Thing #10

I haven't decided which I like best - Google Reader or del.icio.us. They both do basically the same thing - keep favorites organized and subscribe to feeds. After debating and working back and forth between the two, I finally decided I'd use del.icio.us for school and Google Reader for home. That seems to make sense to me - not sure why, it just does. :)

I do want to keep the home and school accounts separate because I have a lot of entries for each. Del.icio.us seems more suitable to the social networking that I hope to do with my students and their parents. Google just seems more suitable to my scrapbooking and genealogy interests. Since I plan to create a blog for my scrapping, and I already use Google mail for my email connected to the scrapping, I thought it would be less confusing to leave it as it is.

One thing about the exercises for these classes that is a little bothersome is the repetition of some of the questions. I have answered the same question more than once and I feel like people will get tired of reading the same thing over and over again. I guess each module was written as a separate entity, or maybe I'm misreading them! LOL

Anyway, to answer, again, the question about how I would use these readers at home and school - I plan to set up a networking with my parents, students, and myself. I want my parents to be able to go to a specific site and get information on what we are doing, read the blogs I share with the students, and be able to respond or contribute to the discussion/information. I think it would be very exciting to have that open access between home and school where parents can see what their kids are doing and have some input. I want my students to be able to blog with me or with other students throughout the year, and hopefully to create a real sense of community among my students.

First, I think it will make a difference in their behaviors in the classroom. Second, I believe it will give them valuable experience in reading, writing, and gaining computer skills beyond game playing. Finally, I hope the parents will become actively engaged in the education process. I can only see positive benefits from the use of the social networking, which will include the RSS feeds I include.

I really wish we had more time to develop these skills in every class. Can you imagine how great it would be if every child in the district could have their own laptop and spend the majority of their time at school on it?

I do have some students who will not be able to take advantage of this new concept. Unfortunately they have disabilities that preclude their participation to a large extent. But the majority of my students are capable of some level of participation; and the two who are not, their parents can still be involved.

Using Google Reader at home will simplify for me what has been taking hours to accomplish. I monitor around 25 scrapping blogs on a daily basis. That takes an enormous amount of my time and once school begins in the fall, I won't have that kind of time. I also monitor several ancestry websites where members share information and photos. That requires a lot of time as well.

Gathering all those feeds into one place, and having the updates come to me, will save me hours and make it possible for me to get other work completed. I design scrapbooking kits and create page layouts; I've been researching my family for almost 30 years; I'm creating a family album for my sisters and our children. I also spend the summer preparing lessons for the next school year.

Wow! I just realized how much I'm trying to do and how little time I have to sleep or rest...no wonder I'm so tired!!! LOL I also talk a lot! :)