RSS Feeds are a must. I spend an enormous amount of time reading different articles everyday. Setting up my google reader has allowed me to deposit all my information in one location. RSS Feeds is like having someone constantly feeding you the latest information on what is happening around the world. Feeds are useful for gathering news on many subjects, and upcoming events. You can get all the information you need on one page. The possibilities of their usage is practically endless.
As for students using the technology, I am not so sure. Most of my students are reading below grade level. It would be wonderful for my students to sign up for google reader. I can use google reader to bring content to my students, instead of having students search for it. Hopefully, I want to learn to add discussion questions on google reader for my students to respond to. I think the students who are shy would definitely benefit from answering discussion questions online. Given the inequalities that exist in education I think that most students would be left out.
Professionally, I am somewhat challenged on using technology in the classroom. Learning to use my blog and keep it current is somewhat of a challenge. I am really excited about creating my google reader, I look forward to creating some exciting lesson plans using google reader. I am looking for help in learning to use my blog and google reader together. I will definitely encourage my colleagues at my school to create a blog and incorporate google reader in the classroom. It would be nice to use the inservice days during the year to teach teachers to incorporate google technology in the classroom.
Totally! The inservice would be a great idea to bring forth this school year. I truly can see this being a great way to get our colleagues to spend quality time learning something useful that will be invaluable to us our profession. RSS feeds are becoming the thing of the future, being able to put all your resources in one location is the best thing that one could hope for. Best of luck in trying to get this implemented this school it can be done.
ReplyDeleteI agree Rss feeds can be a tool for students with low literacy, however, I think it can also be confusing. This summer I am teaching blended learning (online and f2f) class for students needing to repeat a HS class. Through the readings in this class, and the Online Facilitator class, I found that online reading takes up to 25% more time. Good readers do not realize they use several strategies when reading on line. These include Skimming, scanning and predicting while we read. Since there is no text book to guide them, teachers must be certain they provide explicit instruction about the strategies. In the 21st century our students have learned to multitask, but the struggling readers may indeed plow through online text and miss the main idea, or take twice as long.
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