Thing 5 & Thing 7a – Feeding My Hungry Reader
Thing 5 : I have to admit that I already had Google Reader set up, but I never used it to properly. I had only subscribed to our school’s professional development blog. Beyond setting it up, I never ever checked my Google Reader even though I use Google daily. Boy…my Google Reader was starving for some good feeds!
Watching the videos about how to use Google Reader opened my eyes to the benefits of the tool. Immediately, I added my favorite blogs in addition to the required ones and some fun ones. Using the Google Blog search tool feed it even more. I found one blog that lead me to another that lead me to another! I can’t imagine each day going to check each blog one by one for new posts. Now, I don’t have too because have a better understanding of how Google Reader streamlines all my favorite blogs for me. I love that even if I don’t have time to read the all the posts, I can star the ones that interest me and go back to read them in their entirely later on.
The first post I read today using my Google Reader was called At A Loss For Word-le? on the Teacher Reboot Camp. I love wordle, so I thought it was going to be all about the web 2.0 tool. However, it was more about the challenges people faces when they need to adapt to a new technology. It was very enlightening and answers the question of why it’s important for us to embrace technology in our classrooms.
Thing 7a:When I checked my reader this afternoon, I came across several posts that interested me. For example, on one of my favorite blogs, Langwitches.org, there was a post entitled A Skype Odyssey. I’m trying to connect with a school in Italy, so this was a good post for me to read. Along the same lines, I have been unhappy with my the three-ring binder system I have been using for Writer’s Workshop. On Read…Write…Think, I read the post Writing Groups and Organizing Writer’s Workshop, which discusses the bloggers post about revamping the system she uses for Writer’s Workshop. Within minutes of logging into my Google Reader, I was feed with information that was relevant to what is happening in my own classroom right now. As teachers, we all know time is precious and this is definitely going to change the way I connect with others.
I do think that you do have to be careful when using Google Reader. Your eyes can be bigger than your reader! Although there are lots of blogs I would love to subscribe to, I think you can overwhelm yourself with the amount of information you feed yourself.
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I agree that your eyes can be bigger than your reader. I have recently become overwhelmed by mine and have realized I am probably over subscribed and need to discontinue some. I guess it is just like a closet, unless you are constantly keeping it neat, just have to clean it out once in a while. I also had one set up, but had not been using properly. I do find it valuable and will continue using it.