Week #2 548 Journal

Where I Went/What I Did:

      I began this week by researching more classroom websites.  I was trying to get an idea of exactly what I want on my own website.  I found out that there are some really great websites out there that teachers use on a daily basis.  I mainly visited first grade websites, since that it what mine will be.  I noticed that most of the first grade sites did not have the learning activities that I read about last week.  I guess this is harder to do for the younger students.  Many of the sites had links to websites and games that the students could visit. Many of the sites also had a place where student pictures and classroom pictures could be shared.
     After visiting many different sites I began work on my site map for the website I want to create.  I made mine using PowerPoint because it was the easiest way that I could find.  After I decided what kinds of pages I wanted on my site I then began work on my wireframe.  I visited a couple of free sites for this like Lumzy, Mockingbird, and QuirkTools Wires.   I played with all three sites and decided to use the QuirkTools Wires site to create my wireframe.  It was actually very simple to do and took no time at all to complete the wireframe.

What I Learned:

     The article Designing Your Web Site from the Bottom Up was a great read this week.  Before reading this I would have never thought about making my home page on my website last.  I would have started there instead of finishing there.  From this article I learned the importance of planning out your website.  It's hard to start any project unless you have the end in mind.  One idea I really liked from this article was putting a navigation bar on each page so that users can easily get back to where they want to go from any page.   In the reading Platforms and Tools I gained some knowledge about what software programs are available to help me create my website.  I had heard of several of these sites like Wikispaces and Moodle.  I have never actually used one my self, but I have visited sites that use them.  I wonder if there is one that is more easy to use or if there all about the same?

What I Decided About My Website:

     This week I got a better feel for what I want my website to look like.  I decided that for my website I want a home page, a page for a parents, a page for students, a class page, and contact me page.  I also got an idea about what I want on each page.  For example on my parent page I want a place for News and Events.  I want this to be a place where parents can go to see a calendar of events and get up to date information about what is happening in our classroom and school.  On my student page I want to have links to websites that we use regularly in class as well as some other ones that can visit.  I also want a page where I feature the student of the week.  On the Our Class page I want a place for our daily schedule and some class photos.  I know that do be able to have photos of students on my page I am going to have to send home a permission slip form to the parents.  I feel really good this week knowing that I have a better plan for what I want my website to look like.

My Plans for the Week:

     This week I want to do some more research on the different ways that websites can be created. I want to find one that will be simple to use but yet allow me to do all the things I have planned.  I am also going to continue to look at more classroom websites to see if I can get anymore good ideas.