11/18

I just now realized that I already blogged on Chapter 7 last week....woops! I guess I won't repeat myself.

What I can talk about is the Weebly site that we worked on during the first half of class Wednesday. I like the layout of the site and the tools it gives you to easily incorporate any elements you want into your website. It's extremely easy to use, but still maintains a professional appearance. Website builders with elements that have such a basic click, drag, type setup to them usually end up looking like they're intended for a younger audience (one that is just learning to become familiar with website building). However, the final outcome of the website ends up looking very professional and well put-together. The options for the backgrounds are not the best, but they're sufficient for a basic professional web page. It would be better if we could change the images in the headings. There may be a way to do this but it doesn't seem to be obvious. I still can't figure out why the web page seems to be so constricted to the center of the page. It doesn't allow you to make use of the ample amount of room on either side of the central work area in which you post all of your material. This was pretty frustrating because the layout of the page would look a lot better if it were spread out width-wise much more.

I like the idea of a professional portfolio because we could use them later for job interviews and as an addition to our resumes. Employers who are looking for someone who is well-acquainted with technology and intends on using it in their classroom would be very impressed with this addition to their resume/portfolio. Unfortunately, I feel that not ALL employers would see this as a strong asset, and it might go unappreciated in some cases. However, better safe than sorry, and if anything it's a good way to organize your own materials, files, and personal information. Most employers ARE looking for new ways to incorporate technology, and teachers who are willing to do so, since so many teachers are reluctant to explore its uses and resources.

I also think I will enjoy building the classroom website. There is a good chance that I may have to do this in my future job, since almost every school's website I have visited has personal websites for each teacher. Some of these are very uniform and obviously school-mandated, but there are many that have clearly been created, designed, and updated frequently by the teachers themselves. Even if the school doesn't use a program such as Edline, Blackboard, or GradeConnect, personal classroom websites can serve this function also if they are frequently updated by the teacher. I think this project will give us a great resource for the possibility of having to do this in the future, and I honestly think I'll have fun creating it!