Learn how to create a classroom website in this fun, easy-to-understand course for teachers. In no time, you'll build an interactive site with text, images, videos, and more. We will cover how to create an engaging website that visitors will want to come back to again and again. You will see how creating a classroom website will help with the home-school connection every teacher strives for. Finally, you will discover how simple it is to create a classroom website and how having one can make you a more effective and dynamic teacher.
Kt (Katie) Paxton is a certified teacher with a Master's Degree in Education focusing on Learning and Technology. She has more than 20 years of classroom experience and has been an online instructor since 2003. She also owned and managed a home daycare for five years and is the author of More Adventures With Kids in San Diego. Furthermore, Kt has trained and placed tutors with at-risk students in over 100 schools in addition to working with the students herself.
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
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Lesson 1
Planning a Classroom Website
Teachers, don't let technology intimidate you! It's easier—and more fun—to create a classroom website than you might think. In this first lesson, you'll explore the ways that a website can help you organize information, instruct your students, and interact with others. Then you'll create a plan for your very own classroom website and learn how to keep your students safe when they surf the Internet.
Starting HTML
In this lesson, you'll put your plan into action and enter the exciting world of classroom websites as an author! You'll learn about text editors and HTML as you begin creating a website. By the end of the lesson, you'll have a title, description, heading, and text for your site.
Fun With Formatting
In this lesson, you'll bring your site to life with formatting. You'll give your website visual appeal as you add color to the text and the background. You'll also learn to format and arrange text, giving your site a unique, professional look.
Selecting and Adding Images
Would you like to add a picture of your school to your website? Do you want to showcase student work? In this lesson, you'll learn how and why you should add graphics to your site and discover just how easy it is.
Banners, Backgrounds, and Animated Images
You'll take your website to the next level in this lesson. You'll find out how to select and format a background image and animated graphics for your home page. Then you'll top it all off with a custom-designed banner. These additions will liven up your web pages and impress your students!
Creating Links
This lesson is all about links! You'll learn about the different kinds of links and how to create them. You'll see how to place them to make it easy for visitors to navigate your site.
Table Fun
It's time for table fun. Tables are a great way to organize information, such as student assignments. By the end of this lesson, you'll know how to create a table, format it, add color and graphics to it, and incorporate it as an important part of your classroom website.
WebQuest Evaluation and Planning
In this lesson, you'll focus on WebQuests: unique Internet learning adventures. You'll discover how to design a fun, successful WebQuest that will enrich and educate your students. After planning your WebQuest, you'll use your HTML knowledge to begin creating it.
Completing Your WebQuest
It won't be long until your work is on the web! Then you'll be part of that elite crowd with the skills to create and post WebQuests online to share with other teachers. In this lesson, you'll complete your WebQuest and link it to your website. You'll also explore the best ways to use this learning experience in the classroom.
Classroom Blogs
Are you ready to implement a great communication tool in your classroom? In this lesson, you'll develop your own blog that will enhance your teaching and create a learning environment that transcends your classroom's walls. By the end of the lesson, you'll have the knowledge you need to create a blog, teach your students about blogging, and use blogs effectively.
Publishing Your Site
It's time to go public and post your site online! In this lesson, you'll find a host and a domain name for your site. You'll explore options to suit all budgets—including no budget. You'll also learn about File Transfer Protocol so that you can move your website files from one computer to another with ease.
Student Website Tools
Now that you're a web expert, you can share your skills with your students! In this final lesson, you'll discover great ways to help your students create their own websites and post their projects online. You'll learn how to use HTML to build a site in mere minutes, and you'll find out how web authoring software programs and your web host's site-building tools can make creating a site a snap.
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