Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Website in a Weekend with Weebly

So, sorry about the delayed blog post.  I have not been MIA, but simply launching a new website, The Classroom Cafe.  The new site resulted after my friend and co-worker, Kathleen, and I left Curriculum Camp so excited about the many ideas shared by presenters and our co-workers alike.  At the camp, we had talked about incorporating fun curriculum challenges into next year's faculty meetings (kind of like they do on all of the Food Network shows like Cupcake Wars and Top Chef).  We hoped those of us who chose to participate would be stretched professionally as we attempted to incorporate new ideas and strategies into our classrooms.  We knew we wanted a place to share successes, show pictures, reveal challenge items, and host weekly videos; thus, The Classroom Cafe was born.
The website creator of choice was Weebly!  I am sure I am late to the party (it was listed as one of Time's 50 best websites in 2007!!!) , but I must say this is the quickest and easiest website builder I have ever used (so, of course, I felt I should share with you:).  If you are unfamiliar with it like I was, it something that YoU CaN SO dO!
It was LitErAlLy a drag and drop process with extensive choices to customize my very own site.  I spent most of my time creating original artwork using my favorite Promethean software, but I could have just as easily used one of their many templates.  
Sample Student Site
Training Video
It was fun and satisfying to build the site in a weekend, which caused me to wonder how my students would respond to a similar challenge.  Weebly has educational accounts for both teachers and students.  Besides the obvious class website for hosting study guides, class notes, and tutorials, Weebly can be utilized by students to communicate research, house an electronic portfolio, share favorite books, report school happenings, demonstrate content knowledge using video, podcasts, and demonstrations, or host an online art gallery.  Truly, the possibilities are endless.  If you have not tried Weebly, I highly recommend it.  It's free!  It's easy!  It's worth checking out

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