Coaching Teachers Web 1[MAIN PAGE]
Coaching
Teachers to Design Web Pages Jay Brown Coaching teachers to design their
own Web pages requires a moderate level of expertise on the coaches part, together with a knowledge of teacher
interests, expectations, duties, and time restrictions. This paper will include
some basic assumptions that I have found to be essential as a Web page coach,
as well as a reflection on my Web page coaching experience with two
elementary school teachers. Both teachers have different expectations for
their Web pages, and neither has yet to make a personal commitment to take
full control over independently editing and maintaining their sites. After reflecting on what I have learned as
a Web page coach for the two elementary classroom teachers, I will set goals
for myself and the teachers for the coming school year. Coaching
teachers to build their own Web pages for use in the classroom requires a
moderate level of expertise. Technically, a coach needs to have a working
knowledge of programs like Netscape Composer, Microsoft Front Page, or Adobe DreamWeaver. Additionally, coaches should know how to
access and edit HTML code, in the event that a Web page needs to be modified
from a location where the source documents are not available. Knowledge of
higher-end Web elements, such as CGI script, streaming audio, or video, while
it can be useful for teachers, is not a prerequisite for Web page coaches.
Most teachers who are interested in establishing a Web presence are initially
satisfied with seeing a main page with a photograph, e-mail link, and a
course description. Once a teacher has learned to build a main page, the
coach should demonstrate how the teacher can use their site for Web-based
curriculum links. Making
Internet links for classroom Web pages requires the coach to have some
knowledge of the curriculum. As a Web page coach, I have borrowed and read
classroom text books, read curriculum-based literature, attended grade-level
meetings, met individually with teachers, and conducted long hours of
Internet research looking for age-appropriate curriculum links. I have
created many supplemental and integrated Web-based activities for students to
complete in the computer lab setting based on my knowledge of what is going
on in the classroom. Each Web activity that I have created has been shared
with classroom teachers prior to introducing it students. Teachers have given
me constructive feedback, and they have taken notice of the ease with which Web-based
activities have been accessed and delivered to students. Teachers have made
comments like “You make it look so easy…”,
or “I wish I had the time and expertise
to make a Web page for my students to use.” As a Web coach, I have always
viewed complimentary comments from teachers as opportunities to encourage
them to begin their own teacher Web page. Teachers
who have been willing to use Internet links in their curriculum initially
have a modest level of expectation for success. Teachers who I have coached
usually test the new medium by using it as a supplemental activity with their
students. The expectation for teachers has been that at least some content or
concepts will be touched upon through reading, and discussion, and therefore
worth exploring. Once teachers have experienced success with supplemental
activities, they have been more willing to look at their own paper-based
curriculum activities for use on the Web. Teachers who have made the shift
from paper-based activities to Web-based assignments have far greater
expectations for success, and have come to understand that making the
commitment also requires a significant time investment. Understanding
a teacher’s duties, and level of technical expertise are two important elements
for the Web-coach to consider. Most teachers have a heavy class load and a
number of before and after school responsibilities. Teachers who have relied
upon my technical expertise have said, “I
need your help. My schedule is really hectic, and if I don’t use this
software on a regular basis, then how am I expected remember how it
works?” Invariably, having
complained about a lack of time and expertise, the teacher will suggest we
consider additional content for their Web page. Rather than counter that the
Web-coaches time is valuable too, I have seized the opportunity to show
teachers how to add more content to their page. The result has been that
proportionately more of the teacher’s curriculum has become Web-based
content, and there have been more opportunities for teachers to learn how to
use Web-authoring tools. Kate Thorburn and Peg Teillon are
elementary classroom teachers at The Haverford School, in highly-respected in the
Haverford community for excellence in teaching, and the level of
professionalism which they maintain throughout the school year. In the summer
of 2001, I had given Kate and Peg, as well as four other elementary school
teachers, a hands-on tutorial for building their own Web page in Netscape
Composer. The Web workshop lasted for two days, and culminated in the
teachers uploading their pages. Each page had a title, photograph, brief
course description with at least one curriculum link, and an e-mail link.
Several possible uses for teacher Web-pages were discussed during the
workshop, such as posting homework assignments, parent communication, and
links for Web-based projects. Level of expertise, and time investment were
primary concerns for all six of the teachers participating in the Web
workshop. Of
the six teachers participating in the Web workshop, Kate and Peg were two
teachers who decided to make an investment in their Web pages. For the past
three school years, Kate has scheduled a 45 minute meeting with me each
Friday afternoon to update her page with hands-on, step by step instructions
for editing and uploading. Peg’s investment been one of regularly sharing
paper-based lessons from her curriculum with me that we have worked on
together to transform into Web-based activities for her class page. Peg has
also made a commitment to accompany her class to the computer lab twice a
week, and has taken a lead teaching role in the lab setting, leaving the
technical know-how to me. Kate
and Peg have different emphasis and expectations for their Web pages. Kate
has placed an emphasis on using her Web page as a promotional tool, posting
digital photos of students, class and community activities, as well as
student art work, all with the expectation that parents will use the Web page
as a window into her classroom. Kate has also written activity descriptions
and provided useful Internet links for her students to explore. Kate has commented
that she receives positive comments from parents about her Web page, and she
has deemed it important to update the Web site, as well as provide an archive
of photos and work from past years. The emphasis on Peg’s Web page has been
to provide students with clear directions and resources for
specific projects that require research, note taking, and completing written
work. The expectations for Peg’s Web page have been that students will access
her Web page when they are instructed to, either in the classroom, or in the
computer lab setting. In the spring of 2004, a Web-based activity from Peg’s
page titled Migration (http://www.geocities.com/mrsteillon/movement.html,
2004) was favorably reviewed by the school’s curriculum committee. As I look
back at what I have accomplished thus far with Kate and Peg, I realize that
the most important thing is that both teachers are hooked, and they will
continue to add content to their Web pages in the future. Both teachers do
not yet use their Web pages to the extent that they view independent editing
and uploading as particularly important. Kate, with all of her hands-on
meetings, is far closer to taking over the editing and uploading process than
Peg is. However, as proportionately more of Peg’s curriculum becomes
Web-based, she will eventually demand to be re-coached on editing and
uploading. While I have told both teachers that they should focus on
teaching, and let me worry about the technology, I see it only as a matter of
time before both will teachers will want to take a more active role in
maintaining their Web sites. Obviously,
a clear goal for me will be to get both Kate and Peg to take over the editing
and uploading of their Web sites. To accomplish this, I plan to work with
each teacher to create a daily homework page for their Web sites. The
homework page will be useful for students who are absent, or for those who
have forgotten to take home assignments. Perhaps more importantly, the
homework page will be useful to parents who have found it more difficult to
pick up an absent student’s homework due to construction barriers on campus.
If Kate and Peg buy into the homework page, they will invest 10 minutes a day
to login, edit, and upload, a routine that will provide each teacher the
basic expertise necessary to independently maintain their Web sites. Brown, J. and Teillon,
M. (2004). Migration. Available September, 2004 at: (http://www.geocities.com/mrsteillon/movement.html) Brown, J. and Teillon,
M. (2004). Mrs. Teillon’s Website. Available
September, 2004 at: (http://www.geocities.com/mrsteillon) Thorburn, K.
(2004). Mrs. Thorburn’s Website. Available
September, 2004 at: (http://www.geocities.com/katethorburn) |
