So Labor Day Weekend 2010 may forever become known as the weekend I became addicted to RSS feeds… As I work my way throught the PLP Pregame Activities, I have learned to create a Google Reader and add subscriptions to various RSS feeds. This was not entirely new to me. My iGoogle and My Yahoo pages are “readers” and I have posted fun feeds there such as a daily crossword, literary quote of the day, weather, and news. Is it ridiculous to admit that I never thought about seeking feeds that kept me abreast of developments in my field??? I always just chose fun stuff from the options google or yahoo provided, and never really thought about subscribing to a professional feed.
I’ve found that the way to develop the “reading habit”, is to make your Google Reader your home page. When I get online, the first thing that pops up are any new posts on the feeds I am following. Being a new blogger, one that appealed to me was one on the Tech Savvy Educator about Edublog Awards (http://www.techsavvyed.net/?p=496). Looking at award winning blogs was a great way to discover ones I wanted to follow.
Even more exciting? When I moved ahead to the “stretch task” and checked out Google News, I found wonderful articles about technology developments such as “BrainPOP and Promethean Announce Integrated Assessments for Learning” (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/brainpop-and-promethean-announce-integrated-assessments-for-learning-102079303.html) and “Former Governors Advance Digital Learning Agenda” (http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2010/08/former-governors-advance-digit.php). As if my family wasn’t already feeling abandoned while I spent hours on Facebook or Twitter, now they have to deal with me browsing through my Google Reader for new and exciting information! My boss may have issues here too — These integrated assessments using Brain Pop and Promethean are going to strengthen my argument for subscribing to Promethean Planet’s interactive whiteboard community (http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/index.aspx?cmp=corporate). 🙂
