RSS Blog Post

Here is a screenshot of my RSS Feed. At this point, I had only added the 5 required feeds. I soon added more. Pics to follow.

A comment that I've added to a blog that I follow through my RSS feed: I follow a blog called Michigan Council For Economic Education. They had a great post on visualizing unemployment, which can be seen here: http://mceeblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/visualizing-unemployment.html

I commented that it was a great resource that I used in my classroom to show the impact that the recession had on the mid-west and Michigan specifically. It really hits home when you see how dark (most unemployment) Michigan gets, and how much worse it was in the rust belt. (I am waiting for my comment to be accepted by the blog and posted)

Tracking the news on my RSS Feed

Monday:

Using my RSS feed I've found information on a program called dropbox. This program allows me to put files into a folder on my home computer, and have them appear in the same folder on my work computer. This is going to save me a ton of time not having to e-mail myself notes, or upload files to webspace that is hard to access from school. I don't know if I would have normally found that article. I don't find myself reading each and every article that comes into my feed, but I'm able to skim and find the news that I find interesting, and then I can look farther into it. I can also tailor my RSS feed to my needs. I am finding interesting articles that are useful to me.

Tuesday:

Not too many interesting articles today (my perspective at least) but I think I could really use this in my class. If I create an RSS feed from trusted sources, with specific topics or information, I could use this with my students when they are trying to do research. I've done a lot of work with my classes and current events in the past, but it is always difficult to get the students to find quality articles. Now I can build a database of articles for my students to look through. It is easy to navigate, and will provide an endless source of pertinent information for them to use.

Wednesday:

Today I checked my RSS feed again. I have 49 new posting. There is a lot to look at, and I've realized that you can put feeds into folders (I'm using GoogleReader). Having folders helps me organize the news sources that I follow. I think that I could find specific feeds that give specific information, and then sort them by the units I teach. This means students could explore at their own pace. Ive also found some RSS feeds that I began to follow that aren't what they seem. It means I'll have to research feeds before I subscribe to them. I wouldn't want to use sources for my students that can be inappropriate at times.

I read an interesting article on a Blackberry Tablet that may be coming out - that was really interesting. I also read a good on how an Economics teacher got her students to remember the MC=MR formula.