Weebly

I've been wracking my brains about what my first "official" post should be about, but nothing was very satisfying to me.  It's probably because I hadn't figured out my approach, my purpose.  I wanted to talk briefly about Weebly, but was so hesitant because Weebly was "work" and I didn't want my blog to be related to my job.  However, it didn't take me too long to get some sense knocked into me again, and tell myself (yup, I do have the inner monologues),

"Erin! You wanted to do this blog because you are so in love with your job and #edtech!  It's OK for them overlap sometimes."

To which I hesitantly replied,

"Yea...that's true.  Ok, Weebly it is!"

And that's how I got here today!  So just a quick overview.  +Weebly is a VERY user-friendly, FREE (E-ticket word) website that allows you and/or your students to build websites - no coding experience needed.  However, there is an option for coding though as well.)

So here is the big question...

HOW CAN I USE IT IN MY CLASSROOM???

How many times, in your education experience (as a student, as an undergrad, as a teacher) have you been asked to create a "poster" to present information?  Posters are the GO-TO creative way to show off vast amounts of learning in a fun and creative way.  Well, now students can create a website instead!  WHAT?!?  MIND BLOWN!!!

Do you need to have a class website?  Would you like to have a class website?  Not an LMS, where you post and receive turned in assignments, but a place where parents can go to find out what's going on in your classroom. Photos, blog posts, up coming adventures, ways they can help in the school or your classroom, etc.

+Ben Clutter is a science teacher that I work with and he took his students to Costa Rica over the summer.  Before they left, he used Weebly to create web quests so the students would have the necessary background knowledge to be fully prepared for what they would be experiencing. Additionally, he had the students build Weeblys with photos, blog posts, community outreach projects, etc.  This was a really creative way to assess the student learning in an alternative setting.

In an early childhood setting*, how incredible would it be for students to help the teacher build an ABC website to showcase student learning.  Ever heard of classes creating businesses?  In today's world, it's important to have a website so your audience can find out about your business.  What about website with book reviews to go with your class library or the school library?  The possibilities are endless!!

What will you do?

Videos courtesy of +Ben Clutter 2015

*be sure to read through Terms of Service for students 13 years of age and younger

Intro

Hello!

My name is Erin and I am an Ed Tech.  In a nut shell...here is my story.

Graduate from UNLV and take a job teaching Kinder/Computers where I went to school in 8th grade. I asked not to teach computer because I wasn't comfortable enough with the content.  I then moved to a different school and teach 4th.  We had SMARTBOARDS, but I didn't use it to better my instruction.  I was still excited about them though.

After 3 years, I move to a different district, different school, and different grade level...1st.  I found there were NO SMARTBOARDS!!!  I also learned I needed to better my instruction.  Then...WE GOT SMARTBOARDS!!!  YEA!!!  However, I knew that I needed to learn to use the smartboard to continue to better my instruction and my students learning.

After 7 years of teaching, I decided to pursue my Masters in Ed Tech because I loved learning how to improve my teaching and my students' learning experience with technology.  When I graduated, I left the classroom to become an Educational Computing Strategist.  Which is just a fancy name for a teacher that "should" coach other teachers on ed tech integration but really just fixes printers.  When my district got rid of ECSs, I applied for and became a DLC; Digital Learning Coach.

Most recently (less than a year ago), I left my district, my DLC job, my home, and my state to become an Ed Tech at an AMAZING university.  Here I am lucky to be able to work with high school teachers to support their efforts in ed tech integration in their classrooms.  As well as support them as they work to encourage the rest of their staff in ed tech integration.

What's next???  I have NO idea!  It's a huge ed tech world out there and I am not done learning.  

How did you find you way into the Ed Tech world?  Thank you!