# U3 Day 3-4: PD Discussion Topic **URL:** \ **Category:** Unit 3 Best Practices\ **Created:** [September 1, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823 "2015-09-01T01:39:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![edmunsons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/46a35a/32.png) [@edmunsons](https://forum.code.org/u/edmunsons)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/21 "2015-12-05T15:37:11Z")
I am going to let my students choose a topic of their choice for creating their own webpage. I will give them a rubric for the required tags (HTML & CSS) which must be included as well as the number of pages, links and images. ---
**Author:** ![rona\_williams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@rona\_williams](https://forum.code.org/u/rona_williams)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/22 "2015-12-12T17:06:06Z")
jsFiddle is new to me. It seems a lttle complicated to use as a beginning tool. I will probably use w3schools first. I will allow studenst to create and ‘About Me’ page. I will let them choose whatever aspect from their lives that they would like to share be it sports, family vacation, their sibling(s), hobbies, and favorite school subject…etc ---
**Author:** ![robinsonmm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@robinsonmm](https://forum.code.org/u/robinsonmm)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/23 "2015-12-12T19:00:44Z")
I let students do their own topics, also. I also include a rubric that illustrates the concepts that will be assessed from their site. ---
**Author:** ![bagill1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@bagill1](https://forum.code.org/u/bagill1)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/24 "2015-12-16T18:05:36Z")
One suggestion for a web page they can create is to back to the first days of Unit 2 and students can create a webpage that relates to a community problem that they can research. ---
**Author:** ![madohuf](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.code.org/madohuf/32/70_2.png) [@madohuf](https://forum.code.org/u/madohuf)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/25 "2015-12-23T16:25:12Z")
What might be some good topics for students to select as they explore the different tags in the html editor? They highlighted the careers of sports icons, teams, school sports, current events, politics… How are you going to encourage students to add in their own culture, interests and unique experiences into their web pages? That was easy… they did that themselves without being encouraged. ---
**Author:** ![marling\_a\_90](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.code.org/marling_a_90/32/1000_2.png) [@marling\_a\_90](https://forum.code.org/u/marling_a_90)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/26 "2015-12-24T04:04:25Z")
jsFiddle will be a great resource but I will probably use w3schools until they become more comfortable with the content. BUT, I had my students start building a website based on their hobbies and their own interests. On this day, we started off with a very basic looking website that they continued to use to add new topics from each day’s lesson. ---
**Author:** ![mjmullin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.code.org/mjmullin/32/250_2.png) [@mjmullin](https://forum.code.org/u/mjmullin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/27 "2015-12-30T21:31:39Z")
My middle school students thought it was cool working in Notepad to create their html page. I felt that it made the students concentrate a little more on the tags making sure they place the opening and closing tags in rather than my experience with students not really typing in tags using W3School in the past. I foresee as we learn more I will move to something different. ---
**Author:** ![autumn\_sutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@autumn\_sutton](https://forum.code.org/u/autumn_sutton)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/28 "2015-12-31T12:34:17Z")
With this being my first time teaching HTML, I was a little anxious about introducing this unit. My intention was to introduce tutorials on [www.codecademy.com](http://www.codecademy.com), then, have the students apply what they had learned on Notepad. However, my students were so comfortable with codecademy, that we just stuck with it. The best part was that the entire HTML course is already laid out, making differentiation easy. There were also help forums and examples for when we got stuck on more difficult tasks. ---
**Author:** ![jennaranja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b38774/32.png) [@jennaranja](https://forum.code.org/u/jennaranja)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/29 "2015-12-31T20:39:31Z")
HTML tags have gone well. We have emphasized writing original content which has gone very well. We’ve reviewed copyright and other protective and legal terms. We’ve also emphasized producing original digital media to include on web pages. ---
**Author:** ![sandy\_harrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@sandy\_harrington](https://forum.code.org/u/sandy_harrington)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/30 "2016-01-01T00:48:06Z")
I allow to student to create multiple pages of a book that they have read. They will use the basic HTML codes covered to create the following pages: - Summary of the book - About the author - Brief summary of the characters ---
**Author:** ![adriana\_delap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5daacb/32.png) [@adriana\_delap](https://forum.code.org/u/adriana_delap)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/31 "2016-01-01T17:04:33Z")
my students have gotten to choose their own school appropriate website. Most of them were able to discover that their website was more of an informative website than an interactive one. I do have one pair of students, however, that are trying to create a “Facebook” for superhero’s only" I am interested to see what they end up doing. ---
**Author:** ![dugans](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.code.org/dugans/32/261_2.png) [@dugans](https://forum.code.org/u/dugans)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/32 "2016-01-01T19:53:30Z")
Having been designing and teaching HTML/CSS for years, there are several alternatives to JSFiddle and plain ol’ Notepad, which can be used in the classroom. If you are using Windbloze, you can use Notepad++, which is completely free. If you Macs, you can use TextWrangler. If you use Google Classroom, you can setup the extensions Editey and other associated Editey extensions to use the Editey app for coding entirely within the Google Drive. ---
**Author:** ![amber\_inscoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@amber\_inscoe](https://forum.code.org/u/amber_inscoe)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/33 "2016-01-03T22:30:41Z")
I like the JSFiddle site and look forward to using that. I would encourage students to create a site related to what they participate in at school such as a club or sport. Other topics might include favorite music artists, hobbies, places they’d like to go on vacation, info about a college they are interested in. I’d like them to have options to hopefully keep their interest. ---
**Author:** ![mulvihillj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@mulvihillj](https://forum.code.org/u/mulvihillj)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/34 "2016-01-07T17:06:50Z")
My students have created a few websites that incorporated their interests throughout their last few projects such as their future plans, their favorite band, and then a game review website. They have worked on [w3schools.com](http://w3schools.com) with great success tol earn new things within the HTML realm as well as CSS. ---
**Author:** ![anne\_trachsel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.code.org/anne_trachsel/32/8660_2.png) [@anne\_trachsel](https://forum.code.org/u/anne_trachsel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/35 "2016-01-16T22:00:19Z")
Thanks for the links! My fall semester students used the w3schools site and used notepad++ as their editor. I had only one student who had used html previously. This semester I have a wider variety of backgrounds, so I’ll be differentiating with multiple assignments and stations. ---
**Author:** ![anne\_trachsel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.code.org/anne_trachsel/32/8660_2.png) [@anne\_trachsel](https://forum.code.org/u/anne_trachsel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/36 "2016-01-16T22:01:48Z")
Great plan. Thanks for sharing. This would adapt well for students with a variety of backgrounds. ---
**Author:** ![pamela\_blocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@pamela\_blocher](https://forum.code.org/u/pamela_blocher)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823/37 "2017-04-29T21:46:03Z")
I used notepad for the tags and that was really helpful [Previous page](https://forum.code.org/t/u3-day-3-4-pd-discussion-topic/1823.md?page=1)