Google Sites is a site creator, but not one I had ever used before, and my little experience in designing websites has shown me that there are several out there to choose from. While I found Sites to be a bit limited, it is simple to use, and free.
I decided that, since I am going into middle school education, I would choose a book to cover that I loved when I was in 8th grade, Flowers for Algernon. You can view the website here.
Using sites' interface, I selected a blank template to start with, and later changed the colors of the website to match some of the images I had put in there to make it look a little nicer. The image on the home page is that of the cover of the book. On the page titled "Characters," I listed a few of the major characters from the book, and a short description of who they are. Of the ones I could find a picture of, I searched Google for pictures of the characters as they are portrayed in the movie adaptation of the book, at least the ones I could find!
Finally, I created a page for external links that contain topics related to the themes of Flowers for Algernon, such as medically increasing IQ, and the treatment of mentally disabled people in society.
While Sites is a very simple-to-use and free tool to create a website with, it isn't quite as powerful or sleek as some of the ones I have used in the past. However, it is cheaper than most of those. The sites I have designed before have usually cost somewhere between $8-15 per month, especially if you want to register your own domain. So Google Sites is a free alternative if you're wanting to create a simple site free of charge.
It's easy to see how this could be used in a classroom to help students, or to teach students how to create their own simple websites. Just make sure that your students are old enough to use this tool, and that they aren't posting anything that could get you (or them) into trouble!
Well done
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