Mr. Underwood's Health Class

Cory Underwood’s Health Website

 

Introduction

          As a teacher, husband, and parent of two young children I often feel like there are not enough hours in a day.  We are now expected to do and accomplish so much more in this busy world that we live in.  As a teacher I often encounter parents who cannot return phone calls or make it to conferences because they are working or taking care of some other responsibility and before I realize it, the grading quarter is over.  Classroom websites have helped eliminate this problem and take some of that pressure off of parents who feel as if the only way to meet or communicate with teachers means taking a day off from work.  By creating a classroom website it not only keeps parents, students, and the community up to date with class and school information, but also provides them an opportunity to communicate with me without losing time from their important schedules.         

Website Pages

          When you first enter the website you arrive at the Home page.  This page

shows a picture of the front of Potomac High School and also provides a link

to the school website.  Being proud of where I teach I want everyone who visits

to see and know my school so the picture is to help represent that.  On the

homepage I also wrote a short statement welcoming visitors to the website

and to the new school year.  At the bottom of the page there are two videos that

not only help display my feelings about Health, but also my feelings towards

teaching all together.  

          The Parents page gives a basic overview of what links

they have access to from there which include General Announcements and New Technologies.  General Announcements allows visitors to see not only some of the important classroom announcements such as Back to School Night, but school announcements like when progress reports are given.  From that page, parents can also have access to important classroom forms and handouts from the first day of school and throughout the semester.  The New Technologies page is really important for visitors, especially those who are not as technologically savvy as others.  This page provides important information about the new types of technology I will be using for the semester.  There are links that direct the visitor to the website of each of the technologies I will be using.  For parents they also get to see an array of classroom and school pictures.

          The Students page really allows for learning to take place outside of the school, especially at home.  The Class Notes let visitors, specifically students; always have the ability to see important notes from the day’s class or previous classes.  This is a great way to make sure students never miss a day of information without giving them an opportunity to gain knowledge on the day’s lesson.  More importantly, there is a section of notes in English as well as in Spanish.  This year we had a large increase of the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) population in our school.  For the student’s that do not speak English well, I translate the notes and many assignments for them until they until they begin to become better English speakers.  

          The next page for students to take a look at is the Homework page which gives the description of each homework assignment, and a link to the Edmodo site directly.  When directed to the Edmodo site, they will be sent straight to the page for that assignment where submission responses may be turned in and graded.  This page is not only important and a vital tool for student’s to use, but parents who also have an Edmodo code to check and see if assignments have been done and the grade received for the assignment.  The student page also houses where project guidelines will be.  Twice a semester and project will be given and so the guidelines and rubric as well as examples will be provided.  There are also three links that send students to some other important websites that can be a source to help with their overall health and wellness.

    Provided by the curriculum created by Prince George’s County Public

Schools is a Unit page I designed to give all visitors and brief overview of the units that will be

covered throughout the semester.  On that page there is the actual outline from the curriculum

guide as well as my own description of the units as I know them and teach them twice a year.  

The Calendar really allows the visitor to keep up with the class and follow along every step of the

way.  This is a good way for those who come to the page to make necessary plans to look ahead or

have to look back at classroom plans.

          About Me gives all visitors a look at who I am as a person and as a teacher.  

Many times teachers are looked at as robots with little to know emotion so hopefully after seeing this page they will get a better understanding of who I am and my teaching style which hopefully will make all visitors more comfortable with me and my class overall.  My philosophy on teaching describes how I feel the learning experience should be and what I would like for my students to gain from their time with me.  At the bottom of the page there are photos of me with some of my students over the years.  My students mean everything to me and are the reason why I wake up and go to teach every day.  I learn just as much from them as they do from me and I am enjoy all of the relationships that I have with them.  The page of Community Resources is something that can help anyone who needs information on local health service providers. Being that our students live within a small area I wanted to make sure the information would be meaningful for them as well and made sure that links, phone numbers, and addresses were up to date.

          For the Web-based Unit I decided a unit that would allow students to gain awareness on drugs, addiction, affects, and treatments.  When designing this unit I thought about feedback that I have gotten from students in previous years when this assignment was done different and more independently.  I tried to find a way to make sure every student contributes and if not done properly will have little effect on the rest of the group members.  Every step of this web-based unit comes with a checklist of what needs to be done as students complete the assignment.  My goal is for students to successfully follow the instructions that have been set for them and for these instructions to be clear enough for them to follow until they complete the assignment.  I chose this to be focused around drugs because it’s usually one of the student’s favorite topics to discuss.  

From the Course

          Doing this assignment was really time-consuming and it took a lot of thought.  Many of us have made classroom websites including myself but when making your own the requirements aren’t specific and you have total control.  Luckily the current course has helped prepare me for what was needed to complete it.  From lesson 2 when the class participated in the discussion on Constructivism, Media, and Technology it was a building block for this project.  We learned how images and technology connects students to learning and makes learning more meaningful for students.  Doing that discussion alone has helped me think about my image choices that I use to display for students.  We have been learning about how to use different software technologies to enhance pictures and focus aspects of images for student learning.  Recently doing the scaffolding assignment was really beneficial because it gave me an opportunity to really become comfortable with using a website creating software and how to create pages that link from one to another.  

Conclusion

          A lot of work goes into keeping up with a classroom website.  There are some

important aspects that the audience looks for when they come to a website, especially

for education.  It should be easy to navigate through and provide the visitor with all of

the information they feel is needed.  The creator has to be sure not to only look to make

the site cater to them, but most importantly the audience.  Part of a teacher’s

professional responsibility is communicating with family members.  So even though

website builders are different, they all provide the opportunity for families to connect

to the academic part of their students’ lives, and for students to connect to school

after the final bell rings to make education available anytime they wish to access it. 

This semester we have learned the good and bad aspects of each component that is incorporated in the education of our students.  Now being able to apply these newly learned skills not only shows our understanding, but more importantly benefits our students and their parents.  I know that my students and their families will benefit from my use of technology.