So I am somewhat overwhelmed this afternoon. There are so many things that I want to have in place for my students in this next week incorporating the flipped tutorials as well as a functional website, not to mention, correcting and grade updates need to be completed. Last night when I couldn't sleep, I decided to work on the creation of a website that is functional for students and easy for me to update. One of the things I struggled with in the past was keeping an updated website because of the difficulty with editing. A few years ago I was using Teacherweb, and it was incredibly easy, however, I had to pay for it. I know there are so many available free options out there, so I used last night's insomnia interruption to explore. I settled on weebly.com. I played around with it and added text and pictures, and so far is pretty easy to use. I noticed it doesn't hold my tutorial files because they are too large, but I can easily create a link and continue to use @Sophia for that. The part that took the longest with development was coming up with a name for the site, I didn't want to be drab and call it "Mrs. Garno's webpage."
I settled on "The Junto." This name holds some significance for me and...historically it fits a history teacher. In high school, I was an active member and "Feature" editor for a year of my school's newspaper. The paper was called "The Junto." I learned that the name had come from a "club" started by Benjamin Franklin when he was in his 20s. (Hard to imagine Ben as a young guy) This group gathered together on Friday evenings to discuss and debate philosophy, politics and morals. Their goal was mutual improvement. So after about 45 minutes of debate within my own head, I finally decided "The Junto" is a perfect name for my website.
I suppose my only real issue now is that I am so anxious and want the work done all at once. I have decided to jump head first into "flipping" rather than take it a class and a lesson at a time. I guess the way I am looking at it is, "if this is the best thing for my students, why wouldn't I do it all the way?" Plus, I have never been one to test the waters cautiously before jumping in...it's not in my nature. I suppose the situation is pretty easy, take a breath, pour a cup of coffee (this would make 3 cups today) and make a list. Things always seem less overwhelming with a list.
Even though it is under construction, see what I started. Feedback is welcome! www.thejunto.weebly.com
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