much as kids. I wish the information about what the class is working on in each subject would be together on one tab or document, not separated. This would be a lot of reading for parents. There are some links to various games, sites, and activities, but they are within the subject tabs and not all together. I plan to put this all on one tab. I don’t see a lot of general classroom information beyond schedule and rules. There is a photo tab which has some pictures of the class.
Mrs. Baird's Kindergarten: This site has a very simple design and is not at all cluttered. I like that the tabs are right at the top and easy to see. Homework documents are posted. Weekly newsletters, as well as archived newsletters, are available. I did not see links to media or an area with photos.
Mrs. Baker's Kindergarten Class Website: This website is simple, pleasing with its colors, and has some clipart. It does not look finished - perhaps the author is making changes for the current school year or started but did not finish it. It has some basic information - schedule, lunch menu, rules. I do not see any type of newsletter that states current learning goals, reminders, etc. There is a section with links to books and games. No photos or links to photos are included.
Mrs. Bonathan's Kindergarten Class: When you arrive at this site it has some nice colors. I don’t enjoy the font as it may be hard for some users to read. I like that you see the most recent update for the classroom on the homepage. There is basic classroom information, resources for parents to use at home, and even a place for parents to sign up as volunteers in the classroom. There is not a place designated for classroom photos.
Ms. Reisel's Kindergarten: This site has a very large menu of page choices. I actually think this is a little much. I have a harder time with sites that have the tabs/menu on the side versus at the top. The text on this menu is pretty small and may be hard for some people to read. She has some basic classroom information, weekly updates, and also information for every subject. There are some great videos that parents and students can view at home, but they are all placed within the specific topic being taught, so unless parents are aware of the organization of them, or the name of the units, they would be hard to find. I do not see a place for class photos. There are links to lots of resources for parents.
Based on my personal experience communicating with parents as well as my interview results, I will build a classroom website that includes everything parents will need to stay connected to their child and our classroom for the entire year. My site will have 7 pages that will include all forms, documents, reminders, news, and updates for the classroom and school. My homepage will include our most recent newsletter, my contact information, and quick links so parents can access what they find most important as soon as they visit the page. I know families are busy, and I don’t want them to become frustrated trying to locate what they need, so I will put everything at their fingertips.
Home - Page 1: This will be what visitors see as soon as they arrive on my site. I will put our most current and pertinent information here. All pages will have tabs at the top of the site so they can click to return to the homepage at any time. This page will contain:
Daily Schedule - Page 2: This page will have our classroom daily schedule. It will contain:
Weekly News Archive - Page 3: This archive will contain every weekly newsletter I have uploaded to the site, in chronological order. This will allow parents to refer back to any of our newsletters at any time. This page will contain:
Photos - Page 4: I will maintain a Google folder of pictures from the school year. I take lots of pictures and would like them to be all in one place. Within the folder, I will have sub-folders for each month to keep things organized for myself and parents. This page will contain:
Extend Learning at Home - Page 5: This will be the page parents and students can go to for learning from home. I will have websites, games, videos, etc. This page will contain:
Classroom Information - Page 6: This page will house information parents may want to refer to throughout the year. I will have given all of these documents out at Parent Orientation, but I like having them in a central place they can access again if needed. This page will contain:
About Mrs. Baker - Page 7: This page will house my “meet the teacher” letter I send to my families before the school year starts. It tells them about my family, background, favorites, etc. This letter helps establish a relationship with my families from the very beginning of our year together. This page will contain:
I designed my webpage using a horizontal navigation bar. I prefer my navigation to all be at the top of a page when I am browsing so I do not have to scroll. I drew a diagram of what my homepage will look like. Click to to see my Wireframe.
As a teacher and a parent, I was able to look at this design from multiple perspectives. I know how frustrating it can be to go to a website only to have to keep clicking to find the one item you are looking for. The titles I chose for the tabs allow for parents to know exactly what they will find when they click. I put the most pertinent and up-to-date information on the homepage. I wanted to have a “quick links” section for all of the other pages they may want or need to visit. I wanted my contact information to be in more than one place so they could quickly and easily contact me when needed. Parents are also really interested in seeing photos of their child, so I made a tab for photos. Many parents want to know how they can work with their child at home, so the “extend learning at home” will fulfill those requests. My page organization was designed with my audience - busy parents - in mind.
I plan to include the following media on my website:
Photos and videos of our class at work. Parents will sign a waiver at the beginning of the school year to give permission for me to post these to my website. If anyone opts out, I will not include them in any photos or videos and will only send those to the parents privately. All of these will be my own so no permission will be needed. My survey data proved that parents love seeing their children at work during school hours.
Learning games and videos. Parents also want to know what they can do at home and how they can help their child continue to learn. I will find these online and will have direct links that will open in a new tab. Full credit will be given to the source.
It is important to me that I do not overwhelm my readers. I did some research on colors and found some great information on Canva. Here are my findings and my plans for the colors I want to use on my site:
The shades I’d like to use are below. I realize as I begin creating my site and using these shades, I may change my mind. However, I would like to stay within the green and blue families for my color choices: