Sharon Fry, Ten Steps to Creating a Classroom Website
Sharon Fry, 2006 Golden Apple Scholar
This month’s Best Practice is for all administrators and teachers who are developing websites for their schools and classrooms. Sharon focuses on talking directly to her students or parents. Her website features homework assignments and other vital classroom needs, but it also has cartoons and a friendly tone, so students are motivated to look at it (and do their work).
One project her class did, collecting money for the Japanese tsunami, is described on the website. Another excellent feature is her Letter to Parents describing the class Holocaust unit.
Sharon says: There are a lot of free websites available today for educators to use. However, I chose to use the site that my district supported and is linked with the school's website. I have students turn in hard copies of the work. I grade work using the extended response rubric found on the isbe.net website. I also use my Elmo projector to project student examples, and we critique them as a class. My student teacher and I are working on using edmodo.com next semester which allows students to post homework directly to the teacher and receive their grades from it. I should know within a few months if we like it enough to move on with that program.
We invite you to travel through Sharon’s classroom website and visit the way she has transformed traditional teaching online, including spelling lessons, homework for proper nouns, and some really funny jokes:
DOWNLOAD THE PDF: Ten Steps to Creating a Classroom Website >
Sharon Burch Fry is a 2006 Golden Apple Scholar. Sharon says:
I teach 6th Grade Language Arts / Social Studies at Murphysboro Middle School. I'm beginning to start my 5th year at MMS, but have been teaching for 6 years. I am the Varsity Scholar Bowl Coach, a Mentor Teacher, the AR coordinator for my building, president of PBIS, and scorekeeper at ball games.
I graduated Summa Cum Laude along with the distinctive honor of being the Valedictorian for my program at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. I also earned my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Reading and Language Studies from SIU, Carbondale.