Google Sites (creating a webpage)

My experience creating my own web page using Google Sites was not bad but definitely time consuming.  I suppose I am an overachiever because I wanted to make sure I included all the elements that were on the grading rubric (I'm such a nerd).  Also, I feel that if I am going to spend all this time making something, it better be worth it and include things that I would want to see if I were a student or a parent searching for information.  It is also really important to me to change the public's persona of what PE actually is.  It's really NOTHING like it used to be.  Any respectable PE teacher is not only teaching the core skills necessary for sports, they are also teaching many health concepts, fitness activities, incorporating new technology into their programs, along with teaching good character traits through their activities.  I want my students to have fun and learn about all these things along the way.  Creating this website is a great way for me to showcase my program to parents and students; it's much more than just "playing" all day.
    
I would have to say that managing the layout to get the page to look like I wanted was probably the hardest thing for me to figure out.  I think that if I had chosen a different template (one that is more formatted from the start- like the teacher format) rather than a blank template, that would have been more helpful for me due to my lack of knowing how to organize my sidebar.  (Honestly though, I don't know if there is a template that is already "pre-organized" so this might not have been an option).  Once I got my format figured out a little bit and got my main categories created along my sidebar, inputting information, drive documents, links to websites/pictures was rather simple.  I was pleased with my final product and think it will be a useful and informative tool for my students and parents.  The only downfall, at this time, would be that I already have a SchoolWires webpage with my district so I am uncertain as to when this webpage will be used unless we switch over to Google (we are introducing Chrome books this year so it could happen).  For those that don't have a website, however, this is a great way to create one.  I also liked how you can use it to create a professional portfolio.

Click HERE to view my webpage.

Here are some other web pages created using Google Sites that I thought were good examples.
Teacher pages:  Mrs. Paulsen's Kindergarten, Mr. McDowell (World History)
Technology Tutorial (Google):  Tech Tip Tuesday
Professional Portfolio:  Fuhrman's Electronic Portfolio, M. Jean's Professional Portfolio

To learn how to create your own webpage using Google Sites, check out the video below to get started.

Need More Help?  Here are some tutorial pages that are very helpful and informative.

Check out Google's "Beginner's Guide to Creating a Site" OR

Google Sites Tutorial (this one is really good because it's broken down into specific topics/categories)

One more just in case Google Sites (the basics)