RSS Page Reflection

As a newbie to RSS feeds and using the RSS reader I am slowly but surely learning the ropes to using these programs to keep up to date on news and current events taking place through the feeds that I am watching.  Based on the feeds that I am following, I need to visit and peruse the various postings on a daily basis to prevent them from building up. I missed a couple days over one weekend and one French news site that I am following had over 1000 new posts. It only makes sense that a news site would continuously be adding new news to keep people up to date. Other sites that I am following, such as the Michigan Department of Education and NPR’s Education site have updates that come at a much slower pace, so if you miss checking your feeds for a day or two, you do not get too far behind on keeping current with what is going on. There were even some feeds that I am following such as MSU EduTech Newsletter and Weblogg-ed site that have had no updates since I have added them to my reader page. Based on what I have experienced so far, it brings all my news and updates to one easy place so I do not have to navigate through a bunch of websites. It also allows me to quickly access any information quickly by scrolling through my list.

With all the information being shared through my different feeds I have experienced many things. I have learned about new technologies available to teachers or new upcoming things that teachers will be able to utilize in the classroom as ways of integrating technology. Following the Michigan Department of Education’s website, I have been able to keep up on some major events related to teaching professionals as education in Michigan is undergoing some change at this point in time. One of the French blogs that I am following is a place to share tips and resources for those traveling to Paris or for just news about Paris happenings. It has been a great resources for little culture tips to share with my students along with some funny stories about various faux pas that have happened to people. As I add new feeds to my page and keep up with my current feeds, I find that I am able to stay current with new technology, new thoughts in education, and keep up to date with various topics in the francophone world which will help keep me in the now with my colleagues, students, friends, and family.

I think it is important that students keep up to date with the new technology available to them. I was surprised the other day when I introduced Prezi to my students for a project that we are working on and how many of them had trouble navigating the sign up page, starting a presentation, and actually completing the task at hand with this very user friendly presentation software. In my opinion many students are lagging in the new technologies available to them, so it is important for any teacher to introduce new tools for students to help keep in touch with our ever so growing technology based future. In my classroom, I think introducing students to RSS feeds and RSS reader programs would be a way to open up our world to the francophone world around us. Students could be asked to follow specific sites that cater to things such as French art, history, culture, politics, news, food, etc. They could have a weekly assignment possibly where they would report or share some interesting news related to a topic. This would be a way to keep current with the culture and community we are studying. It would also allow us to form connections with the francophone world. In some instances, students would be able to compare things here in America with things that are happening halfway across the world. This could open the door for students to add additional feeds to their page either for my specific class or for their other interests. 

Below is the information from my previous RSS Lab Post.

This is an updated screenshot of my RSS Page.

This is a screen shot of one of the blogs I added to my RSS page. It provides unique insights into different things related to Paris. I left a comment regarding some interesting tips for people traveling to or learning about Paris. It is also something that I can share with my students.