I chose Weebly for my blog because I've used it in the past to set up a classroom website with my co-teacher many years ago. This year I will be working in a new position so I thought it was a good time to update and personalize the website to coincide with my new position as the Integrated ESL grade 2 teacher. It has been several years since I used the website due to curriculum changes and new apps like Class Dojo and Remind being more versatile and easily accessible for parents. A con of the Weebly website is that it can be overwhelming customizing each page and determining what to include. The themes that are available are not necessarily educational in nature and customizing the images can be time consuming. I chose to edit my old website because I was struggling to find a theme and background for my elementary level. A pro of the Weebly website is that when you create a new site it walks you through the steps each time, from choosing a theme, to dragging and positioning elements onto the page. It allows you to customize the format of each page to include titles, text, images, and slideshows, in addition to adding maps, linkable buttons and embedding code. Weebly makes it very easy to create headings and subheadings which is great for linking academic units. I had the chance to play with this feature and look forward to integrating the new curriculum my school will be using this year to making this a functional website once again. Some blog sidebar features include, adding a Flickr Badge, Linkedin Button, Blog Categories, and an about the Author section. Weebly also allows you to easily add media such as HD video, Audio, documents, YouTube, Flash and Files. In addition Weebly allows users to create search bars, block quotes, add social icons, contact forms, newletters, create RSVP forms and surveys as well as add Google AdSense and Cookie Opt Out. In March, my state went to distance learning everyone in my district was required to have a GoogleClassroom I like that I am able to link all of the classroom resources I used during distance learning to the Weebly website. This blog can be a great way to post monthly or weekly newsletters to keep families up to date with what's happening in the classroom. The contact page will allow parents and students to reach out with questions or concerns they want addressed privately or they can comment directly on the blog.
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