Creating+a+Professional+Classroom+Website+with+Google+Apps

Session 1 -**Building a High Quality Professional Classroom Website**
Google Sites allows you to create a simple, yet flexible, web site quickly, easily, and without needing to know any complicated HTML or CSS markup. Just like Google Docs, you can share your site easily and allow others to collaborate with you on the site. On the surface, Google Sites is a lot like a number of other web publication tools on the Internet. That being said, the true power of Google Sites lies in its tight integration with the rest of the Google suite. You can insert documents, presentations, maps, photo galleries and more with relative ease.

Participants will develop skills and use tools to become a 21st Century Educational Leader. Enhance teaching and learning in your classroom by creating and sharing best practices in your school building. Participants will receive the appropriate hardware to become 21st century educators. They will be provided with the skills and ability to use their device to create and maintain a professional presence for collaboration and communication among professionals. Participants will create a google site for instructional purposes.
 * Objective:**


 * Agenda:**
 * Welcome**
 * Background**
 * HP Elite/IBM ThinkPad Overview**
 * Integrating 21st century skills into the curriculum**
 * Importance of Online Spaces in today's classroom**
 * Visioning the structure of your space**
 * Activities**
 * Evaluation**


 * Welcome and Introductions**

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 * How will you teach me in the 21st century?**

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 * Are you a 21st Century Teacher? **
 * View: [|21 Signs You're a 21st Century Teacher]
 * Respond to the below survey:


 * HP Elite/IBM ThinkPad Overview**
 * Review of all HP Elite 2730 tablet hardware features
 * Getting online anywhere -- **//configure your wireless//**
 * Overview of pre-loaded administrative and instructional resources and templates
 * Basic Introduction to MicroSoft OneNote 2007

How do you collaborate using web technologies such as blogs, websites, Google Docs, etc. to enhance and support 21st century teaching and learning for teachers?
 * Integrating 21st Century Skills**:


 * By integrating web 2.0 tools into your curriculum and teaching through:**
 * Blogs
 * Websites
 * Videos
 * Podcasts


 * What do these tools do for you?**
 * Research
 * Write
 * Communicate
 * Collaborate
 * Problem-solve
 * Be creative

In other words, you can use these tools for applying 21st Century Skills across the content areas.

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**What We'll Be Practicing**

 * Effective design of an instructional website
 * How to get your Google Site up and running.
 * The different pages available and purpose (Web page, Announcements, File vault, and Lists).
 * How to tweak the privacy settings on your Google Site.
 * How to embed gadgets and media
 * Pictures
 * Videos
 * Calendars
 * Readers
 * Customized Search


 * Practical uses in the classroom**: So, once you have your Google Site up and running, what should you do with it? Obviously, there is no right answer to this question. There are about as many practical uses in the classroom as there are teachers using Google Sites. As you get comfortable with the tool, you're going to get a feel for how it might be able to enhance what you do in the classroom. Remember: //There is no wrong answer.//

Here are some ideas:
 * A class webpage that serves as a repository for all of your lessons (that you've saved using Google Presentations), homework assignments (written in Google Documents), and photographs (which you may have uploaded into Picasa).
 * An electronic portfolio of all of your best work as a teacher that you add to over the course of your career.
 * A departmental collaboration space that stores meeting agendas and allows for colleagues to communicate even when they can't be in the same room together.
 * A school webpage that is easily accessible to staff members of varying degrees of comfort with technology.
 * A class portfolio that your students take control of that allows them to share their best work with the school community.

**What makes a quality classroom Web site? **
 * Academically and intellectually sound, including meaningful information, activities, and links
 * Thematically and artistically coordinated using common backgrounds and structures that link your site together graphically and thematically
 * Interactive, including class projects, digital communities, and other activities for students
 * Attractive and appropriate material for your students, their parents, and your teaching colleagues
 * Relevant and marketable, to include a portfolio of your professional work and accomplishments

**Final Project Guidelines**
Create a Google Site with the following features:
 * A home page with a site map.
 * An announcement page with at least three posts
 * A link to your Google Reader shared items.
 * A map with the location of your school as well as our office (415 89th Street, Brooklyn NY) and three other points of interest.
 * A Google Custom Search engine.

**Resources for Creating Classroom Web sites**

//Web Design //
[|Jesset.com] offers design tips and techniques. [|Creating Good Web Sites] is an in-depth examination of successful Web design. [|Web Pages That Suck] is a humorous look at what not to do.

//Backgrounds and Buttons//
[|Background City], [|Top100-websites], [|GRSites], and [|Free-Backgrounds] all offer different backgrounds. [|Freebuttons.com] has lots of button options. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">[|Gif Works] has free resources for 3-D text, animated banners, buttons, etc. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;">[|Flaming Text] has buttons, arrows, bullets, and other resources.

Additional Resources and Examples

 * [|Google Sites Tour](YouTube Video)
 * [|Google Sites: Simple, Secure Group Websites](YouTube Video)
 * [|Nicole Beye's ePortfolio]
 * [|Mrs. Richau's Classroom]
 * [|Project Eggplant]
 * [|Technologies for Online Teaching and Learning Conference Site]
 * [|Dr. Jason Rhode's ePortfolio]