"My web site has a home page for each child in the class. At least once a month a story, poem or graphic is added. The web site also has a guest book for visitors’ comments. There are two entries from out of town grandparents. They were overjoyed to see the work of their grandchildren and to feel a connection with the school in spite of living far away. I received e-mail from a non-custodial parent from out of town. He could not thank me enough for having a web site to see his child’s work and learn about the school.

Another part of my web site is a page with information about the online projects that we joined. There were many teachers that didn’t know about these online collaborative projects and joined some after reading the descriptions. They also e-mailed me questions about my units and techniques and I became an online mentor for teachers throughout the country. They were able to find me through the web site.

Parents found my page of links very helpful. Many of them have limited time or are not sure yet how to access information. They found the links to appropriate student web sites very convenient. The parents that were unable to attend my orientation night in October were able to see my PowerPoint presentation online on our web site. They could also learn about me as a person by reading my online journal. So when children went home with tales about their teacher spending a weekend in the Andes they knew it was true!

I thought it would be unfair for my students to be the only ones in the school with a presence on the web so I created a special page called "Other Clinton Stars." Students from other classes in the school were invited to send me their poems and stories to be published on our site. Many of them visited our classroom to proudly read their materials. Once again I received positive feedback from parents of these students. They too, were proud to see their child’s work published and shared it with their family, friends and neighbors.

This brings me to the last group of people who were affected by this site, my students. The students were so proud to have their very own page. They told me how our web site took center stage at family gatherings in their homes. The students strove for excellence since a very large audience would see their work. We carefully watched the counter on our site that shows how many people visited and in the process obtained some mathematical skills. The children loved reading their own work as well as their classmates’. The site was available to them every day and kept the interest of both my advanced and remedial reading students.