Compass for high school/middle school

The site I found isn't one that will provide you with a plethora of lesson plans or arbitrary tips on teaching. It is one that will be of concrete use every single day, though. When I first got to classjump.com, I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking at. But, I found it to be very similar to something we have access to here at U of I which is Compass. A lot of high schools and middle schools (mine included) do not offer an online website for teachers. A website to post grades, yes, but what about assignments, readings, useful information, group discussions, and all that jazz? Classjump.com is useful for all of these things and more. It allows you, as a teacher, to create your own site (free of charge), which helps students to always have access to information, not claim that they "lost" an assignment, and also save trees at the same time. Collaborative discussions can occur right on the website either for homework or simply for fun. Interesting documents can be added. Photos can be viewed. Anything any other website can do, this one can to, and since it's made for teaching, you'll be that much better off. Here's a screenshot of my computer to give you an even better picture of what it's like (although I think you should check it out for yourself):

I actually think I might use this is my classroom. Maybe someday paper assignments will become a thing of the past and Classjump.com can be the new biggest thing. Maybe it will increase learning and interest while saving our environment at the same time. Who knows? One can hope.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is we can't assume all of the students have regular access to a computer. So, they should either be given time to explore the site in class (if computers are available), or be offered access to everything on the site in paper form. More and more students have access to computers everyday, but it cannot be something that we can rely on entirely.