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When I decided to build my very own classroom website...the first thing
that went through my mind was..."Where Do I start?" I knew I
wanted to build a website, but I had no clue about where to start, or
how to do it. Well if you have your very own computer and an idea of what you want to do...then,
that's a good start! Actually that is all you really need to get
started. The reason why I wanted to have my very own classroom website
was pretty much to inform my parents about our classroom. I wanted to
build a website that I can use as a communication tool in order to get
my parents more involved. In the beginning that was my
only sole purpose for my website. I've seen millions
of
websites on the internet that are out there "just because." They have absolutely no
purpose for being online what-so-ever. All they are trying to say is, "Hey,
world...I'm online!" I can't stand that! I wanted to create a website that would
be useful and that had a real purpose for being online...not just to show the
world I am online. Do you catch my drift? So... first and
foremost... determine what is the purpose behind creating your website.
Are you creating the website to make parents aware of classroom
activities, to provide curricular hotlinks for the students, to offer
homework help, supplementary lessons, parental support, and/or community
resources? Your website's purpose and audience will help determine the
feature you provide. Whatever the
purpose is behind your website...make sure you keep it in mind
throughout the whole web building process. It will help bring your
website together at the very end.
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Now that you've determined
what the purpose of your classroom website is, you need to come up with a
good plan. Just like classroom lesson plans. Try to develop a solid plan and
have a good idea of what you want your website to accomplish. The more
clearly you define the purpose of your website, the easier it will be to
decide what needs to go into it. Make a plan of what objectives,
content, and information you would like to see on your website. How
many pages are you thinking about having? Will you be posting pictures
online? If so, then you may want to develop a classroom form where
parents can sign authorizing their child to be photographed. By creating
a Media Release Form, you can make sure that you have parental consent for posting pictures
and projects online. Next, ask yourself, how would you
like your pages to look? Who is your targeted audience? If
you are still not sure about what you want to do, it is a good idea to
visit other classroom websites and see what others have done. Email a few
webmasters if you have questions regarding how they did something or where
they got something you liked on their websites. Many times they'll be more
than glad to help you out and email you back. Each time an idea pops into
your head, write it down. (I always keep a notepad and pencil by my
computer at all
times.) That way I'll always remember my ideas or useful website addresses when it comes time to
working on my website. Once you have completed
your plan, and are sure about what you want to do, then fun begins... It's
time to build your pages! The
objectives for my classroom website (at first) were to keep my parents
informed, post our classroom rules, monthly newsletter, homework policy,
spelling words, and post our classroom
projects. The objectives for my classroom website now, is not only to post
information about my classroom, but I have added a section for teachers,
and parents. I guess the longer you stay online the more your website
grows. I've been online since Fall of 2000. Back then my website was super
small and simple. Perhaps the way yours should be at first as well. My
advice to you... don't try to do what other classroom website are doing. I
am sure they started out small too. Just be creative and do your own
thing!
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Great Classroom Website
(Visit these classroom websites for ideas)
Speaking of other classroom websites, below I have
posted the links to a few of my favorites. Please take a moment to visit
each website below and see what a wonderful job these classroom teachers have
done. The websites I have listed below are not in any
particular order, instead I have listed them by grade level. I only named a few of my favorites classroom websites,
however, there are a million teacher website out there
to look at. When viewing classroom websites, please remember to respect
copyright laws and originality, and don't copy and content or graphics off
their sites. These teachers work very hard on their pages. Please be
considerate and don't copy their hard work.
Mrs. Stroz's Pre-K
Our Kinderhive
Mrs. Taylor's Kindergarten
Mrs. Laboon's Kindergarten
Mrs. McGowan's First Grade
Miss Sullivan's
Second Grade
Mrs. Baker's Second Grade
Mrs. Clapp's Second Grade
Classroom Connection
Mrs. Passetto's Fourth Grade
Mrs. Purser's Fourth Grade
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What makes a website come to life? The Graphics and Clipart you
use of course! After I came up with my website plan, I needed clipart
and graphics to start creating my pages. Graphics/Clipart helps you to
decorate a webpage and brings your website to life. There are many free
School Clipart/Graphic websites to choose from. You can type in "Free
School Clipart" in your favorite search engine and see what comes up on
the web. You can pick and choose the clipart/graphics you like and then
save them in a file in your computer.
How to Download
Graphics:
- Place your mouse over the clipart
and right-click on the mouse.
- Choose "save image as"...from the
little menu window pop-up.
- You will see a name already chosen
for that particular clipart below in the "File Name" section, but you
can re-name it if you want.
- Click on the Top where it says "Save
in:" and choose the folder you'd like to save the clipart to. Please
remember where you're saving it to. It will be easier for you to
retrieve it later. I recommend you create a new folder and name it "My
Clipart." Save all your clipart there.
- Then click on the save button, and
your DONE!
Mac-Users, hold down the
mouse button and when a little window opens, pick "Save image."
Free Website Graphics
& Clipart:
(Here are a
few websites you can visit. I highly
recommend.)
Cutecolors
Graphic Garden
Discovery Channel School Clipart
Original Country Clipart by Lisa
Free School Clipart
Billy Bear Playground
Grandma George
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Now that you've got the
graphics, you can start creating your first webpage.
You can either learn to write HTML or
purchase an HTML editor. I built my website using Microsoft FrontPage.
Microsoft FrontPage is an excellent HTML editor and I highly
recommend it for beginners. I was very lucky to have this program
already installed in my computer. Therefore, I didn't have to go out and
buy it. (If your interested in finding out more about this excellent
program you can read about it and/or download it off their website,
Microsoft FrontPage.) Microsoft FrontPage helps you create a
website by adding and reading HTML scripts for you. Pretty much
FrontPage does all the work. All you have to do is type in your
information and FrontPage puts it all together. FrontPage even has ready
made templates and website themes ready for you to install. All you have
to do is select a theme and add the content. (I love it!)
Other Terrific HTML Editor Programs
are:
(Just to
name a few)
Adobe Creative Suite
Dreamweaver
When
your ready to build your first webpage, you should name it "index" That way you,
and any HTML editor and/or host that you decide to use will know to open that
page first. Keep in mind when building the first webpage what kind of theme
you'd like to have throughout your whole website. Try to make your webpage
appealing to visitors and easy to navigate. Try not to put too much stuff on
your pages. If you add too much fancy stuff your pages, it would make your whole
website take forever to load. (Trust me, I made that mistake too!) When I first
started building my website...I loaded it with super cute scripts, flying
things, graphics.
My website would take a forever to load, therefore causing me to lose visitors.
As time went by, I started designing each page as simple as possible. I cut down
on the fancy scripts and on the heavy graphics. Make sure when you build a
webpage that it is not too busy, or overwhelming. This makes it confusing for
visitors to find what they are looking for and they will most likely leave your
page.
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Some helpful websites to visit that will help
you build your site are:
Bravenet - Free Guestbook,
GuestMap, Mailing List, Counters, etc...
Lissa Explains It All - good place for beginners to learn about scripts.
Dynamic Drive -
more advanced scripts
HTML Clinic- more
advanced scripts
Web Monkey - more
advanced scripts
How to Get rid of border around an
image:
Sometimes when you save an image and paste it on your
website you'll get a border around the image once you've linked that
image to a URL. This tends to be annoying and it will ruin the whole
look your trying to achieve on your page. You will need to go to the
HTML script and do this <img src="your image name.gif" border="0"> to
the image. How to protect your pages and your
graphics? No-Right Click Script:
You can get the "No Right Click" script from
Dynamic Drive (click here) which
disables the right click function of the mouse when a person tries to
save anything from your page. Please bear in mind though that the No
Right Click script is not 100% theft proof.
Disable Image Toolbar:
If you have upgraded your browser to
IE 6.0, you would notice it has an "Image Toolbar" which automatically
pops up to enable you to save any image on a webpage despite the No
Right Click script being installed. You may wish to Disable Image
Toolbar. This feature, is so that your site's images are not so readily
exposed to manipulation. Dynamic Drive has come up with a solution with
a simple Meta Tag.
Click
here to read and get the code.
No Select Text Script:
This script disables the viewers ability to highlight and select text on
your page. With it, dragging the mouse over the text has no effect.
Therefore assuring your words wont be taken.
Click here to read and get the code.
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ou might see more than one background being used
throughout my website. Some people tend to might mistaken them for
borders. They are actually multiple layered backgrounds. To create that
"border" effect, you will have to build table(s) within a table(s). Each
table will be using a different background to get the border effect.
You may highlight and copy the html code(s) below as
a template for putting tables on your website. Once you've pasted the
code, all you have to do is change the words that are in CAPS.
HTML Code for a triple layered background:
(like the one found
on this page)
HTML Code for a fourth layered background:
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Building and
maintaining a web site does not have to cost you a cent. There
are some free web site providers out there that offer reasonable
hosting packages. If your interested in a free website check out
the following links for more information. They will generally
guide you in the right direction when it comes to building online
or uploading your your pages online.
Here are some web sites
that will allow you to build your website for free:
Geocities
Tripod
Webspawner
Teacher Web
Teach-nology
However, from my own
personal experiences, I've found that this option is not generally the
best way. Especially not for a big website like mine.
Don't get me wrong, there are definite advantages to choosing the free
web providers but of course with advantages there always comes
disadvantages.
The Advantages:
...It's
Free!!!
Build your site very
quickly. (in most cases)
Usually no programming
or additional web editors needed such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver.
The Disadvantages:
Design and development
options may be limited (no message board, chat room, guestbook, etc.)
Banners and Pop-ups
(Many free providers place them on your website to help bring in
revenue. You'll just have to live with it!)
You'll probably have a
long web site addresses like http://www.freewebsite.com/members/yourwebsite.htm, opposed
to a more concise address like YourName.com.
Using the free web site
providers are excellent if you are building a site you will not need for
very long. But if you want your website to last, avoid these if
you can and register your own dot com name. That's what I did. I
purchased my own domain and I am in total control of my
website...(including...banner and pop-up free!) My domain name is
www.mrsroman.com
if you do plan on building a classroom website, and/or
you want to be able to include some advanced applications, then you'll
probably want to invest a few bucks into your website. The first
investment should be a domain name (often called a "dot com name".)
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 Why It's Better to Own A Domain Name:
•
You have total control over the look and feel of your website.
Never worry about having your site shut down because
YOU own the domain. (as opposed to relying on a free provider
like Geocities or Tripod).
It may be easier to get listed with major search
engines and directories like Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc. This is
important if you want to get lots of free traffic to your site.
It's easier to remember an address like: http://www.AnyName.com
instead of a free website address:
http://www.AnyName.members.FreeWebsite.com.
Buying Your Domain Name: Start by
registering your domain name here. You will be able to search
their database until you find a name that is available, and that you'd
like to own. Then you can register the name for any amount of years
you'd like. (I recommend registering your website one year at a time. I
re-new mine domain each year.)
After you've done this, you need to get setup with your
web hosting company ,like PowWeb for example, so you can start to
create your web pages and publish your website.
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Once you have reserved and
registered your domain name, you're ready to find a host. A "host" is
the company that provides you with the space to build your web pages,
your email accounts, and additional support for running your site. If
your a school teacher you can probably post your website on the school's
server and they can host your website for free. Ask your principal or
computer technician at school for more information.
You cannot begin
building your site until you have a hosting company.
I pay each month to have my website online. My website is hosted by
Earthlink. I highly recommend them if your interested in having a
reliable company host your website. Follow their logo below to visit
their website.
You normally pay the web hosting company
monthly for their service, and the average price most start-up web sites
pay is between $15 and $30/month.
Be Careful of the Freebies!
Free hosting companies tend not to be reliable. I had a
friend who used a free hosting company with their website and on several
occasions had hard time accessing their website. They could not update
it or change it. Once someone finally from the company answered her
email, they said it was a "technical issue" and that she had to pay
their their staff for technical support in order to answer her
questions....even though the "issue was their technical failure, not
hers. After a few months, the company shut down and all the people who
used their free service lost their websites.
All that hard
work for nothing. My advice to you...stay clear of those free hosting
sites.
So just remember that you get what you pay for.
I'm sure some free hosting companies are fine, but just remember that
you may not get as many features as you would with a paid one and who
wants to have to worry if their site will be around the next day
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Now that you've built it, will they come? You'll
need other visitors besides your parents and students to come view your
website. Website promotion is not just a matter of submitting your pages
to as many search engines as possible. It involves preparing your pages
and yourself to successfully promote the site. This includes knowing
general promotional tips about search engines and about promoting your
website in general.
One of the most important things that you can do for your web site is
to learn how to effectively promote your pages. This list provides just
a few examples of the ways in which you can get visitors to come to your
website and to continue to return to your web site.
Distribute your URL (Universal Resource Location):
Get your Web address out to others. This may include printed-media,
advertisements, and your business card!
Look for "Add a Link" sites and exchange links:
Go to other web pages that relate to your subject. If they happen to
have a section for you to add your website link, then email the
webmaster and add your link. One example of an add a link website is
The Busy Teachers Cafe. Visit this website and add your classroom
link there. I guarantee you'll start getting hits. I get over a dozen
hits a day from other teachers....it doesn't hurt to try. Good
luck promoting your website!
Include your email address:
Make your e-mail
address available
to get feedback on your pages. Users often help you keep the site
current as well. They'll notify you of broken links and any other
problems they may have encountered. This will be a great help!
If you love to visit other classroom websites,
sign their guestbooks.
Make sure to leave your URL and your email address their.
Most likely the person whose guestbook you've signed and other visitors
will follow the link back to yours and return the visit. (I know I do.)
Respond quickly to inquiries:
There is no better way to impress visitors to your web
pages than to show them that they are the most
important part of
your web site. If they email you with questions, respond to them
quickly. I try my best to respond to my guests in a timely manner.
Build an honor roll:
Have a section of your site
showing the great
things that other people are saying about your web site. Be sure to
include any awards or recognition your site has received.
Create a Mailing List to keep visitors up to date:
Having a
Mailing List on your website is a great way to keep your guests informed
of what's new to your website and what's the latest buzz. You can sign
up for a free mailing list at
Bravenet. I also used Bravenet for my Guestbook, GuestMap, and Tell
A Friend script located on my website. Bravenet is very reliable and the
best thing about them is that they are free, and are a reputable company
that have been in business for quite awhile now.
Bookmarks:
Another
great way to get
return visits to your site is to encourage bookmarks. A "bookmark" is used to save the URL (a web address)
of a page you visit often. When a Web page has been bookmarked the
browser will save its URL for quick access at a later date. The visitor
can then go back to this page at any time by simply clicking on the
bookmark in the browser. Remind your guests to bookmark your website in
their favorites.
P eriodically change and update your
information:
It is a good idea
to keep your
website current, fresh, and up to date. This will help to keep people
coming back to your site. Include a time line with realistic launch
dates for fresh content on your page. Post an "website updated" date on
your index for visitors to see, and you may also want to include a
"What's New" section to your index page. Please remember to update it
often. I keep a "What's New" chart
on my first page, my parents go straight to it to see if there have been
any changes since they last visited.
Submit your website to Search Engines:
I submitted my website to each search engine like
Yahoo and Ask Jeeves. There are also some free services that will submit your
information for you periodically. You may also consider joining webrings.
Webrings is a great way to share your website with other educators.
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T ake it from me
it will take you many, many hours
to build your classroom website. Unless your a professional...plan on
making it a long term project. However, the good part is that once it's
built, it is super easy to update. Depending on the size and content of
your website It should take from a few minutes to a couple of hours each
week to update. I sign on every afternoon after work and just change a
few things around here and there and just click the publish button...and
I'm done! Maintaining your Website is a breeze!
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Here is a
list
of some
tips to help you with your web pages. These are simply suggestions to
help you create a better surfing experience for your visitors.
Don't use 50 different content
formats all over your website. Stick to the same font, text sizes,
text colors, themes, etc.
Do include Meta Tags. Meta tags are used to tell the outside
world, especially search engines, all about your pages. You should
include the appropriate meta tags on each and every page. These tags
need to give a description, copyright notice, author name, language
and search keywords.
Don't play annoying music. If you
decide to have music on your website such as I have, give the viewer
the option of turning the music on or off such as I have done below.
Do give credit. It is very
disrespectful to use someone's graphics and not give credit where
credit is due. Try to always list where you got your resources and
graphics.
Do make your page user friendly. Try
to make your pages
consistent throughout. Your navigation and layouts should be
consistent from page to page. Your visitors will then know what to
expect as they surf through your site.
Don't have broken links. Try to keep
all your web pages updated and make sure all your links are working
properly.
Do keep your colors sane. A pink
background with bright florescent green letters is probably not the best way to
win friends. Use all of the colors you want, but it's best not to make your
pages resemble an LSD nightmare. Don't use too many fancy scripts. Avoid lots of
moving things. An occasional animation is great and can turn a boring page into
an award winner, but don't go overboard. In general, more than one animation per
page is excessive.
Well friends, that's it! I am all out
of website building tips and ideas. I plan on updating this page often
and adding more useful tips and links as they become available to me. I
sure hope my mini-tutorial was of any help to you. I'd love to get your
feedback on this page. Email me anytime if you have a comment,
questions, or have even found a broken link or typo. I'd love to hear from you.
Good Luck with your website!
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