After a few days of adding feeds to my Google reader, I found the number of items a bit overwhelming. 350 from NPR? More than 300 from e-learning 2.0? Really. Webblog-ed only has four? I had to sort through what to read, what to browse and what to skip. I noticed several trends over the last couple of weeks when I checked my reader every couple of days.
What I Have Noticed
First, there is the news feed. NPR didn’t allow me to just choose Education as a topic. Instead I get all the U.S. news items. Maybe I didn’t set it up correctly, but I tried numerous times. The news feed gives you everything. If it is news, you get it. And lots of it!
Another thing I noticed about a couple of the sites was that it was hard to distinguish an article from an advertisement. E-learning 2.0 contains a lot of reviews of products, but also has a lot of bits that seem to be advertisements (in addition, there are many ads embedded into the feed). This accounts for the high number of feeds for me to read.
The feeds I tend to really read are a couple of the blogs. One of them being Will Richardson’s Webblogg-ed. He seems to post every week or so. His blog is informative and thought provoking. He’s not trying to churn out items for people to read. Looking back at some of his blogs, often they tend to relate to a current event.
What I Have Learned
First, I learned that I don’t have to read every item. I don’t read every item in a magazine or newspaper. I scan and observe. I read bits that interest me. If the entire thing is interesting, well, then I read it all. It makes those high numbers seem less overwhelming.
Secondly, I have learned some things I could put into use (either personally, professionally, or to share with others). The feed “Free Technology for Teachers” made me think about several things. First, this is something we could use for our group project on podcasting. Professors from the University of Pennsylvania are invited to post 60-second lectures. Not quite like a “Last Lecture,” but something to get you thinking. I watched a couple. One was called “An Open Letter to Mr. Rogers.” The female, African-American professor talked about how she loved his song about his neighbors; how she wanted a neighborhood like his. She didn’t get it. People were kind, but still showed signs or racism. She applied it to the segregation of neighborhoods that still exist which ultimately leads to segregation of schools.That, in itself, was informative. But there was more. I learned I could use these lectures in many ways: for infomation (quantum physics in 60 seconds), as a topic for my students’ writing (What makes a poem a poem?), as something I/my students could also create.
What I Can Use in My Classroom
I could see myself using RSS Reader pages in my classroom for a variety of reasons. First, there could be the lesson on how to read through all of those feeds. I know it can be a problem area for sixth graders. They have to be taught how to read for information, not just for comprehension. They need to know there are different purposes for reading. Secondly, I could set it up the way our CEP 810 instructors advised us to create our own feed. Start with a required group feeds. Add four more that related to the subject area. Add four more for personal reading. Students love to share what they find on their own. A byproduct is I could get to know their interests a bit more. If you looked at my personal feeds you would see I selected running and golf feeds. I could find out the interests of my students while promoting an informal research session for them each time I have them read through the feeds. Finally, I see this as a great way of teaching them about the technology that is out there. I never used Google Reader before, but I know a lot of people who do. It is something people use to stay connected and up to date for their job, as well as their personal interests. This is a great tool to have on your belt for becoming a life-long learner.
What I Have Noticed
First, there is the news feed. NPR didn’t allow me to just choose Education as a topic. Instead I get all the U.S. news items. Maybe I didn’t set it up correctly, but I tried numerous times. The news feed gives you everything. If it is news, you get it. And lots of it!
Another thing I noticed about a couple of the sites was that it was hard to distinguish an article from an advertisement. E-learning 2.0 contains a lot of reviews of products, but also has a lot of bits that seem to be advertisements (in addition, there are many ads embedded into the feed). This accounts for the high number of feeds for me to read.
The feeds I tend to really read are a couple of the blogs. One of them being Will Richardson’s Webblogg-ed. He seems to post every week or so. His blog is informative and thought provoking. He’s not trying to churn out items for people to read. Looking back at some of his blogs, often they tend to relate to a current event.
What I Have Learned
First, I learned that I don’t have to read every item. I don’t read every item in a magazine or newspaper. I scan and observe. I read bits that interest me. If the entire thing is interesting, well, then I read it all. It makes those high numbers seem less overwhelming.
Secondly, I have learned some things I could put into use (either personally, professionally, or to share with others). The feed “Free Technology for Teachers” made me think about several things. First, this is something we could use for our group project on podcasting. Professors from the University of Pennsylvania are invited to post 60-second lectures. Not quite like a “Last Lecture,” but something to get you thinking. I watched a couple. One was called “An Open Letter to Mr. Rogers.” The female, African-American professor talked about how she loved his song about his neighbors; how she wanted a neighborhood like his. She didn’t get it. People were kind, but still showed signs or racism. She applied it to the segregation of neighborhoods that still exist which ultimately leads to segregation of schools.That, in itself, was informative. But there was more. I learned I could use these lectures in many ways: for infomation (quantum physics in 60 seconds), as a topic for my students’ writing (What makes a poem a poem?), as something I/my students could also create.
What I Can Use in My Classroom
I could see myself using RSS Reader pages in my classroom for a variety of reasons. First, there could be the lesson on how to read through all of those feeds. I know it can be a problem area for sixth graders. They have to be taught how to read for information, not just for comprehension. They need to know there are different purposes for reading. Secondly, I could set it up the way our CEP 810 instructors advised us to create our own feed. Start with a required group feeds. Add four more that related to the subject area. Add four more for personal reading. Students love to share what they find on their own. A byproduct is I could get to know their interests a bit more. If you looked at my personal feeds you would see I selected running and golf feeds. I could find out the interests of my students while promoting an informal research session for them each time I have them read through the feeds. Finally, I see this as a great way of teaching them about the technology that is out there. I never used Google Reader before, but I know a lot of people who do. It is something people use to stay connected and up to date for their job, as well as their personal interests. This is a great tool to have on your belt for becoming a life-long learner.
Hi, Ben,
ReplyDeleteIf you go here: http://www.npr.org/rss/
you'll be able to select from specific NPR feeds to narrow your focus. Enjoy! Your blog looks great!
-Alexis (from CEP 810)
Thank you, Alexis!
ReplyDeleteBen, this sounds great.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn