web pages in the classroom...

At first, I could not really see what the value of creating a web page for your classroom would really be other than being one of those teachers who felt like doing things just to show off the things that they are able to do in their spare time. However, after doing some research, I can see how a web page could be a tool that is used for not only teachers but parents, students, other educators and distant family members as a means to keep more than just the individuals that are in the immediate classroom involved with this class. How easy it would be for anyone to log on to the web and search the site is as easy as it would be to keep them updated. Within minutes, anyone would be able to be locate recent achievements, events, fundraisers, and anything else that you felt like sharing with those who would be logging onto the site. In addition to this, you could use it as a resource for your students and allow them to search information covered throughout the day, week, or unit, as a link to support enhanced learning or practice with a certain skill, and a way to post reminders for the students in the event that they forget to write things down or tell their parents (which always happens). As a teacher, the web page could be your organizational tool. You would no longer need a day planner or a journal to write down creative ideas for lesson plans, you could simply post them on your own web page and not have to worry about always carrying something with you in order to keep your reminders organized. If you used it as a calendar for the class, you could always access your page anywhere and keep yourself reminded of upcoming events with the click of a mouse. You could find articles, worksheets, or other links that you wanted to share with your class, upload them to your page, display any information that you wanted to distribute and even print relevant materials for the class straight from the page itself.
In terms of communication, the web page could answer that question, "what did you learn today" to all of the parents that are concerned when their child says, "nothing". You could log on and see the materials that were covered or will be covered at any time of the day. I think that what might be difficult for many parents is that fact that some parents work two or three jobs and are single parents. Any additional time that they have they are most likely not going to want to spend making a trip to their childs classroom as unfortunate as that might sound, but they probably want to rest or spend any extra time that they can with the child or children that they are working so hard to support. This eliminates the need for these visits and allows parents to remain connected at their convenience.
I have not yet fully jumped into the process of creating the google site although I have looked over the materials that were posted in order to help of through the assignment and located where to begin in my google account. Again, that is something that is so far out of my comfort zone for me but I am hoping that it is something that I am successful with and something that I enjoy so that I will use it in the future. Either way, I feel like knowing is better than not knowing, and just in the exposure I feel so much more confident than I have ever felt in regards to using the internet as an educational tool.

These are the links that I used this week to enhance my learning of web pages:
http://www.misscampioni.com/
http://www.kinderart.com/teachers/webpage/shtml
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/19/26/94.pdf