Things to Include In Your Classroom Website

So you want to start a classroom website?  Here are a few things that you should consider before you begin, and what information you should consider including.

Tip to Consider: How Often Will You Update?

It is easy to go into creating a classroom website and think that you are going to update it every day.  But, you know yourself better than anyone else does.  Truly, do you think you will be able to maintain that standard?  For some people, it is easy.  Just add it to your daily routine and BAM! But for others, it is just impractical.

When you are planning out your website, keep your updating timeline in mind.  Don’t think that you are going to keep it up to date with all the homework if you are only going to update it once per month.

Tip to Consider: Will You Run it Alone?

Do you work on a team, or do you co-teach?  Are you going to make this your own personal classroom website, or are you going to be running it with a team teacher(s)?

If you are going to run it with another teacher, make sure that you sit down with them before you get started and that you are both on the same page.  Who is going to be responsible for which pieces of the website?

What to Include: Contact Info

Your parents are going to be looking for the best way to contact you.  Tell them this on your website.  Should they call and leave a message?  Do you respond best to emails?  Let them know!  This is great information to include on your website.

What to Include: Syllabus & Project Information

Depending on what grade you teach, you may have a formal syllabus.  If you do, include this on your website.  Parents are going to appreciate having this information readily available.

If you are going to be doing a long term project, make the informational sheet available on your website.  Many of your students are going to lose this and making this available will help them and their parents make sure that they meet all of the requirements.

What to Include: Study Guides

If you are giving a big test and you have made a study guide, post it so that parents can help their children study.  This also lets parents know ahead of time what is going to be on your test.  They can use this information for themselves or any tutors they may employ that are going to be helping your students work on getting ready for the test/quiz.

What to Include: Extra Help Resources

I am going to use a math class for an example with this one because that is how I use this.  But often kids work on a skill in class, think that they understand it, but then go to do the homework and they’re lost.  If you include resources that can help them to remember how to do things on your site, they will be more successful at completing their homework.  One teacher that I work with will record videos of her completing problems and the kids can access them to help.  This can prevent a lot of parents and student frustration when trying to do homework.

What to Include: Your Expectations

Putting your classroom rules and expectations online for everyone to review can be a helpful way of answering parent questions before they are asked.  If a parent is confused about how you are disciplining students or methods you are using for classroom management, they can refer to this document.  And this can prevent emails from coming that could be easily answered by the document.

Also, check out:

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5 Things to Remember When Talking to Parents