Ideas for youth building web sites

I'm part of an on-line community where people share ideas that they use in their teaching and learning. Today one of the topics is about "motivating kids". One response talked of how kids were encouraged to build web sites as part of this motivation effort.

I encourage volunteers working with teens at Cabrini Connections to read this article, follow the links, and see if there are ideas you can incorporate into what we're doing here.

Tech Club Students Profiled blog

Chris Warren profiled Cabrini Connections Tech Club kids in his weekly student profiles. Take a look.

Tech Club Work in Progress

For those of you who are content with just visiting websites like YouTube and Facebook, that's just great. However Tech Club isn't content with that. We want more! In Tech Club, we make our own websites! Check out this W.I.P. created by Sean Mayfield. http://www.cabriniconnections.net/web3/home.html A W.I.P. is short for Work in Progress. That means we'll spend the next few months editing, revising, and adding to this website. Right now, it's a great start. But with a little work, it is going to totally rock. Check back every week to see just how much progress Sean makes.

Who wants to join Tech Club?

The websites are coming along just fine. We're at the point where we are going to start publishing what we have today. Check back for links and see what Tech Club has been up to.

In the meantime, Tech Club is still looking for another volunteer. We are currently working with Dreamweaver and Photoshop. If you have experience with these, that's great, but it's not necessary. We really need someone to help guide the kids. The classes are growing. The kids are motivated and have some great ideas. We just need someone who can help direct them.

Don't just visit websites. Make your own!

Tech Club used to be Cabrini's best kept secret. But we can't say that any more. The word is out. Tech Club has arrived and we are HUGE. The classes are fun, the kids are motivated and more and more of them are showing up every week. We basically kick back with some snacks and talk about movies and video games. When we're done, we hit the computers. Right now, we just happen to be learning how to make websites using DreamWeaver and HTML. Everybody and their mother has their own website these days. All it takes is an idea and a little bit of time and energy. Anybody who wants to stop by is welcome to see what we do. And if you don't stop in, don't worry, you'll be seeing our websites on the internet real soon. :)

The Team

Tech Club has lost a great team leader in the past week as Alice Toth has taken a project in Atlanta. This means we're in search of a couple of other volunteers who will help with the Tuesday night group at Cabrini Connections, and who will help share what the group does via this blog.

One source of volunteers is the local universities in Chicago. Chris Warren wrote about one way we hope to recruit volunteers, and financial supporters, in his blog.

We'd like to see a team of tech volunteers, and students, organize for the same goals, but focused on helping tech volunteers work with kids in programs like Cabrini Connections, while also working to make sure funds are available to support the technology. Read Vjeko's blog to see how important this is.

Thanks Alice for helping the Tech Club for the past year. I hope you stay connected virtually. If readers would like to join to help keep this group going, just email tutormentor2@earthlink.net or call 312-492-9614.

Photo Fridays

Sunset over Mobile Bay

Point Clear, Alabama