One web 2.0 application that I have been introduced to is the site Weebly.com. The site allows users to quickly create websites with a drag and drop feature. Although the formatting has limitations, it is effective if you want students to create a website quickly.
Being an English teacher, one of the most difficult things I have to teach is theme. Many students struggle over the concept and don’t see how one main idea can be intertwined into different subtopics within a novel. By having them create a website to highlight the theme of a book, students can move away from the rigid structure of an essay and explore visual interpretations of what they have read.
This year, I am going to use Weebly.com when we read To Kill a Mockingbird. I will have students create a museum website in which they highlight their top ten exhibits online. Each page would explain the exhibit in detail using pictures, music, video, etc. The exhibits would be arranged chronologically to support the idea of story sequence and students would have to explain how each exhibit builds on the previous one.
After all the websites are created, I will have students do a gallery walk, in which everyone will spend the period looking through other students’ websites. As a class, we will discuss similarities and begin to draft universal themes and concepts. Finally, students will use the activities as the beginnings of their response to literature essays for the novel.
When I played with the Weebly application, I was impressed by how easy it was to use. I have used many free web-building applications, but this one is by far the easiest one I have found. It doesn’t require any prior knowledge and a complete functioning website can be published within minutes. While it does have some options that require purchase, students can accomplish a lot with the free version.
The application really demonstrates what technology can do for the classroom. In this case, it takes a difficult lesson (teaching theme) and makes it fun. By allowing students to be creative and hands-on, they will internalize the information more. Also, by having them arrange things in sequence and thinking critically about connections between ideas, it accomplishes the act of brainstorming without a paper and a pen.
The following is a brief screenflow demonstrate of the Weebly site.
Tom, I really like this Weebly.com site that you have come across. I am impressed with the ease of use. I like the way everything is right there, and very accessible. I think this would be an awesome choice in your creation for To Kill A Mocking Bird. I like your thoughts and especially the gallery walk idea allowing students a chance to walk through each other's sites. What a great idea! I'm going to play around with the site a little bit and see if I think my sixth graders might be able to incorporate it into their classroom instruction. We are going to do a unit in the spring that involves researching music, art and culture of different major cities. This could be a great tool for that. Thanks for pointing it out.
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