RSS Feeds? The beginning...

I have always thought I was pretty “savvy” when it came to the internet. Now, I am rethinking this stance. There is so much more for me to learn about the internet!

RSS feeds? So cool! Who knew? Well, obviously someone did. After starting this lab, you could say I went a bit nuts setting up my Google Reader. During the blog lab, I stumbled across some great teacher blogs that I never knew existed. I was excited to add these blogs to my reader.

A few of my discoveries:

I found one awesome blog for Elementary Teachers called A Year of Reading. It is an awesome blog that keeps teachers in the loop on great books of today. I love connecting great literature into social studies. Last year, I found this great book, We the Kids by David Catrow. It was a great tool to help the Constitution come to life for my students.

I also stumbled across a great social studies blog called History is Elementary. I already commented on one of the posts because it spoke to a passion of mine – maps.

The creator of the blog found a great online mapping service for teachers to use. LOVE! In my comment, I shared with the creator that I too have struggled to find up to date maps. In my classroom, my classroom map was from the 80’s and fell to the ground every time I attempted to use it (quite entertaining for students). Once more, the Sanborn Map resource not only has maps but photos and other primary resources.

Another great resource I found was History Tech. This is a blog created by technology and history teachers. I am very excited about this blog because it connects what I am learning in this class to history.

One of the articles posted this weekend was about Constitution Day. Last year, I loved creating lesson plans for Constitution Day. This blog has some amazing resources that I didn't even know about last year.

I found another great resource, Teaching History (teachinghistory.org). This site is amazing!
One component I love is that the site has a blog that is updated frequently. Another great feature is the amount of lessons and links to resources that are provided. A lot of the posts are also very interactive and I could use these blogs in the classroom without much modification (awesome).

What I think today?

When I set up my Reader on Tuesday, I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the possibilities with RSS feeds. I have noticed a strong desire for me to go a look at my Reader constantly. However, it does save time and keeps me from clicking from site to site in search of something to read.

It is now my third day of having an Reader Site and I amazed at how much updating occurs. I have been learning to navigate the sites tools to better organize and manage all of the information.

By tracking my social studies blogs and sites, I have gained insight into new lessons, projects and ideas that I never even fathomed – and it has only been a matter of days. Through one site, I found resources that will help me tweak a project and I did last year and make it that much better. My RSS Reader will make connecting and learning so much easier than I ever thought possible. I am very excited to continue to use this and learn new ideas.