Catherine Cook School Teacher Sites, originally uploaded by juggernautco.

Last summer we implemented a large-scale TypePad system for the Catherine Cook School in Chicago. We spent some time training the teachers and staff at the school and they really took to the system. Here’s a rundown of how they used it:

• Nearly 2,000 posts spread over 40 separate websites, one for each classroom and major activity like library
• 11,318 visits and 32,872 page views for an average of about 3 page views per visit
• The visits were spread evenly among the sites, showing a large acceptance of the classroom websites from parents. The top two most popular sites (science and Kathleen Woolney’s junior kindergarten class) each had 7% of the total visitors, with the remaining visits spread very evenly. If you post, they will come.
• About 75% of the sites were updated on a regular basis, by far the largest percentage of any system I’ve ever implemented
• Parents loved the system and bought into it all the way, subscribing by RSS, downloading pictures, and relying on the sites for basic information

Some examples:

After School Adventures:  http://catherinecookschool.typepad.com/asa/
Kept parents informed about times, costs, and descriptions of dozens of programs throughout the year.

Andy Robinson - Humanities: http://catherinecookschool.typepad.com/arobinson/
85 posts, focused on the brass-tacks of homework assignments, study guides,  and other key information that eight-graders need to know at 10:00 when they start freaking about what’s due tomorrow

Parent Association: http://catherinecookschool.typepad.com/parent/
38 red-meat posts focusing on meeting minutes, fund raising programs, and  seminars put on by the group

Cindii Dirori - Middle School Matters:  http://catherinecookschool.typepad.com/cindi_diiorio/
Lots of communication from the head of the Middle School along with links to photos albums on Picassa for the web, great use of third-party services to get things done.

Holly Montalvo - Preshool: http://catherinecookschool.typepad.com/holly_montalvopreschool/
Great use of a classroom site for general reminders, photo posts, and out-of-the-classroom activities. Updated 83 times throughout the year.

Science: http://catherinecookschool.typepad.com/science
A whopping 325 posts. Chock-full of classroom notes, powerpoints about the nervous system, and other useful teaching and learning materials. This was the most-visited site, with 2,337 page views

Kathleen Woolney - JK: http://catherinecookschool.typepad.com/kathleen_wolney_jk/
Very popular among parents, especially for the large amount of photos.

Mrs. Lyon’s Third Grade: http://catherinecookschool.typepad.com/vlyon/newsletter/index.html
This is a great resource for parents considering the school, as it has nearly every newsletter from the classroom, showing the curriculum for each week.

Ms. Major’s Humanities Classes: http://catherinecookschool.typepad.com/jmajors/
Another very popular site with tons of pictures and resources