Google Searches and Web Portfolios

When I searched my name on Google, I found a few websites which I didn't even know still existed. When I was in high school, I had a Friendster account (a site which is similar to Facebook for those of you who haven't heard of it), a Livejournal and as of now I have a myspace page. So of course, those are all of the sites which first popped up when I typed in my name. Luckily, we had this assignment so that I could remember to DELETE these sites, for I'm sure they have a bit of information on them which might not exactly help me out if an employer were to see them. Oddly enough, my blog was further down on the list than my name on current people's Facebooks! As of right now, if an employer were to search my name on Google, they would find out stupid things that I wrote in high school about my life as it were, and only if they decided to continue to look would they find out the useful sites about me. This assignment has shown me that it can be beneficial for people to search for you on the internet, but that it is extremely possible that certain things may come up that you may not wish for them to see (depending on the situation). I would have been much happier if my blog, and my newly published website were the first on the list of sites that included my name, but this is not the case. Now that I have made a Blog and a website, people will be able to find out about the more professional side of me and what it is that I hope to accomplish with my life. This can prove to be very beneficial say it were an employer or the parent of a student in my classroom. When I tried searching my name on Yahoo!, neither my blog NOR my website showed up. This proves to me that if I would like people to be able to find these things simply by searching my name, then I need to figure out how to get them in that search engine.

I believe that the web portfolio will prove to be extremely beneficial in my future. I hope to be able to use it with my future employers to show them how professional I am and to demonstrate professional development in technology. I also hope that when I do become a teacher, that the parents of my students will feel comfortable navigating about the site, and will use it as a resource to learn more about me and how I plan to be a successful teacher. I believe it will prove to be a great resource, because it allows me to put links to many different pages which I may find to be valuable. I can create a whole page with valuable links to other sites that may have information about how parents can encourage/help their children with their homework or study habits, activities that they can do at home to further their child's education, or even sites where they can find ways to help their child if they believe they have a learning disability. It also creates an easy way for parents to find my e-mail address if they have questions or concerns, which I created a link to at the bottom of each of the pages on my site. I can also incorporate lesson plans into the website, where I can also put activities or even homework worksheets that parents can print out if their child forgets it at school. With links at the top of the page, parents can easily navigate between pages to find any information that they need. I have also been thinking that it may be beneficial to write a description of what people can find on each of the links on my page, so that a first-time user will not have to look at every page if they are looking for a quick solution. I believe that this portfolio will be a valuable asset to my future as a teacher.