BGSU Classroom Technology E-Mag Spring 2018 | Page 18

Using Classroom Websites to Increase Parent Involvement

By: Katie Fields

ByL

Creating a classroom website has never been easier! There are many different online resources that allow users to create free websites that can be personalized. These websites can be continuously edited by teachers and shared with parents.

A few free website builders are listed below:

www.sites.google.com

www.wix.com

www.weebly.com

How can I use a classroom website to increase parent involvement?

If you are eager to create a classroom website with the intent of

increasing parent involvement in your classroom, there are several things that you can include on your page to benefit parents, and in turn, benefit your students.

• Video tutorials

You can create instructional screencasts or videos to introduce skills, strategies, and/or explain a variety of concepts that parents can use at home to help their child practice a variety of skills. For parents of my students, I created a set of instructional videos that covered each of the decoding strategies that we practice in the classroom throughout the school year. Parents were able to utilize these videos to help them gain a better understanding of how to help their child while reading at home.