Mrs. Bogucki’s Creating a Classroom Web Page provides some tips, ideas, and advice for teachers publishing their first classroom website and even for experienced webmasters. You can view the full version of these guidelines at http://www.mrsbogucki.com/aemes/resource/internet/webpage.htm.

1. Define a Template for Your Class Pages. Create Web pages from the beginning with the intent of expanding the site. Time is an issue for teachers because supporting teaching and learning in their classroom takes more time than they already have. Whatever is created has to be supported with minimal expenditure of time so it is important to design a template for Web page layout and structure. For example, templates should include the following:
   • A page logo that is standard on all pages
   • A standard background and color scheme
   • Basic navigation control features that include:
     • A link to a table of contents or site map showing the logical flow of the website
     • Buttons for going backward and forward
     • A button to take the viewer immediately to the classroom home page
     Using templates also has the advantage of making all pages have a consistent look and feel to them that gives them that polished look. Remember that classroom Web pages are primarily for your parents and students. Using templates allows you to build pages. Adding new pages for anything is almost as simple as making a copy of an existing page and replacing the content of the existing page with your new information. In fact we have a generic template just for that purpose. Supporting our Web pages takes an average of 15-20 minutes at the most per week (unless we are adding something new). I think I can afford that amount of time.
2. Learning versus Using HTML. Creating a Web page is not a difficult task, even for a newcomer. The HyperText Markup Language, or HTML, is actually a subset of a much richer dialect called the Standardized General Markup Language, or SGML. These languages use tags or markups (the ) such as <B>for bolding text</B> or <I>for italicizing text</I> to transform a plain text file into a marked-up document suitable for publishing on the Internet. The language is not difficult to learn, and actually requires only a minimal set of tags for you to use to create a Web page. There are several books available on HTML and even online tutorials that can get you started or assist with some questions or ideas that you might have. HTML is almost not even required since browsers today are intelligent enough to display the contents of a file according to the type of filename extension that is on your document. Filename extensions are those dot-label suffixes such as (.txt) for text files, (.htm. or .html) for HTML, and (.jpg or .gif) for image files that at a glance tell the user what type of file they have.

   There are advantages and disadvantages for using Web authoring tools versus doing it yourself. The main reason for using Web authoring tools is that they allow you to create pages fast and accurately. These tools compensate for the Web page author’s lack of knowledge and experience with the underlying code. It is not realistic to assume that all teachers are skilled or proficient in the analysis, design, development, and maintenance of computer software. When you start to construct a series of interlinked Web pages, you are in essence writing or creating a program—a program written in HTML, which makes function calls to linked pages. Use the tools with which you feel the most comfortable. After a while you will master the basics and move to a higher level of proficiency, but it takes time to learn some of the nuances of the language.

3. Before Getting Started, Think About What You Want. Before starting to build a website, ask yourself why you really want to create a classroom site. Answering this question before you get started will save you a lot of time later, should you decide to change your rationale. Whatever the reason, understanding why you want a Web page actually sets the stage for what you create and how far you can take it later on. It is almost like building a house: Lay the foundation, frame the walls, and add a roof. What you don't want to happen is to finish the house and find that you forgot to add plumbing, wiring, and other key essentials to your abode. Building a Web page is actually very similar: Create the entry point (home page), add some text, throw in some graphics, add links to the outside world, and before you know it you have a small site on your hands. The only problem is that if you did not consider the potential for growth you could very well end up having an albatross on your hands that you cannot get under control.

   A Web page is a digital ambassador—an electronic representative of you and your class in the cyber-community called the Internet. Access to this community is available to almost anyone and there are many people on the Net looking for information on topics such as art, literature, science projects, sports, and school home pages, just to name a few.

   We want visitors to return to our page! We want our parents to see our class pages so they can see what their children are doing in our classrooms. We want the kids to see themselves as represented and to give them a feeling of pride and accomplishment. We want fellow educators to see our pages and get ideas. Education is the exchange of expression and ideas. Learn from someone!

4. Provide Useful Information. A major problem in getting people to make repeated visits to your site occurs when you do not update your page and allow it to become stagnant. Create pages that provide the user with something they need—relevant information. As teachers, our classroom pages should say something about our class. Our users or target audience should primarily be the student and their parents.

   You might say, “Why publish on the Internet when you can just as easily send that information home on a note?” That is a fair question, but then ask yourself how many notes, disciplinary slips, and report cards have failed to get home and into the hands of parents? Although everyone does not have access to the Internet, for those who do, it is a lifesaver. Is it extra effort to support both forms of media? Absolutely not! You still had to type the information anyway; just take it one step further and add some HTML tags around it, and it becomes a Web page.

   Another area in which we have found success with parents is the very sensitive area (at least for students) of homework. Put a homework hotline on your classroom home page! Not only is this information useful, it changes weekly and that alone provides change to your pages. I have had several parents tell me that they needed a copy of the spelling words for the week because their child had lost it. No problem; hit the classroom home page and print them off.

   Do you reward your students with recognition? We do in our classroom with our Student of the Week. We acknowledge the student in front of their peers and publish the Student of the Week on the classroom home page for the world to see! What about publishing projects the students do? It is great to publish key works that the students have accomplished or activities that you have completed in class. Again, publishing activities also provides our peers a glimpse of what we are doing because everyone could use good ideas!

   Because we are essentially reporting on what children are doing when we publish on the Web, we stress the importance of privacy. Privacy is first and foremost on my mind when we post something on our pages. We have our student pick a pseudonym or a nom-de-plume and use that! Not only does this mask the actual identity of who the student is, but it also is a great opening for a literature lesson! While we are at it, post no photographs without the written permission of the parent. As a general rule, I do not use photographs of the students at all. If I cannot do it for all, I do not do it for one.

   Once your classroom home page starts to flourish, add some things for your students to do using the website. Design Web pages with the idea of having your students learn to feel comfortable using a computer to access their home page on the Internet. To do this, you need to give them something that provides interaction. Links to educational sites and sites dedicated specifically for kids gives them the ability to branch out and explore this electronic learning environment. Providing a list of sites that you have personally checked offers a reasonably safe activity for your students. These kinds of activities really start to integrate the technology that we all talk about with teaching.