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Article Title:
==============
Do You Want A Teacher Website?

Article Description:
====================
This is a discussion of the informational and structural
needs of a teacher website. This is useful for any teacher
who is considering building one.


Additional Article Information:
===============================
849 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line
Distribution Date and Time: Wed Nov 30 14:43:16 EST 2005

Written By: Robert Fuess
Copyright: 2005
Contact Email: mailto:webmaster@...

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Do You Want A Teacher Website?
Copyright © 2005 Robert Fuess
School And Teacher
http://www.SchoolAndTeacher.com



Many teachers are getting their own teacher websites . . .

Now you may wonder - what's the purpose? Why would a teacher
have their own website? It can take a lot of time to make and
maintain one. Where do the students and parents benefit? What
are the most important features?

If you are a teacher considering getting your own website, read
on. For you may get a better understanding of the needs of
students and parents that with a teacher website. Understanding
where the students get value will help you realize why you need a
teacher website and where to focus your effort.

The web is a recognized communication medium.

Communicate thoughts and ideas . . . Some of the information
doesnt change very much (like information about you the teacher).
Some of it will change daily - like homework.

What types of things do they need?


INFORMATION NEEDS OF A TEACHER WEBSITE

PERSONAL INFO:

Parents and students may want to know a little bit about their
teacher (or child's teacher).

A teacher website can help let them get to know the teacher -
perhaps by having a "Biography" or "Qualifications". Having a
picture of the teacher is always a benefit so students and
parents can recognize the teacher when they meet them in the
classroom or in teacher conferences.

CONTACT INFO:

This is a must. If the teacher has an email account or phone
number or other info to share with the parents or students,
having this on a website is a great help in encouraging
communication.

CLASSROOM INFO:

This can be a wonderful resource for the students and parents.

The most important resource to post on the classroom section of a
teacher website is the daily homework.

This does take a consistent effort to post, but parents and
students really appreciate having this always available to them.

Also, it would be nice to post project information, exams, and
current events (such as fund raisers and class parties). And for
those who are really ambitious, they can post files up to the web
such as classroom rules, spelling lists, project handouts, exam
prep guides, and permission slips.

Consider a student who is ADHD or for other reasons has
difficulty remembering or writing down the homework. A website
that has homework posted on it can be an essential ingredient to
their success.

FUN STUFF:

Of course there is always the fun stuff. You may want to put in
some useful or fun classroom-related links. If you are a math
teacher you may want to put in links to math games websites. If
you are a biology teacher, you may want to put in links to sites
that are about the current study topic like marine animals.

Or you may want to have a picture gallery of the latest event.
These are always great to have. Students like to see pictures
of themselves in an event.

They also appreciate suggestions of where to find useful
information.


DESIGN NEEDS OF A TEACHER WEBSITE

WHY:

Good design is a must - for your students and parents to make
good use of a teacher website. It should not confuse them or
make them easily lost.

SEPARATING CLASSES:

Many teachers have more than one class. Each class data should
be on its own page (or group of pages) - to keep the students and
parents from being confused about what homework, exams and
projects relate to them. Then they can bookmark their class
pages and easily access them later. This way they would only be
seeing what they need.

GOOD NAVIGATION:

The navigation of your teacher website should be simple and
consistent. There should be navigation links at the top and/or
left that help the student get to where they want (and to easily
back out). If you build a teacher website, I would recommend
having a couple of students test it out before showing the whole
class. If your test students get lost trying to find the
information they need, you will need to make modifications to the
navigation of your teacher websites.

LOOK AND FEEL:

The look and feel (backgrounds, color scheme, and position of the
navigation) should be consistent and intuitive throughtout the
site. This is important to show the students that they are still
on your class pages - and haven't strayed to a different website.

WRAP-UP:

If you are a teacher, having a teacher website can be of great
value. Consider it. If you don't have the time to put into
building all the pages yourself, there are services out there
that offer websites to teachers at a very reasonable cost. The
one I built is at http://www.SchoolAndTeacher.com . The layout
is already designed, and you just need to fill in some forms to
put your data out there.

One of my favorite features is that students and parents can sign
up to get regular emails of their homework. And the cost? The
first year is free and after that it is only $19.95 USD per year.
(Many have found this to be a huge time saver.)



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Robert Fuess is a veteran website designer who built and
maintains http://www.SchoolAndTeacher.com
He also builds editable websites for other customers - including
calendar and e-commerce features. If you are interested in such
a service email him at robert@..., or visit his
website at http://www.SpiderwebLogic.com, or call (805) 720-0789.


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