Any teacher has heard that comment before. However, with using in the classroom RSS you may never hear it again. Students can create their own RSS feeds to aggregate sites about their favorite things. Or if you do not feel comfortable with each student having their own reader you could create one for the class. This poses as a fantastic way to learn more about your students and for them to build connections with one another based on common interests. Troy Hicks presented this idea in chapter 2 of The Digital Writing Workshop.
I was so amazed by the simplicity of this idea and the large spectrum of impact this could have on students. I think of elementary boys that are interested in sports and science and cars, but do not have the books to foster their interests. These students can, with your help, find websites related to their interests that they can access through their personal or class RSS.
Wouldn't it be remarkable to have every student in your class reading and not only would they be reading, but they would be interested and engaged! Oh the power of technology!
Can you imagine our kiddos using RSS feeds to complete their daily reading assignments/logs?! I LOVE it! I do think a class RSS might be especially helpful for the little guys who likely will not have a personal reader. You make some valuable points, Shannon!
ReplyDeleteIf the resources are available, RSS could have a great impact on students in the classroom. Andrea- I love your idea of kids being able to use these feeds as a way to complete their daily reading assignments/logs! It's something that I would definitely consider using in my classroom!!
DeleteShannon, you bring up a great point. I, myself, have found that some of my students only enjoy reading humor books, or books relating to technology. With the RSS I could have readings especially for them. Have you used it with your reading students? I'm also wondering if WE, as teachers, could use it as a tool to print out articles for them to read instead of them solely reading on the computer. Do you think this would lessen the effectiveness?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I would go as far to say it would lessen the effectiveness, however I think it would alter their engagement. Students are reading from printed materials during most content areas throughout their day. I believe that allowing students to use an RSS feed to stimulate their reading interest would be a great way for them to adapt to the new literacies our digital world.
DeleteShannon, I agree. So many times we lack the resources we need to provide some of our students with material they really want to read. RSS may just be the solution to that. I like Jamee's point, too. It would be great to be able to print out the text for students, especially if there aren't enough computers in the classroom to go around.
ReplyDeleteI would love to create a classroom environment in which all my students had their own RSS feeds and were able to log on and get settled in to reading on their own! Maybe next year?! I can dream...
ReplyDeleteShannon,
ReplyDeleteIt is an excellent idea and depending on the attitude of your administration, should be easy to implement. Just create subfolders for each kiddo in your RSS feeder so it doesn't get out of hand. If you use Google Reader, be aware that they are discontinuing its use as of July 1 this year! (I could cry...)
Brian
I saw that too! How upsetting! I wonder why they are removing it!?!?...
DeleteGreat post Shannon. I too was struck by Hicks' ideas about using RSS feeds to supplement the texts or, in some cases, as an alternative to texts. As I primarily teach govenrment and Civics classes I could make very good use of this tool as the curriculum of each is focused heavily on current events.
ReplyDelete