I am regularly impressed/surprised by how technology is giving us so many new ways to define old words...subscriptions, for example. It used to mean (and, well, I guess it still kinda does... ;)), to pay to receive a magazine or newspaper. Now, when people talk about subscribing to something, they are talking about keeping tabs on the every thought and word published by friends and strangers to their liking!
For Thing 5, subscribing to feeds using the various ways on Bloglines was pretty comprehensive and could be completed with relative ease. The only blip that I ran into was that I use Google Chrome for my browser, and there is not a bookmarklet available for Chrome--YET!
I enjoy both professional and personal interest blogs quite regularly. It is really kind of insane how much information is now available to us. Personally, I like to keep up with a variety of craft/design blogs, peek into the lives of a couple friends, and keep a finger to the pop culture pulse. Professionally, I enjoy blogs that offer technology tools and tips, insight into special needs education, and current events/legal happenings in the Special Education realm.
A couple blogs I have come across that might be helpful to others:
http://digitalplay.info/blog/ --A blog that highlights different web-based educational games to keep those techy students engaged in learning...and fun!
http://www.patriciaebauer.com/ --A fantastic source of current events pertaining to and commentary on all things "Disability."
http://www.edutecher.net/index.php --A blog summarizing the newest and neatest techy tools for teachers!
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ --A source for technological wonders to use in the classroom. Aside from the suggestions themselves, the best part about this blog is the "Applications for Education" section.
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/ --Larry is a man with an amazing ability to process and gather information made available through the Internet. His lists are simply miraculous!
And, to end, probably my "most looked forward to" blog: http://thepioneerwoman.com/ --Ree is a woman extrordinaire. She does homeschool her 'punks' and occasionally will post education-related content, but really her blog is just a "feel-good-about-being-alive-and-wish-I-had-the-guts-to-live-on-a-farm kind of read." Those are just the BEST kinds of reads, don't you think?!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thing 4
Phewww! Trying to catch up to my fellow workshop attendees here! Thing 4: RSS Feeds.
I am kind of more overwhelmed by learning a new reader--Bloglines--than I am the concept of RSS feeds and following multiple blogs at once. I have been a loyal Google Reader subscriber for a couple years now. I am kind of curious, since we're using Gmail and Blogger which has a link to Google too, why are we using Bloglines for our RSS Feed aggregator experience? I am wondering if it is better. Well, I guess I will find out firsthand!
Blogs and RSS are definitely overwhelming, but a reader can become so as well. There are times when I have to "Mark as Read" and start over at "0 New Items"! In Google Reader, there is the ability to star favorite blogs and tag them for future reference. I get overwhelmed with that too--when I go back to look for something I have a vague memory of, I have a hard time finding it even though I have tagged it as many ways as I could think of at the time. I would like to know a better way to organize that which I would like to pull out of the never-ending flow of information!
I am kind of more overwhelmed by learning a new reader--Bloglines--than I am the concept of RSS feeds and following multiple blogs at once. I have been a loyal Google Reader subscriber for a couple years now. I am kind of curious, since we're using Gmail and Blogger which has a link to Google too, why are we using Bloglines for our RSS Feed aggregator experience? I am wondering if it is better. Well, I guess I will find out firsthand!
Blogs and RSS are definitely overwhelming, but a reader can become so as well. There are times when I have to "Mark as Read" and start over at "0 New Items"! In Google Reader, there is the ability to star favorite blogs and tag them for future reference. I get overwhelmed with that too--when I go back to look for something I have a vague memory of, I have a hard time finding it even though I have tagged it as many ways as I could think of at the time. I would like to know a better way to organize that which I would like to pull out of the never-ending flow of information!
Thing 3
Wow! The wild world of blogs! I have engaged with them as a reader for a long time now, but have never ventured in as an author. I guess I am ready to start creating my own news. :)
I am hopeful that my blog will help support the work I do by creating a portfolio of tools that have worked well in the classroom. That way, I can return to them myself, and share them with others. At this point, my students would not be interacting with this blog, but I am hoping their parents might find it helpful to see what works in the classroom.
My only real concern about educational blogging is that I won't use it regularly or properly and it won't actually be relevant. I want it to be useful. I want the time spent to be worth something.
I am hopeful that my blog will help support the work I do by creating a portfolio of tools that have worked well in the classroom. That way, I can return to them myself, and share them with others. At this point, my students would not be interacting with this blog, but I am hoping their parents might find it helpful to see what works in the classroom.
My only real concern about educational blogging is that I won't use it regularly or properly and it won't actually be relevant. I want it to be useful. I want the time spent to be worth something.
Thing 1 and Thing 2
Welcome to my new blog! My name is Melissa and I am a special education teacher working with upper elementary aged students with Autism.
I am participating in RESA's 23 Things because I am eternally curious. Lately, that curiosity has been sparked about Web 2.0 and how I can identify and apply new tools to help my students learn. So, when I received word about TWENTY-THREE possible tools, I was hooked!
From Thing 1, I was inspired by the use of teacher blogs to promote cross-curricular planning and professional development.
I spend a lot of time online sharing with and following others and I think I have been a bit desensitized to fear of putting myself 'out there' on the Internet. I try to take some measures to protect privacy where necessary, but really, I don't find myself censoring what I say because it is on the Internet.
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