Effective Teacher Websites

Much as the Internet has become ubiquitous in our lives, it has become so also in the classroom. Every school district, college, and any other educational institution has a website that ideally communicates the values of the school, while also allowing students and parents to stay in touch with the faculty throughout the student's educational career. The success of these websites varies greatly, offering a spectrum from the cutting edge of websites and communication to websites that look like they haven't been updates since the long-forgotten days of Dial-Up connections. When used effectively, websites have the potential to bridge the gap between home and the classroom, and serve to streamline education into a more natural process.

Through my research, I found the personal website of Mr. Delucca, a social studies teacher at Dunellen High School and the website he set up for his US History II classes. Though not overly complicated, his website is an ideal example of how teacher websites can be used to streamline the classroom experience. The main page outlines his idea for the website for his classes, saying that this website is meant to create personal accountability in his students, and also allows parents to check up to make sure that their children are doing the assigned work. He also offers numerous ways of getting in touch with him, additional websites and resources for his students to use for research, and that week's assignments. The main purpose of the website is to offer supplemental materials and work based on the chapters and learning units. Each learning unit page features the week's homework assignments in greater detail, project prompts, and brief summaries from the in-class texts as a refresher. Numerous primary-source documents are available in PDF and word formats, along with some class nots and assignment rubrics, inadvertently saving paper costs and making the class as paperless as possible.

This website brings parents, students, and the teacher into the classroom no matter where they are, and are extending as much help as possible for their homework and projects. While it may seem to some that putting all this information is in a way babying the students and making them dependent on the teacher putting out notes, but in my opinion teaching isn't about making good note-takers. What's important, especially in my field of history, the students know the facts and dates but also the significance of those dates, and how they fit into the larger historical picture. I would definitely create a website like this for my students, as a way to keep in touch with them and to let the learning process extend of the time I spend with them solely in the classroom.