Seems to me like blogs could be a really practical way to communicate what's happening in your classroom to parents and the community. From daily assignments to upcoming units to the achievements of students, blogs would facilitate classroom communication easily and effectively.
However, I have to admit... I'm stumped when it comes to using RSS feeds in my classroom. Anyone have practical ideas to share? It seems like using RSS feeds would be a great way for teachers to stay up-to-date on practical & effective teaching methods. This encourages professionalism and saves a lot of time for teachers who are looking for new ideas. Also, not sure that I should admit this, but subscribing to the updates on websites seems like an awesome way to stay up-to-date on celebrity gossip! (just kidding... kinda). But I'm really stumped as to how to utilize RSS feeds in my classroom. Can 5th graders use them? Help me see the light! :)
I was thinking that same thing...I don't just have professional blogs on my RSS feed!!
ReplyDeleteBut to your real question - I'm really not sure. I suppose if you were using individual student blogs as a way of journaling and you wanted classmates to respond, then using an RSS feed reader would allow them to see all the posts in one spot, rather than having to go to each blog separately - sort of like we've done for this class. You still have to go to the individual blog to comment, but I like seeing everyone's posts in once place.
I teach high school, so this idea might not work. I was thinking, however, that we could have kids use the RSS feeder to follow certain sites and blogs related to units in class.
ReplyDeleteI also checked to be sure of this first, but there are sites like http://sciencenewsforkids.org/
that have RSS feed subscriptions that would work for younger kids. Perhaps if you had them check weekly and then they could have a RSS feed sharing day. As an elementary school teacher, I'm sure you could jazz up the title a bit.
If anyone wants to subscribe to these class blogs via RSS field, just click on the Atom Post (Or Post Atom - I can't remember the order) and it will give you the URL to either put in an RSS feed or to subscribe directly via Google Reader.
ReplyDeleteAs Geri noted, there are lots more things that have RSS feeds. I subscribe to a couple of news sources but there are MANY more options.