What motivated me to want to
create a web site?
I
have been very involved in using the computer since I
began to work with those friendly PETS in the early
1980's. Over the years I have used Logo Language,
Word Processing, and HyperStudio. After taking
a "Classroom Presentations" class at
Chittenden Center, I began using the computer as a
teaching tool with such programs as Astound
and PowerPoint. The idea of placing my
students' writings and photographs on an internet web
site appealed to me. What better way to showcase
their work? I looked at many elementary school sites
and concluded I could do it.
Beginning
steps
I
first practiced on an Angelfire site in the fall of
1996. Angelfire is free, and I learned quite a bit.
My students were able to type in their essays, and I
was also able to upload their text files. Making
changes was simple. It was a satisfactory start.
Alas, loading photographic images was difficult, and
when Angelfire crashed, we lost everything. I felt we
needed a website where I could store a copy on my own
computer.
I
next purchased PageMill , an editor program,
and began to put together a small web. I had no idea
how I would launch it. I also began learning a bit of
html, a direction I would not recommend.
Before
I was ready, I found myself and others at Chittenden,
a local Science Center, making a web using the editor
program FrontPage. This was fun, but the
missing ingredient was Control. I still did not have
control of the web site. I could not make additions
and corrections at will.
Stage
1: Getting Serious about making a web
In
the summer of 1997, I started learning FrontPage
for Macintosh and also for PC. The PC used was the
one we made in Goals 2000. I went
through the tutorial on both the Mac and PC. (There
is little difference) Pages could be moved back and
forth between the two computers with few problem. I
practiced making pages and pages and pages. I
downloaded other people's webs and studied their
techniques. Several books I found useful were FrontPage
97 Unleashed by Staneck, Wild Web Graphics
with Microsoft Image Composer, and PhotoShop
3. I would guess I averaged three hours a day all
summer. I made many false starts along trails I
decided not to follow. When I needed help, I'd e-mail
Tom Johnson at Chittenden, or Jim Stamm in Benzonia.
Hardware
Needs
I
quickly recognized I needed a bigger Macintosh
computer. I ended up buying a Macintosh G3 because my
6320 was being over burdened by the web requirements
. I ended up buying a second G3 and am pleased with
the performance of these machines. (I keep Virtual
PC on one)
A
digital camera is nice to have ( I've used the Ricoh
300 and the Olympus D300L). I prefer the Olympus
because it allows me to take photographs in the
traditional way, holding the viewfinder up to your
eye, which is easier with my own bifocal lenses. It
also uses far less batteries than the Ricoh. Other
teachers like the Ricoh camera. Students did well
with the Ricoh . I guess it is a personal preference.
Try before you buy. Back to the top
Attempting
to Launch was the hardest thing of all, I thought
It
was very difficult getting a web site. It was more
than a six weeks from the time I first asked our
Local Internet Provider for a spot to place my web,
until I actually placed it. Once the service provider
provided me with a space I tried to upload from the
PC using CuteFTP. I tried for days and never could
get it up. In desperation, I moved the whole web from
the PC to the Macintosh. (It fit on one floppy disk.)
I downloaded FETCH, an FTP program, and launched on
the first try. I highly recommend Fetch from
Dartmouth College. It's free and it's easy but it
only works for a Mac. (I also highly recommend using
a Macintosh computer.)
Stage
2: Getting Staff Members Involved in Wanting a Web Site
By
the time school started in September, I had an
elementary index page with the staff listed and ready
to link to their pages. There seemed to be little
interest at first, except for one first grade teacher
and one second grade teacher. We started there. The
second grade teacher, Mrs. Kahl, invited me to the
second and third grade classrooms where I
photographed the classes and made a page for each.
That was it. One page and one picture on it. Yet, it
was a start. I did the same for the Kindergarten, DK,
First, and Fourth grades. Teachers began asking if
this or that could go on the page. Mrs. Jordan's
first grade page was the first to have pictures and
paragraphs about events. The Kindergarten class
wanted a page on dissecting owl pellets. Next the
Developmental Kindergarten teacher wanted to work on
pages answering the question, "What is DK?"
We were really starting to expand. Back to the top
Advertising
that the web was available
Well,
we had a web site, and a few pages. However not many
in town, or even on our staff, knew we existed. I had
not anticipated being the PR person. I began making
posters covered with web pages. I attached little
tear off notes giving the address. Most of this type
of advertising was done within our school. I needed
the teachers to see the value of the site. More
parents seemed to find us as teachers sent home notes
with our web address. Then came the big
breakthrough: Many teachers discovered the digital
cameras. They were easy to use! Teachers
began borrowing the cameras, taking pictures in their
classrooms, and writing paragraphs to go with each
picture.
By
this time I was spending 20 to 25 hours a week on the
web.
Each
night I would come home, down load teacher's
photographs from the cameras. Then I would pull each
image individually into PhotoShop 3 and decide what
to do with it. I would generally crop, brighten, and
save with a name that made sense (to me). I would
make new pages, add the digital images (and hopefully
the paragraphs the teacher or students wrote). I
tried explaining that teachers needed to delete any
pictures that they didn't want before giving them to
me. I put little notes in each camera case explaining
how to do that. I asked teachers for more text to
explain the event. Student quotes from the youngest
children, or student written paragraphs from the
older children was what I really wanted. I was giving
myself a whole lot of work. Soon I began to think I
was suffering from Sleep Deprivation! That's when I
decided I needed to begin Stage 3.
Stage
3: Teaching Staff Members to maintain their own
homepages.
The
next obvious step seems to be to train individuals to
make and manage their own pages. So..... I made a worksheet for
teachers!
From
the start I had planned to train other teachers to
run their own site in the second year. The time was
now I decided, or I might not live to see a second
year! During our spring vacation, I plan to train 2
to 4 teachers to make and maintain their own web.
These are enthusiastic teachers just itching to
manage their own material. I can hardly wait to see
the results. When summer comes, I hope to start more
groups. In this way I will lessen my own work. My
goal is that they will completely manage their own
classroom pages. Our main site will link to and from
their homepages. I realize that not all teachers will
choose to manage their site. I can continue to do it
for those people. My goal is that half of the
elementary staff will do their own pages. Back to the top
Stage
4: Who knows what happens next?
Every
year our administration has us write goals for the
coming year. Every year I end up involved in
activities I did not even know existed in September.
That's how it was with HyperStudio, PageMaker,
PowerPoint, and my now over 100 page Elementary Web
Site. Who knew? But each has been an exciting
adventure. I've loved every minute of making our
Onekama Elementary School Web Site.
Barb Eldridge, March 7, 1998
This
Onekama Elementary School site was created using Microsoft's
Front Page . Both a
Macintosh and a PC were used. Most headlines were
made with Microsoft's
Image Composer. At
first all the photographs were generated by an Olympus
digital camera . Later, a Ricoh
digital camera, part of Goals 2000
was also used. Images were pulled into Adobe's
PhotoShop on a Macintosh computer.
Other photographs were taken with a camcorder and
captured by Apple Video Player. Student
art was scanned on a the Printer/Copier/Scanner,
provided by the Goals 2000 Program.
Thank
you Tom Johnson and Chittenden for providing the "Classroom
Presentations" (1995-1996) and "Goals
2000" (1997-1998) programs. The
lessons, equipment, and fellow students were valuable
every step along the way. Thank you Jim Stamm and Sue
Kahl for all your helpful suggestions! Thank you Ray
and Sue for allowing me to spend most of my summer
(fall and winter) in front of the computer or with my
nose in a manual. Back to the top
Main Onekama Elementary
Page. 1997-1998
Main Onekama
Elementary Page 1998-1999
Main Onekama
Elementary Page 1999-2000
Main Onekama
Elementary Page 2000-2001
Main
Onekama School Page http://www.onekama.k12.mi.us
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