DQ #4 – Kick start your blogging – Keeping up with your favorite blogs
In last week’s Edublogs Weekly Review I share how I’ve switched over all of my favorite blogs to Facebook to use as my feed reader of choice.
This week’s question is what is your favorite way of following blogs and why? Do you subscribe by email, use Google Reader, or have another cool tool to share? Or maybe you just use twitter?
If you haven’t followed blogs before, what are the tools that you have learned about that you are wanting to try out? What are the benefits of following blogs using RSS?
rcurtin, 
sccsinstrumental, 
SarahLDavis and 48 others are discussing. 
mrsangle 7:04 pm on January 19, 2011 Permalink |
I am a Google Reader fan/addict. In fact, my second blog post for this challenge was about my Reader and the way in which I (sort of) manage it.
But all joking aside, Reader has become critical to me because of the information that it puts at my fingertips. News aggregators (and there are lots of them out there) make it so easy to find and keep up with resources that I want, while helping to eliminate the noise of information that I don’t need.
I read with interest your post about using Facebook for a feed reader, and I am almost to that point myself. I have “Liked” a number of pages for blogs that I regularly read, and I am finding that I can keep up with their postings better via Facebook. Don’t know if I can let go of Reader, though…
I’m very grateful for the opportunity to participate in this challenge – but I know I will be adding more RSS feeds to my list!
Here’s the link for my Google Reader post:
http://mrsangle.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/is-it-wrong-to-love-a-web-app/
Sue Waters 12:35 am on January 20, 2011 Permalink |
Really nice post on Google Reader.
Are you using Folders in Google Reader? That makes it easy to manage your reading because you can set up folders so that you have different orders of priority for reading your blogs. So for example the ones you like to read the most are in one folder.
And the ones that are nice or less important to read are in another folder. Then if the numbers get too much you can always click mark as read for the lower priority folders.
mrsangle 7:37 pm on January 20, 2011 Permalink |
Thanks! I have been trying to utilize folders more and I am finding that it does help me “triage” my daily reading. There is just so much valuable information and so many great writers out there that it’s sometimes painful to bypass posts!
I am really enjoying this TeacherChallenge and I am learning so much – thanks!
lhowlin 12:56 am on January 22, 2011 Permalink |
I have been using Google Reader for a while now and love the way I can quickly see if my favourite bloggers have added anything new. Until now I haven’t had enough blogs to think about folders. However with this last Teacher’s Challenge I’m pleased to hear about folders and will now investigate.
debbieag 5:12 pm on January 27, 2011 Permalink |
I’m a bit behind on the challenges, but I’m not giving up! I had started experimenting with iGoogle and had already added a few blogs to the Google Reader. I found it MUCH easier to prioritize my reading now that I’ve organized them into folders. I had just found that feature before replying. It is definitely worth doing!
Reba Gordon Matthews 6:32 am on January 21, 2011 Permalink |
Whew..I have so much to say because I have learned so much. I really learned a lot with this activity. I had heard of Google Reader but did not really understand its purpose or its functionality. However after completing this activity I see the real value.
I love the Gravatar task. I already had an avatar that I really liked, but I always wanted to know how people were able to leave their avatar footprint on various web areas. Now I KNOW! I hope once I post this comment that my avatar will appear.
I am a little behind with my “About Me” because this is the first week back to work and I seem to be experiencing writer’s block. Has any blogger experience this same thing or is it only me? But I do hope to finish Activity 3 this week.
Reba Gordon Matthews 6:34 am on January 21, 2011 Permalink |
YEAH….my avatar appear. I am so JAZZZED!
rgugliuz 3:13 pm on February 10, 2011 Permalink |
It does feel good when something works that you are trying to do. Congratulations
Sue Waters 8:51 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
My recommendation is to take time to write your About page. If you’re not ready just add a couple of short sentences and come back later when you’re ready.
Jenny Gilbert 1:16 am on January 20, 2011 Permalink |
I have used Google reader for a long time and am still comfy with it. I can’t handle the overload if I use email – something about a full set of unread email seems to have more impact that 1000 unread blog posts on the reader! I have tried some of the other tools but I think the ease with which i can click add to google reader keeps me doing that even though there are other choices. I never thought of using facebook for it – but then facebook for me is very much at a personal level and my family don’t need to know what I am up to in my educators world. Twitter on the other hand is something I could explore further. The challenge today led me to celaning up my Google reader – I wrote about that on my blog.
Mrs S 2:43 am on January 20, 2011 Permalink |
I am a long time user of Google Reader. I originally used it to keep track of the crafting blogs that I started to find as one blog would link to another and another and another . The crafting community was posting so many tutorials that I found inspiring and so my Google Reader starting collecting blogs. I very quickly realized that I needed to organise them and so I began adding folders. The range of blogs I visited broadened and as it did so did the folders so that I could find a blog more quickly if I needed to. I am very happy with Google Reader and I also like that I can read my feeds in two different manners depending on how much time I have. If I am busy I can scan through in the Reader view and this means I just see the words not the fancy themes. If I have more time I use my Google Reader bookmarklet to click leisurely from one blog to the next and I see them in all their splendour.
The thing I like best about RSS feed readers is that it all comes to me. I can log on at any time and see inspiration from all over the world. I can add more blogs as I follow the links that come in to my Reader. Information overload it can become but I love it all the same.
Lorie 8:12 am on January 20, 2011 Permalink |
I love Google Reader! I have been using it for a couple of years now. I have subsribed to online tutoring and education-related feeds, as well as personal interest feeds. When I find a web resource that I think I can use for online tutoring, I bookmark it separately. I subsribe to my hometown’s top news feed to keep in touch with what’s happening there. I also subscribe to computer technology feeds and have found great free software downloads that would have taken me hours to find be searching alone.
MR. Riley 9:09 am on January 20, 2011 Permalink |
I keep up with my favorite blogs by using my Google Reader. I enjoy using the “Star” feature to save article that i will use as resources later. I sort my blogs into different topics so I am able to go to that section quicly. I explain RSS to my students that a reader is a way to create your own magazine or newspapper. Only the information you are looking for is dispayed. Some use, most don’t…yet.
Mrs S 3:02 pm on January 20, 2011 Permalink |
I like the way you explain RSS to your students, Mr Riley. A customizable magazine or newspaper is a great way to look at it.
msthomas79 9:51 pm on January 20, 2011 Permalink |
Google Reader has become my new favorite thing to peruse on the net….I appreciate how it keeps all the articles in order with links & photos in a nice, clear manner. I think I could EASILY get sucked into this and need to explore more google tools if they are all as good as the reader
Elaine 4:19 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
I am a Google tool addict. I use Gmail, GCal, and Google Reader. I was using GTasks, but it was a little too simple for my needs. I use iGoogle for my home page and am addicted to widgets.
And it’s all FREE!
colbyholland 6:04 pm on February 24, 2011 Permalink |
Thanks for the iGoogle homepage tip. Looking forward to exploring its widgets.
mrsjwilson 6:53 am on January 21, 2011 Permalink |
I use Google Reader to follow blogs. When I first started following blogs, I used Bloglines, but since I use Google and Gmail so much already, using Google Reader makes it really easy for me to keep up. For the challenge, I created a new folder to put the blog feeds of the participants.
Luciana 7:33 am on January 21, 2011 Permalink |
I’m new to Google Reader, but for a while it seems really useful because it organizes and saves some time. I also like Mr. Riley’s idea that it is like my personal magazine. I hadn’t thought of that so far.
Deb 11:12 am on January 21, 2011 Permalink |
I love Google Reader! I began using it sparingly a year or so ago, but now with the Challenge it is quickly filling up. Reader helps me keep track of all my interests–sports, technology, writing, education…..so learning about folders is a great thing!
judigowing 7:40 pm on January 21, 2011 Permalink |
I have subscribed to Google Reader and chose 5 random Blogs of participants in the Challenge. Will play with folders a little later! it’s all systems go here – how do I add a widget that links to my feeds on my Blog?? Help!
suewaters 4:14 am on January 22, 2011 Permalink |
It is a very old post but here is how you set up a blogroll using Google Reader – http://suewaters.com/2008/03/18/ive-gone-widget-crazy-and-need-help-to-control-widget-addiction/
All you need to is grab the embed code and add it to a text widget in your sidebar.
Karla 9:09 pm on January 21, 2011 Permalink |
This task been the hardest for me so far and I really didn’t think it would be at all.
I knew vaguely what RSS was but had never really used it because I really hadn’t read that many blogs until I started doing this challenge. I’m still learning all the functions of Google Reader but it seems, so far, to be a good platform in which to read everything. It will certainly make it easier. Visiting one site instead of all your favourite sites is a real plus. Choosing the blogs to put into my reader has been exhausting. I looked through all of them on the Edublogs Award site and was totally amazed at the quality of the blogs.
The thing I found hardest was creating my Avatar! I’ve used pictures of favourite musicals for years but when I read Sue’s tips about creating a “positive digital identity”, something that identifies you online, I stopped and really thought about it. Did my avatar really represent me?
I tried Picassohead and it frustrated the hell out of me. I’m no Picasso that’s for sure. Then I remembered creating a Simpson’s avatar a while back so I went back there and tried again. I wanted something that captured my black frizzy hair and I think The Simpsons avatar doesn’t do too badly. I’m not even that huge a fan of The Simpsons but I guess I just felt it captured me best.
I struggled so much with the saving and cropping in MSPaint and even though I changed it to 97×97 pixels it still seems a bit grainy to me.
All in all a tough challenge but I learnt a whole heap. Now I’m off to read the hefty number of blogs I’ve subscribed to. In Google Reader of course
Scott Duncan 11:03 pm on January 21, 2011 Permalink |
Prior to discovering Google Reader, I too was subscriving to all my blogs via e-mail and suffering from a seriously blocked up inbox. Now with Google Reader I can keep track of all my blogs in the one location and my inbox has been cleaned up.
I’ve only recently discovered now how to setup folders with Google Reader. This has also made the process of reading blogs much more easier. I can select to read certain blogs based around certain themes at certains times now. A great time managment tool.
I also find that posts tend to come through sooner on Google Reader than by subscribing by e-mail meaning I get updates and new information sooner.
colbyholland 6:12 pm on February 24, 2011 Permalink |
Scott, how do folders work? I have added about seven blogs to my reader so how will folders change/impact that?
Thanks,
Colby
Shawn Urban 7:05 pm on February 25, 2011 Permalink |
Colby,
Refer to my TC4 (this challenge) January 25, 2011, response to Deb Hogg on Google Reader subscriptions, folders and feeds. Hopefully, you will find this response helpful.
Good luck.
Shawn
vanessajenkins 8:21 am on January 22, 2011 Permalink |
I set up a Google reader account 2 years ago but never fully understood what it was all about and how effectively to use it, until now. When I finally signed in, after several attempts at my username and password that had cobwebs growing from it, I found that I had already subscribed to the Edublogger as well as a few other class and educator blogs, which I had forgotten about. Now I have subscribed to some more blogs I have found during the challenge that are of interest and after reading the comments here, am going to try and organise these into folders. Thanks for all the great tips!
groovylibrarian 8:40 pm on January 22, 2011 Permalink |
I am currently using Google Reader for my RSS feeds and it’s easy to use. However, today I used the advice from The Edublogger and now have folders for my subscriptions. I couldn’t work it out before today despite using Google Reader for some time. There’s a free iPhone app so I can be updated anytime, anywhere.
I am currently trying out Netvibes as a one-stop shop personalised homepage. The potential is there to have all my favourite feeds, emails, social networks, videos, blogs, news, ebay, bookmarks … and the list goes on accessible on one site without having to many other places. It’s still early days with Netvibes – it’s finding the time to set it up the way I want it.
http://groovylibrarian.edublogs.org
Thanks for all the great tips, there’s still so much to learn.
Glenda.
Elaine 4:23 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
You may want to look into iGoogle as a personalized homepage. I don’t know if FaceBook works on it, but I do have my Twitter feed and Google Reader on it.
Sue Waters 8:53 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
I agree with Elaine. I would use iGoogle for my personalised homepage and if I wanted to share it with others than I would use NetVibes.
kshay 11:30 pm on January 22, 2011 Permalink |
I’m going to start using Google Reader for the RSS feeds. It beats bookmarking. I will need to go “play” with the other features. It will be an easy way to follow the feeds. I can look through the list to see if there are any new posts. It will save time.
Judy McLaney 1:23 pm on January 24, 2011 Permalink |
I have set up google reader too, for this exercise, but I can already see how it will help me to be more organized in my reading. I have been spending a lot of time reading and re-reading the same posts.
Mr. C 12:49 am on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
I have used the Google Reader for the RSS feeds for a number of months, but it has been for scores and other more trivial information. Using it professionally looks really promising. I have hooked up Teachers Love Smartboards, Free Tech for Teachers and others. I will now have to figure out how to get these to load up on my iPod.
Cheers
Brian
beginnerblogger 9:03 am on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
The only one I am familiar with is Facebook. I have subscribed to a vlog via email before though. I’m not sure which I like better since I’m so new to this. I am now off to find out more about Teacher Love Smartboards though. We just got one and I’m still in the learning stages of everything it can do!
Dorene Bates 1:44 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
TeacherLove Smartboards is a great blog. Here are some more resources for you: http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/iwb. The tiles in pink and brown can be used for all IWB’s and of course the blue tiles are for SMART boards only. I highly suggest the blog tile: IWB Goodies. The real name of the blog is SMARTBoard Goodies by Amber Coggin. She is great!
Dorene Bates 1:41 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
I use Google Reader and have the reader feed in my iGoogle home page. I love this feature as I don’t always remember to visit the blogs that I like to follow and I always have it in my reader when I don’t have the time to read a blog until later.
debhogg 6:57 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
Wow, Dorene… didn’t know I could do that! Dang! I love learning by reading these comments! Thanks! Regards, Deb
Russell Ogden 1:44 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
I’ve been using my iGoogle home page to keep track of RSS feeds. It seems very intuitive and easy to add feeds. I am able to arrange a number of tabs that sort my feeds into categories. I have one for tab for my student blogs, one for blogs on technology, subject areas and so on.
I will have to do a little more exploration of Google Reader to try and identify any advantages of switching. Maybe there is someone in the Challenge who might have an opinion on comparing the two approaches?
Sue Waters 8:55 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
Hi Russel, how I would do it is add the Google Reader gadget to your iGoogle hompage and then set up your different RSS feeds using Folders.
Folders are explained in this post – http://theedublogger.com/2010/02/19/week-7-add-your-student-blogs-to-a-folder-in-google-reader/
Crystal Bartlett 1:56 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
I never used google reader before and at first it was really overwhelming for me. However, I can see how it can also be very useful. Other than this challenge, I don’t really have any other blogs that I look at regularly. I hope that once I begin teaching though, I will do that and google reader will be a savior for me then. Also, I haven’t used gravatar yet (it takes me a long time to do all of these things), but hope to soon.
Crystal Bartlett 1:57 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
ok clearly something is wrong with my avatar
Crystal Bartlett 1:58 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
is it fixed?
Sue Waters 8:56 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
Can you tell me what your image should look like?
Dorene Bates 3:00 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
How exactly would I add an RSS to my blog (blogspot.com) and/or add email subscription to my blog for people to subscribe to it? Thanks. I am really learning a lot. I just changed my avatar, can’t wait to see if it comes up!
debhogg 7:02 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
Hi again, Doreen… love the avatar although I think it needs to be a bit bolder – to go with all this bold learning you are doing! I can help with the RSS feed question – it’s one of the gadgets available on blogger so you just have to add it to your blog design within the dashboard interface. I haven’t bothered with mine because I can’t imagine why anyone would want to feed it! I am glad, though, that I have put a Clustr Map on my brand new blogs because otherwise I would never have known that I had a visitor from the Russian Federation and one from Korea… and I love the dot out in the Pacific which could only be Hawaii! Regards, Deb (Sydney,Australia)
Elaine 4:15 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
I have been using Google Reader for what seems like years. I know it has been at least three or four.
When I first started, I was very good about keeping things organized in folders. Now it is all dumped together which in a way I think is better. It does make it easier to scan.
I have added one folder at the top for blogs I always read. That is to make sure I don’t miss anything when they are all mixed together.
I really, really need to clean up my feeds. I am strongly tempted to delete everything and start over from scratch!
debhogg 7:11 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
Hi all,
Google Reader is my blog aggregator of choice although at times having a week off can lead to that scary 1000+ ! I wouldn’t use Facebook as an aggregator because I am trying hard to implement our Code of Conduct policy and leave Facebook for personal stuff – just makes it easier for me to put the lines in place. I am also a very beginner twitter user and have only just learnt about aggregators for twitter feeds – haven’t decided whether this is too much information for one brain to digest! Have enjoyed reading the http://paper.li/ of other educators at times but don’t think I’m ready to take that on myself. However I really enjoyed visiting http://isparade.jp/ for a bit of twitter fun! Made me think about changing my avatar to just a headshot! Regards, Deb (Sydney, Australia) http://debhogg.edublogs.org/
Sue Waters 9:00 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink |
For those that have an iPad then I suggest you try Reeder for iPad. Really nice interface for your Google Reader account. on the iPad.
juselig 7:15 pm on January 24, 2011 Permalink |
Not only is blogging new to me, so are RSS Feeds and Google Reader. I set up GR (correctly I think). Not sure about the GR on iGoogle? I have learned so much through this challenge. I have enjoyed learning from other bloggers. As I learn more, I realize there is more to learn! I have totally changed my blog: http://juselig.edublogs.org
Shawn Urban 10:26 pm on January 24, 2011 Permalink |
I use many social media / Web 2.0 tools for PD. Most of my ongoing overarching interactive PD is done with four tools though. I use my blogs and Twitter to communicate and share with others. I use Diigo and feed readers (Google Reader and Feedburner) to gather, bookmark and share information. Diigo bookmarks information from exemplar static posts, while feed readers inform me of updates on exemplar active blogs.
I follow blogs in two ways, depending on how urgent it is that I receive the information offered. For blog “browsing”, I use feed readers. However, because I follow so many topics (folders), I embed my topic feeds in one page and visit this to find topics. For currently immediate feeds, such as those from Teacher Challenge this month, I use feed e-mail. I let the feed come to me, instead of hunting it down even on my feed page.
I also receive information about new posts and blogs by word of mouth. I use Twitter for four main reasons:
to build and maintain my PLN, or online global staff, through communication and sharing,
to participate in formal PD opportunities, such as conferences and conversations,
to share information with other teachers, by advertising about and offering it, and
to gather information from other teachers, who advertise and offer it.
debhogg 3:34 pm on January 25, 2011 Permalink |
Wow, Shaun – love your teacher resources page. The URL gives me no hint as to how you have set that up. Here I am trying to learn about blogging and wham! something else incredibly useful for maintanence of the PLN comes up! Love it! Do you have a suggestion for how us mere mortals can arrange such a page (for beginners!)… is there an app for that?
Shawn Urban 6:27 pm on January 25, 2011 Permalink |
Hi Deb,
Thank you for the compliment. I am glad to share my teaching resources and glad you enjoy them.
I assume by my teacher resources page, you mean my widget page (bit.ly/steffeeds) and not my whole Teaching Resources Page (bit.ly/stefhome) site. The site was written using HTML code (view the source to see the code) over many years. The widget page is recent, about a month and a half old.
Before I describe how I constructed the widget page, I will explain the URL. Since I comment, post and tweet a lot, I needed a way to shorten and memorize long URLs. I use bit.ly (bit.ly/). Just copy and paste any URL into the bit.ly input box, press shorten, and bit.ly will create a short URL that points to the same site as the original long one. This URL is permanent and unique. bit.ly never uses (bit.ly/pages/help#i_1_1) that short URL again, and no one can modify and delete it. But you can go further. If you register with bit.ly, you can customize that short URL. This is what I did with steffeeds and stefhome, the two URLs above. Stef stands for stefras, my Internet persona; feeds stands for my widget page; and home stands for my website main page. You find my other shortened URLs and places by exploring this SpicyNodes (www.spicynodes.org/) map of where I am (bit.ly/steflaunch).
It took me a long while to find a launch page for my ever growing Internet presence. I wanted something that was simple and intuitive to use and yet not overwhelming to look at. When written on a standard 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper, the nodemap of my presence leaves very little white space. And I just mapped key and hub pages! (Everything except the webiste pages I created within the last two months.)
The widget page was created in several steps. First, I use Google Reader (GR). One of the “hidden” options in GR – it is in the GR settings, which you can access in the navigation menu at the top right coner of your account page (just sign in and you are there) – is a subscriptions tab. Every blog you subscribed to is listed here. One of the options on the far right of each subscription is a Change Folders button (in it you can also create folders). I organized my subscriptions into meaningful folders, the titles of which are the titles of my feeds on my widget page. These folders are listed in the Folders and Tags tab. These should be private by default, but you can make them public by checking the box before the folder(s) you want to make public, then choose “public” in the Choose Sharing drop down list. Finally, click the “add a clip to your site” for each folder to access a dialogue box which you can customize to create an embed code. Copy the embed code, paste it in Notepad or another unformatted text application and later embed it in a web page. View the source of my widget page to see how I did this. That’s it.
So yes, Deb, there is an app for that!
Have fun,
Shawn
PS: Hmm. That is interesting. My comment was rejected because I used links in it. That never happened before on this blog. Each of the URLs in parentheses after its associated referent text points to an active page. Just cut, paste in your address bar and insert http colon slash slash before the pasted URL. How inconvenient!
Deb Hogg 3:20 am on January 26, 2011 Permalink |
Wow Shawn! Once again I am amazed by the generosity of our profession – for you to take the time and have the patience to explain the process in detail – a 1000 thank yous! (can you tell I’m a Maths teacher?). If it is ok I would like to copy the text, with appropriate credit to its author, so that I can share it with some colleagues. I used to think that computers had a primary function of being time savers but have found that not to be true necessarily! So finding new time efficient means to do what we are doing and stay organised is something that is of high value to all teachers! (I haven’t phrased that well but I think you will get the drift). Thanks again, Regards, Deb
Shawn Urban 2:29 pm on January 26, 2011 Permalink |
Hi Deb,
Glad to help and yes you may copy the text you think will help you. I actually think KSYB Teacher Challenge is going to touch on the topic of RSS folders and widgets some more in activity eleven (the last lesson) of the challenge.
I also am a math teacher, though a substitute. I am trained in Biology, English and Math, but as a substitute I teach anything anytime, which is nice for me. I may not get to work on neat open projects with my kids – that is why I created my Teaching Resources site, but I love the variety. I get to glimpse my students’ successes in several subjects.
Computers do generally save us time on menial tasks, but this also means we open time to squeeze more tasks into our schedule. So, we may save time on individual tasks, but we don’t save time overall. In fact, we probably stress ourselves more since we suddenly have more to juggle. (Trap!) When I started a couple of months ago, I thought RSS feeds were a great idea, and they are, but even they take time to access and browse. I was quite literally overwhelmed with PLN and PD tweeting, blogging, bookmarking, reading, finding ways to help people find me, actually PDing, teaching, marking, family, … (I can’t breathe). Feed widgets lessen the time it takes to access RSS feeds, particularly if you embed several feeds on one page.
Cheers, Shawn
cswetavage 6:00 pm on January 25, 2011 Permalink |
I was subscribing to the Teacher Challenge by email before being introduced to Google Reader. It is so much easier especially with the multiple blogs I have found I want to subscribe to. Why inundate your email inbox if you don’t have to! I just learned about the possibility of using Facebook as a Reader. I will have to consider that in order to streamline my open windows on my computer. Sounds like a cool idea.
mrsw28 7:26 pm on January 25, 2011 Permalink |
I am using Google Reader and find it a fantastic time-saver when it comes to following blogs. Being able to see straight away which have been updated since my last check by looking at the emboldened titles in the subscription area, and to see the number of posts in brackets after the title, is very helpful.
I remember trying to use RSS a few years ago, and I think it was just an email alert. The emails could then go into a folder – only to be forgotten! With technological advances abounding, life online becomes easier all the time.
I noted Shawn’s idea of having the Teacher Challenge feeds emailed a opposed to browsing feeds in a reader something to think about.
I must encourage our English staff to keep up with their Wide-reading student blogs via Google reader. We could compare the ease of keeping track of all student posts using either categories on the blog itself, with using a reader where updates will be visible in an organised format.
Miss W. 9:20 pm on January 25, 2011 Permalink |
G’day MrsW,
If you look on my class blog you will see a page called ‘All your posts”. The links on that page go to my Google reader folder for the posts for either my grade 6 students or my grade 7 students. Just click on my name or avatar and it will take you to my class blog.
avandette 7:35 pm on January 27, 2011 Permalink |
My new favorite way of following blogs is by using Google Reader, it is a time saver (as mrsw28 states above). It can be especially helpful when you subscribe your favorite blog pages and are able to read through them at the same time. You can subscribe your class too, very nice!!! I am going to start with my smallest class first, just to get the idea about blogging and to be comfortable. What I would like to learn more about is how to put special characters in because I’m a Spanish teacher and I will be looking for some posts in Spanish. I imagine it’s the same HTML commands I am used to ! Now, to perfect my avatar!a
Ellen 8:12 am on January 28, 2011 Permalink |
I had subscribed some time ago to Google Reader, but had never used it. Now that I am getting feeds of my favorite blogs, I see how much time it is saving me just in the Challenge itself. I tried to follow the nine steps to organize the feeds of the blogs I would like to use with my students once I get them set up during our new semester next month.
I had quite a bit of trouble with the avatar and gave up for the moment. I am sure that one of students will be able to walk me through it eventually. I am seeing improvement in my blogs’ appearance and am finally beginning to catch on…and catch up.
Thank you. You can see my continuing efforts at http://teacherchallenge.wordpress.com/.
Ellen
mshitzges 10:03 pm on January 28, 2011 Permalink |
I just set up a Google account and subscribed to Google Reader. I love it! I followed the nine steps to organize the feeds and set up folders with my feeds. I would like to set up a folder for my students after I have them set up their own blogs. Google Reader is a hundred times easier than having a million different windows open and constantly refreshing each one.
Miss W. 11:36 pm on January 28, 2011 Permalink |
Ms Hitzges,
I use Google Reader to collect the feeds for my student posts as well as their comments. I then have a page on my class blog that shows all the posts from the students. Check it out here.
misscollette 3:52 pm on January 31, 2011 Permalink |
Oh I’m feeling a little overwhelmed, it’s like arriving in a new country and struggling to understand. I’m getting it all slowly but surely….. Still at the arm waving and gesturing stage, loving the folders in GR though, just need time to read everything I subscribed too as I got a little carried away:)
Paula Michalak 9:50 am on February 6, 2011 Permalink |
I created a Google Reader account. I love the way I can quickly glance through all the feeds I’ve subscribed to without having to leave the page. It was also nice to be able to click on sites and navagate to them directly.
I still found it a bit difficult to post comments. I wanted to post on one in particular, but I had to sign up in order to do that. So, I posted elsewhere.
I plan on adding my site in Google Reader. Then when my students post to my site, I can see the activity.
mrsbuczkowski 3:04 pm on February 8, 2011 Permalink |
I think the RSS feeds will be helpful for me when I am trying to keep up with things. It is useful to have the most common tools I need all in one place. It has already saved me some time.
I have created avatars before; my son loves them! Unfortunately some of the sites are blocked through the workplace. I can’t easily access them so I have used my own photo as the avatar. I even figured out how to link it back to my home page. I think I will link it somewhere else, but I don’t know where yet. Because I am using blogger, I am still trying to figure out how to get my avatar to post with my comments. I just need a little time to “play” with it.
I also want to spend some time searching though blogs that would be helpful to me and my job.
http://itsaselfcontainedlife.blogspot.com/
shelmer 8:01 pm on February 10, 2011 Permalink |
Obviously this is all very new to me. I chose google reader as something that my wife a self proclaimed blogger uses. So far it looks like a helpful tool.
colbyholland 6:18 pm on February 24, 2011 Permalink |
This has been a good exercise that has really broadened my competence in managing my web resources. I’m now going on three weeks into becoming a web 2.0 educator and the information flowing my way has increased exponentially. I found some really blogs out there that I want to start following and this activity will help manage that.
Thanks,
Colby
Kristin 9:07 am on March 9, 2011 Permalink |
Since finding out what an RSS feeder is, my prefered choice of following fellow bloggers is through my google reader. I found it to be very easy and a nice way to catch up on blogging. It makes it easy to look at everything at once instead of navigating around each persons blog.
atahamon 6:42 pm on March 9, 2011 Permalink |
I started the Google Reader and am enjoying that so far. I’m going to try to link it through my Facebook account. I have used an RSS feed before for news, but never really understood the capabilities. I am so new to all of this, but enjoying learning about it. I agree with Kristin and it’s way easier to look at everything once and not trying to figure out how to navigate through the pages.
chrischuck 6:49 pm on March 9, 2011 Permalink |
I am new to subscribing to blogs, and have just learned about the RSS feeder. So far, and keep in mind that I am new, I have found that Google Reader is incredibly useful for organizing all of the blogs to which I have recently subscribed. It is also easy to get into and link to all of my subscribed blogs.
ben F 1:58 pm on March 10, 2011 Permalink |
I also am new to RSS and find it extremely quick and much better then having favorites in your browser. I am addicted now trying to find sites that have RSS and signing up in my iGoogle
sdavis21 4:07 pm on March 13, 2011 Permalink |
I hope your addiction problems do not have a relapse and you go off the deep end again.
MrB 3:53 pm on March 12, 2011 Permalink |
Google Reader is easy to use and it is not blocked at school. I can keep up to date on all the sports I like to follow. Current events that my students need to be aware of are also up to date, all in one place.
I have noticed the effectiveness of Ben F’s lessons since his new addiction to RSS feeds. I often see him perusing his RSS feeds while enjoying a nice tall glass of lemonade.
dskalski 12:58 pm on March 13, 2011 Permalink |
Cool beans!!!
dskalski 4:04 pm on March 12, 2011 Permalink |
I think the RSS feeds will be good… especially if each student created a blog for a class assignment. In that way, you could subscribe to all their blogs and automatically read their posts.
rcurtin 7:56 pm on March 15, 2011 Permalink |
Now that is a smart smart idea… it seems very helpful for grading.
sdavis21 4:09 pm on March 13, 2011 Permalink |
I am completely knew to blogging and have just learned how to use RSS feeds. It seems to be very easy to use and a great way to organize my blogs and other sites. Thanks!
SarahLDavis 7:15 pm on March 13, 2011 Permalink |
I like receiving info regarding any online communities, updates, etc via email. In all honesty, it’s just the 1 place I’m comfortable with keeping information organized. I believe that I’ll get used to using Google Reader…just gonna take some getting used to.
sccsinstrumental 8:08 pm on March 13, 2011 Permalink |
Today is my first day subscribing to RSS feeds. I had been visiting a certain blog every so often but now I have to subscribed to that one and a few others in Google Reader. I guess I will see how I like it and change it later if I don’t. One subscription unintentionally ended up in IE’s reader so I can try that as well.
rcurtin 7:54 pm on March 15, 2011 Permalink |
Google Reader is a streamlined and efficient way to keep up with daily news, editorials and trends in education and entertainment. Although I am starting to feel like a digital media junkie.