BP2_SchoolRack

This week I chose to discover the benefits of www.schoolrack.com.  This website offers free classroom websites/blogs.  There is an available upgrade, but that has a monetary monthly fee of $5.95.  The website is designed to provide a place for teachers to communicate with both parents and students.

To sign up, teachers simply have to enter their first and last name, a password, and a user name.  Once your user name has been chosen it cannot be changed because it becomes part of your url, so users are cautioned to think carefully when choosing their user name.

Once registered you are directed to your dashboard, where you have a simple to-do list to create a full page quickly.  Your to-do list involves finding your school and registering it on your page, adding a homepage photo, creating your first page and post, and filling out your profile.

Dashboard

Filling out your profile is easy to do and in no time you are creating your first page.

My User Profile

I chose to set a page for all three of the classes I currently teach and then a group page for general 5^th grade discussion.  Creating a page is easy to do, you just enter the name of your desired page.

Once you set up your pages, you need to create groups.  I created a separate group for each of my classes.  After creating the group, you are directed to a page that contains a group code.  The code is needed for students and parents to register for the site.  It also gives you the option to print out directions to be sent home on how to register with your code.

Creating Groups is Easy!

My Groups

Group Code

After creating your groups, you can now post assignments for your classes, start a discussion board, and create mailing lists.

Now for the fun part!  You can customize your webpage by choosing a theme and setting a heading and sub-heading to be seen on every page.  There are numerous themes to choose from in the free edition, but even more options are available by upgrading to the paid version.

Customize Screen

Finally, create your first post.  I created a welcome post and also added a few upcoming events to the calendar for the visitors to see.  I also started a discussion board thread pertaining to the upcoming FCAT testing.

I feel that this will be a very beneficial tool in my classroom.  It will allow parents to access student learning and assignment and to also interact with me in an open forum.  It will give students the opportunity to interact with their peers and me in a fun way that they are not used to.  I am not going to require that students post to the website, as not all of my students have computer access on a regular basis.  However, I will give students the option of posting on the webpage for certain assignments and for extra credit.

There are added benefits to having the paid version, such as password protection, increased number of pages you can post, and advanced page customizing.  For right now, though, I think that the free version will serve my purpose just fine.  If I see that the pages generates enough interest that I need additional pages, etc, then I may consider paying the $6 a month.

Thank you for stopping by, and if you get a chance please check out my new class website at http://www.schoolrack.com/MsHanesClass/

-Heather

My Finished Product