As I reflect about the blog and the RSS Reader, with me it always come back to how is this useful for me today. This a very shortsighted outlook, but it is the way I am wired so I have no choice, and for today I find that I would have a great use in my teaching right now for the RSS Reader. I had always seen the RSS Reader as I tooled around the Internet but never really knew what it was. I am very surprised at what is and can't wait to use it in my classroom. As far as the blog goes I think it still has the cool factor with kids so it still could be a great tool to get them writing creatively or informational without putting a pen or pencil in front of them.
As far as where it fits with Dale's cone that is very hard to determine, each of these tools can take many different shapes. For example if the students were to go on a camping trip and blog about the things they saw and experienced while there, I would call that a much more concrete learning environment, I would put that towards the bottom of the cone in the contrived experiences or direct experiences. However, if I posted a question on my blog and the kids had to log on at night to answer the question, I would rank this much closer to the top of the cone in the text verbal symbols. The range is large and really depends on the authenticity of the assignment. As far as the reader I haven't come up with a ton of uses off the top of my head, but it is a great source of immediate information, which is great and can come in many forms from just text to pictures and audio.
The one way that I plan on incorporating these tools into my classroom is with an assignment that we already do but with this will improve it greatly. Every Friday in my room is generally current event days where we discuss what is happening in our country or world. The RSS reader is perfect for this assignment, before they would have to look at newspaper, but with newspapers becoming more and more obsolete, this is a great time to switch over. Another strength of the Reader is that it can be such current information, also with it we can put all of the sources in one area for quick retrieval. I also would like to incorporate the blog because one the strengths of that is the ability to respond to postings. I would probably incorporate this by having a personal current event blog that they then would have to respond their thoughts and ideas on.
I think you make a great point about using RSS feeds in connection to teaching current events. I think that the more school prepares students for the real world, the better, and that definitely involves checking and comprehending daily events. I would probably have a feed for all of the different types of news I want my students to check: local, state, national, and world news. I think it could be a rotating job for students to check & report on the RSS feed, or it could be done as a whole group once a week like you said.
ReplyDeleteI agree that blogs have a cool factor that will keep students entertained and engaged. The possibilities of incorporating features on a blog are pretty infinite: pictures (like the camping trip you mentioned), videos, study guides, etc.
I also like your idea of using the RSS feeds in connection with current events. I'm not in a classroom setting, so I just wondered, does every student have a computer in your classroom, or is there just one for the teacher?
ReplyDeleteI am seeing so many ideas for the blogs in the classroom, I'm really glad this question was asked. I do agree that it depends on how you use the blog and RSS where it falls on the cone, because it can really fit any where, depending on the application.
Margie Springer
"However, if I posted a question on my blog and the kids had to log on at night to answer the question..."
ReplyDeleteAnother option that could be used for this type of task is Twitter (microblogging). With Twitter, students can even text message their answers and receive your Twitter updates via text message. I polled my students and found that over 90% of them have unlimited text messaging.
Since you talk about current events, if you wanted to use an RSS feed that generates news stories about a certain topic, you can do this through Yahoo! News. Use the following feed link:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=your+keywords
Just replace "your+keywords" with your topic. Separate search words with a +.
For instance, to generate links to websites about the BP oil spill, you would use this feed link:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=BP+oil+spill
Here is a link to a website that can help you generate other types of keyword feeds:
http://www.researchbuzz.org/tools/kebberfegg.pl
I am interested in ways that you will find to incorporate the RSS feed into your classroom. The current event ideas is a great one, especially since with using the RSS reader, it enhances what you are already doing. As of now, I find it to be useful with specific content area subjects, but not with my subject--English. I could probably have students subscribe to feeds pertaining to an author or book title that we read or were about to read. It sounds like Justin had some pretty good ideas for you too.
ReplyDeleteWould you consider using a classroom wiki too?
You have some valid input about the blog and reader but I would like to suggest that you be careful with the attitude of not using something because you do not see the immediate value of it. Something that you might think of as not worthwhile may be a very valuable tool for you students. Don't be afraid to go to your students and ask them for their opinions on a new technology tool. Remember, they are the tech generation...they will generally be a step ahead of us in the use of technology (even in middle school) and they may come up with some great applications for a blog, reader, or wiki when you might not have one.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of using the reader for current events, it is probably the most apparent use for it. I am not sure what subject area you teach but the reader could be used for things like tracking stocks if you are working on finances or even for math projects. If your a science teacher you can have your students subscribe to science feeds and use them to get ideas for projects, or paper topics, or just have them bring in something interesting that they had found.