New discovery

Today I had a new discovery. I wonder what would happen if I targeted my website audience to my students? If I can hook my students into using the site for information, then maybe their parents would follow suit? I came to this conclusion because on the student links page, I put a list of links to research their current project. I thought this would save the students time in using google to search for appropriate sites. As they began to navigate through the site, I realized that for next year, I will have an entirely different way of hooking the parents into my site. Since I didn't have the web site up and running at the first of the school year, I think that this may have hindered my site from being used to its fullest capacity. I also thought of making magnets for their fridge, in an effort to remind them of the site. Just a few ideas...I think that next year's unveiling of the site will be better and I will be linked to the school site. These two things will definitely change the way my students' parents use technology to communicate with me. They won't have a choice! Just kidding!

What to do?

I am feeling really "stuck in the moment" (taken from U2), in regards to increasing the parent usage of my website. I think it is such an awesome tool for families to know what is happening, but I don't see it being utilized to its maximum. My latest idea or rather my next cycle is to gather the email addresses of the parents and ask if they would like to be on a makeshift list-serve, with weekly updates when the site is updated. Included in the list serve would be current class news, upcoming events, and anything urgent. Then they would click on the link to view the updated pages. This seems like a natural way to remind parents and increase their awareness of what is happening in class so they can be actively involved without really being there. Their involvement would be at home in their conversations and preparation for school. Now, I just need to put myself out there and get the information. I don't know why I am so reluctant to take this step because I've been sitting on this idea for some time now. My goal is to get another letter and response sheet within the next two weeks.