Dipping my toe into RSS

I'll confess that years have gone by, and I never looked into RSS or clicked on the 'RSS Feed' icon.  I always assumed that it was one more technology that I likely didn't need, would take valuable time to learn, and was ultimately unnecessary.

I write this post on the brink of rethinking all of that.

 Yes, it is taking valuable time to learn how to use RSS.  Or perhaps to put it more accurately, to learn all of the related permutations of how one can use RSS.

But I'm coming to understand it as a potentially HUGE time saver.  In the past, I've marveled at the pace and quantity of content generated by educators like Victoria Davis on her blog.  It seemed humanly impossible.  


Now, with RSS, rapid responses and staying abreast of select current events seems manageable.  


I'm unsure of all of the ways this technology will change my life's habits but feel sure that it will.  


I do have a concern however - one that resonates with classroom experiences: I can introduce this tool to my students, and ask them to use it to stay current on a specific topic.  Fine.   But I know that they will likely also search for content that is of their own interest, that addresses the things that they think about.  Once our class is over, I hope and anticipate that they will continue to use this technology.  Might not my tweeny students restrict their online media consumption to very narrow, very specific interests?  I fear a loss of common interests, a lingua franca.  I get that this is the read/write web, and user generated content is paramount, but I can see how one could fill their entire world with up to the minute minutia, and think that they are well-informed and aware of current events.

Globally Connected; Finding Answers

After a little digging, I found answers to some of the questions I had:

1. Question: Where to find blogs specifically from other places around the planet?
2. Question: Do I pre-screen the blog for age-appropriate content?

• Answer: http://comments4kids.wikispaces.com/ - A wiki established to post links to kid-created content worth commenting on.

Details of the origins of #Comments4Kids from Twitter conversations between a group of like-minded educators can be found at:

• http://attheteachersdesk.blogspot.com/2009/04/comments4kids-wednesdays.html?showComment=1254015322109#c4730878677880691336 - 

The question of assessing my student's posts is still an open one...

Globally Connected

I’ve been thinking about ways I can incorporate blogging into some of my student’s lessons, and came across what I thought was a great example. 

• http://mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/dear-kaia-voicethread-and-video.html
• http://mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com/

Mr. C teaches at Noel Elementary, and holds a session called ‘Comments4Kids’ once a week, where his students:

 “…have the privilege of reading blog posts from around the world and leaving comments.”

For instance on one day, his students looked at blog posts from both Qatar and Iowa.

I thought this was an excellent introduction to blogging, in that it permitted students to interact, collaborate, and publish with their peers, and encouraged cultural understandings and a global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures. 

I’d love to incorporate this type of lesson into some work I do with my 4^th graders, who currently are at work on a long term project titled “Globally Connected”, in which they look at similarities and differences between their lives growing up in the U.S., and the lives of same-age students in other countries. 

I do have some questions about implementation, however.  In particular:

• Where to find blogs specifically from other places around the planet?
• Do I pre-screen the blog for age-appropriate content?
• How to assess my students’ posts?

Rest Less: Managing Time, Resources, and Pace of Change

Consider, if you haven't already, some of the following web2.0 resources:

• gliffy - flowcharts
• animoto - slideshows and movies
• audacity - sound editing
• paint.net - image processing
• voicethread - communal digital storytelling
• blogger - blogs
• zotero - new media reference tool

Web 2.0 tools are plentiful and cool.  I'm giddy with the prospects they hold.  Restless.

But the quantity of new tools is overwhelming, to say nothing of learning how to use them effectively.  The resistance some teachers have to learning web 2.0 tools feels familiar:  I, too, am reticient; fearing my already tightly allocated time may be all together obliterated by adapting 'always on' technologies.  How could I possibly attend to them all?  I'd need to rest less.

So add time management and resource management to the list of essential 21st century skills.

And honestly, by time-management, I'm not wanting to wring more out of my minute.  I want to breathe, and quiet my frenetic mind.  I see value both in making effecient, effective use of my working hours, and also in taking my non-working hours to myself; to recooperate, reflect, and rest.  I want a balanced life, and a life well lived. 

How to strike this balance?