11) Teacher Websites

Every educator needs to build and maintain his or her own teacher/classroom Website. Period.

Efficiency: A teacher Website helps gain more teaching time.  When hyperlinks on that page are connected to high-quality resources, the students quickly become used to getting to the classroom page and moving on to the resources they need.

Resources: By placing hyperlinks relevant resources on the classroom Website, teachers not only speed up access to materials but can also increase all students' access to high-quality curriculum materials that directly support content.  Though placing resources on your Website is no guarantee that students will use them independently, it is definitely a step toward doing all that can be done to support all learners.

Relevance: Students will come to see the Internet as a personally relevant extension of school.  This is because the Internet is already an extension of so much of their personal life, failing to establish a classroom component on the Internet can marginalize the perceived importance of school.

Connection: Students come to see their teachers as connected.  In our culture today, if you're not online, you're not relevant... the Internet is that important.

Access: The teacher is the most valuable resource in the classroom, so we must provide greater access through the inclusion of an email address, a phone number, a contact form, or other communication tools, students and their families gain extended access to their teachers.

Experience: Students will gain experience using digital resources in direct support of which is definitely a needed 21st century life skill, seeing as virtually all professions now use the Internet in some way, shape, or form.

Moral of the story: MAKE A WEBSITE!!!!! NOW!!