RSS Page Reflection

Tracking:
Personally when I started this class I was using iGoogle for my RSS page. It is my start up page for my personal computer at home and it has a lot of feeds that I am interested in (CNN, How to, Epicurious, People Magazine...). I tend to turn on my computer in the morning while waiting for coffee and then flip through the various feeds. When I started the RSS feed (using Google Reader) for CEP 810 I decided to focus it mostly on just education, mostly technology. At first I found it just another thing to have to check (at school I have Gmail, Google Docs, student blogs, a class book club wiki and Moodle pages that need to be checked and updated weekly if not daily). Then when I started to read more I honed in on a few feeds that I found very interesting (i.e. edutopia).
What I don't like however, is that this is another thing I need to check. I have to be honest that these days I find it hard to remember all my passwords and check all the emails and blogs. I have been sifting through my mind trying to figure out a way to consolidate everything. I know an RSS feed is the way to go, but which one, and where? Do I combine my education reading with my personal reading? I am just not sure yet.
What did I learn?
I am fascinated with the video game model and Edutopia recently had a series about just this. So I changed my home page at school to be my Google Reader, now I can focus in on education topics in the morning when I turn on my computer. It is fantastic! I saw blogs about 1 to 1 programs (and now have printed hints and a few personal goals about how to implement them more successfully in class). I also read a lot about Twitter, something I am having a hard time trying to get used to, and frankly, like. There is a principal who uses to Twitter to communicate with teachers, parents and students, who knew it could be used to effectively communicate? I mistakenly thought it was all about movie stars!
How can I take this to the classroom?
I have been writing up a short lesson about Google Reader anhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd have been thinking about teaching it to the students. We could post our blogs on the feed and the students could add feeds from sites they find interesting. When there is an article that they want to share it will be right there, on their feed, they can hook up to the interactive whiteboard and show us the article. They could share it with each other. For now, this is all just an idea and I will stick to reading my articles and thinking about education and getting more and more ideas to make my life and that of my students more interesting.
A later addition: A friend told me the other day when I complained of feeling overwhelmed by my RSS feed "Don't be afraid to unsubscribe". So I took her advice to heart and I deleted a few feeds, and presto! I am enjoying the RSS feed much much more... Funny how I was afraid to delete....
Here is a direct link to my RSS Reader.
Too see some pictures of my RSS feed click here....