Wendy Says

Hello, Teachers! Can you believe that it’s already well into May, and the academic year is already over for some of you and almost over for the rest of you! Now is the time to think about what tools worked well for you and which ones should be discarded, particularly with regards to your class website. It doesn’t seem to matter how much tweaking you do, as there is always something that can be improved or replaced for better functionality. Throughout the teaching term, you discover things that you don’t like, but once the semester is up and running, you have to stay with what’s there to avoid unnecessary confusion for your students. 

Ask yourself some questions, such as these:

•  What did like? Why?
•  What didn't I like? Why?
• Was I able to perform the functions that I wanted, such as posting pictures/videos?
• What do I want to do on my website?
• Are there ways to encourage parents/students to look at the website?

In most cases, you already have a mental list of many of these things, so now is the time to write them down. By seeing them on paper, it is much easier to sort them according to the types of solutions that are necessary. 

• Are there technical problems that prevent you from performing tasks?
• Are you suffering from inadequate training on how to use your website?

It doesn’t take long to analyze your website, and it is worth the effort to pinpoint those things that you like or don’t like. By doing this at the end of the semester, you are in a better position to find the solutions you need so that you can be ready for the next semester. 

This is my first academic season writing this blog, and now I am asking you for any suggestions of topics you would like to see me address. My goal is to make this a meaningful place where you can find help and answers to your situations, as well as learn about tools to make your job easier and more efficient. Teaching is a difficult job on its own, and if I can contribute in some way to making things easier, then I have achieved my goal.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Spring is often the time of year when “teacher fatigue” can strike. After struggling through the winter months with obstacles of all sorts, energy levels can run low. The end of the school year is in sight, but that last leg can be rough! Your creative juices have dried up, and you’ve run out of ideas to help teach certain concepts to those students who need more help.

By nature, teachers are a creative bunch, but it has only been recently in which there has been a forum where others could share ideas. In 2006, Paul Edelman, a former NYC public school teacher, decided to create an open online marketplace where teachers could buy, sell, and share original educational materials in downloadable formats. He was the first person to launch this idea, and it has exploded around the world. We know it as Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) , and if you haven’t heard of this site yet, I will be glad to enlighten you. 

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, computer equipment was becoming commonplace in the classroom, but the use of the internet as a teaching resource was still in its early stages for the general populace. Online teaching was rudimentary at best, but once begun, it was like an online conflagration for the next best thing to improve the experience for both the student and the teacher. No longer was an online classroom static, as tools were created to make it possible to simulate an actual interactive classroom. Connecting with the online world has become an integral part of learning and teaching.

Mr. Edelman saw a need for there to be a place where teachers could connect and share ideas, but he took it a step further by making it available for teachers to sell some of their ideas at a nominal cost and earn some extra money in the process. How many times have you worked hard to come up with an idea to help teach a particular concept or idea and created a great teaching method that proved successful? By taking this one step further, you could share this idea on the TpT website and earn something for your effort. 

There is no cost involved in registering to be part of the TpT community, and you are even allowed ten free downloads from an extensive list of products just for signing up. There are many free features to take advantage of, but if you want to become actively involved in the selling aspect, you will need to become a paid member. Everything is explained on how to do this, but you are free to participate however best suits you.  There are 1,600,000 registered members with over 90,000,000 page views made each month! 

The website covers all aspects and levels of teaching, so there is something for everyone, ranging from teaching ideas to making money by selling your ideas through the marketplace. Pinterest has several pages that show you the wide variety of topics that are available. Take the time to browse through some of the offerings, and be sure to check out their blog--you will be amazed!

Happy 2015, teachers! You’ve survived the freneticism of the holiday season, and now, the New Year is officially here! I have always felt that this part of the school year is the most challenging, as there are fewer distractions due to holidays and breaks, and it seems to last much longer than the first part of the school year. This is the perfect time to learn about a tool that many of you already have in your classroom but are only casually acquainted with—the Smart Board.

The Smart Board is the high-tech version of the old-fashioned white board. It looks like a normal white board, but this one is powered by your computer; this is technology at its finest in the classroom. I was using the Smart Board to help teach English grammar and medical transcription more than ten years ago, and even then, I could recognize its incredible capabilities in making learning an interactive and fun process.

By doing a simple Google search, I found some websites that help illustrate the Smart Board’s potential in the classroom.

•    Using Smart Boards in the Classroom--This site provides a good overview of the capabilities and possibilities of using a Smart Board in the classroom. It also allows you to subscribe to their newsletter to get free updates on tools and ideas for the teacher.
 
•    Smart Boards for Dummies--It seems that the older we become, the more hesitant we are about learning new technology. Thankfully, the people who have put together the “Dummies” series on practically everything you want to know, have done one for the Smart Board, part of which is posted online and takes you through step by step 

•    Smart Board Training--This site emphasizes how training is absolutely essential in learning to make the most of your Smart Board.

•    If you want visual training, go to YouTube and input “Smart Boards” into the search bar. You will find numerous useful topics that will help you to become more proficient in using this tool. 

Make this one of your New Year’s resolutions, to learn some new tricks on using the Smart Board. Don’t be timid--find out how it can make learning fun and interactive in your classroom. You can “read” a book together, perform fun language or math exercises, and play other interactive games on it. You can even save some of these in video format which allows you to post the link on your classroom website for your students to access from home.

Our young students are often more savvy than we are when it comes to technology, so let’s step up and show them how fun learning can be by using techniques they can relate to. 

Hello, teachers! We’ve survived the mayhem of the beginning of a new school year, but now the holidays are right in front of us. It’s tough enough keeping our students’ attention without having to worry about pumpkins, turkeys, and candy canes! 

We’ve reached that point in the semester that I like to refer to as, “I wish someone…,” had told me about, had shown me that trick, or (my personal favorite) had taught me how to do that on the computer! Let’s face it—teaching is hard work, and anything that can make our job easier, we want to know about. 

The whole approach to learning has changed, particularly for the younger students. They start playing with digital toys in the crib, and by the time they’re five years old, they’re teaching us how to use our iPhones! It’s hard to compete with something that makes all sorts of fun sounds and has cute characters running all over the screen. If there was a way for me to morph into a video character…….well, we know that isn’t going to happen!

Being a great believer in taking advantage of what people much smarter than I have developed, I want to tell you a little bit about MyTeacherSite.org. If you’re reading this blog posting, then I know you’re already at the right place. Even if your school already has a website, you probably aren’t able to use it for your classroom much beyond contact information. What if you had a place to be able to post images of your students’ work where parents could see them? Imagine how excited your students would be to find their creations online! How convenient would it be to be able to communicate with your parents and students in one easy place without having to worry about those pesky paper announcements that always have a way of getting lost before they reach the parents? You could even post links to digital games that you want your students to play! 

I invite you to take advantage of the 30-day free trial to see if it works for you. Some schools subsidize the annual subscription rate, but even if yours doesn’t, it is still less than one trip to the school supply store. This site could be a “wish come true” for you!

In today’s technology age, using the Internet to communicate with parents is paramount to keeping your classroom running effectively. With your own classroom website, whether through MyTeacherSite or elsewhere, you’re able to keep parents informed of special classroom events, homework, topics of study, and so much more. You can also acknowledge your amazing parent volunteers and, with parent permission, exceptional students.

As you head back to school this fall, there are a few things you should make sure you have posted and ready to go in the first days or weeks of the school year.

• Your contact information and background. Who are you? What is your professional experience? Where can parents reach you and when? It doesn’t matter what grade you teach; parents want to know about the person charged with educating their child. Share some information with them, but be careful you’re not sharing too much personal information.
• Your class schedule. If you teach primary grades, be sure to list your special area schedule as well as when you teach specific subjects. If you are departmentalized or teach middle and high school, your class and prep schedule is important to parents.
• Classroom expectations. What do you expect of parents and what do you expect of your students? Also include what your parents should expect from you so there aren’t any surprises later in the school year.
• Classroom procedures. Every teacher has their own style of teaching and their own procedures for their classroom. In order for a classroom to run effectively, you practice these with students. It’s also important to let parents know about these procedures so they are also aware of expectations and can talk to their child about them.
• Information about homework. Every parent wants to know: How much time will my child spend doing homework each evening? While this varies from child to child, a general overview of the regular homework expectations is helpful for parents to have up front. And having an updated calendar of homework assignments will help your students be more accountable.

Whether your school or district requires it or not, using a classroom website is a great way to build a community that your parents can be a part of. And if you’re going to take the time to establish this community at the beginning of the year, be sure to take a few minutes each week to grow that community and keep your website updated.

It's time for our Featured Site Contest! Each quarter MyTeacherSite.org selects a teacher's site to feature for excellence. Quarterly winners receive $100 and a cool T-shirt! Selections are based on informative content, appearance, and good use of layout. To submit a MyTeacherSite Web site for consideration, email us the link to Quarterly Award Submission. The deadline for submission is July 1, 2012, so don't delay! We look forward to seeing what you've done!

Keeping a class website is a good way to keep your parents and students informed. But you need to remember that your site is the world's window to your classroom. Your audience, which includes your administrators, will form opinions about you and your abilities based on your website. To ensure the most professional site possible, keep these tips in mind:

• Maintain the site yourself. Many teachers have students maintain the class website. While giving students this invaluable experience is tempting, keep in mind that the site reflects upon you. Updating it yourself is the only sure-fire way to prevent any unintentional mistakes.
• Keep it current. Check in with your site at least once a week to remove old content and add new items. Seeing old information will turn your audience away and make them believe your site is not accurate and up-to-date. If your principal requires weekly lesson plans, update your site when you turn them in.
• Review your site each time you update it. It's not enough to simply make the changes. After changes are made, look at the site again to ensure that it looks how you intended.
• Check your grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Twice.
• Keep it simple. Flashy graphics take away from your message. Keep the graphics to a minimum to avoid distractions.
• Check your links. If you include links to other websites, check them frequently to ensure that they are still working, relevant, and appropriate.

If you would like parents and students to use your website regularly, it's important to stay on top of it. Keeping it current, reliable, and easy to read will keep your audience coming back for more.

What do you do to keep your class website updated? Please share! Remember, learning is not a spectator sport.

Have you been curious about how many people are actually visiting your MyTeacherSite? Well, today is your lucky day! You are now able to see the number of visits to each page, simply by logging in, scrolling down to the My Pages section on the left hand side, and looking at the number in parenthesis next to each page title. It is also included at the top of each page once you click on the page title to edit it, under the Navigation and Page Type, and is labeled "Page Views." Keep in mind that since this service was just added, you will only be able to see hits to your site since July 27, 2010. We hope you find this new functionality helpful!

For me, summer is all about relaxation. As teachers, we work hard all year long so we deserve a bit of rest and relaxation! Summer usually starts with some pool and family time, cleaning and organizing the house, and a few short road trips. But after a week or two I can’t help but start thinking about August.

It’s not that I mean to work during the summer. I really wish I could put it all on hold. But I like to reflect on last year and begin thinking about what I’m going do differently next year.

The World Wide Web is the perfect place to begin. I can work on my class Web site from the comfort of my own home, so I can pretend like I’m not working. No one will know, right?

This summer I’ve decided to give my class Web site a complete facelift. The first thing I’m going to do is change the background on my site. If you’d like to do the same, just complete these easy steps:

• Log on to your MyTeacherSite.
• Click on the My Profile section under the Site Management header at the left side of the page. Here you can change the page design, the title on the header of your page, and your security information.
• To change the page design, simply roll your mouse over the thumbnail images so you can view a larger version. Find the design you like and click on the bubble next to the design title.
• Once your changes are complete, click the “Save Info” button at the bottom of the page.
• To view your design changes, click on the link under “My Website” at the top of the page.