Expanding my Horizons!

Five years ago, I was part of a small group of teachers that met once a month with our new laptops provided by our Board. They also provided subs so that we could meet during the school day once a month to investigate, learn and question the best practices in teaching. We were learning to support students' learning with technology.

I used to walk out after one of these 'learning plus’ sessions with my head spinning….really! I felt inadequate, overwhelmed and like I was just scratching the surface teaching in this new age. And truth be known, I was. One afternoon we learned how to import photos and create podcasts. At another session, we learned how to set up blogmeister and use it in our classrooms. Considering that I started teaching when a ditto machine was the only source of creating student work--this was such a huge learning curve for me.

I remember a particular session where one of our instructors taught us about RSS feeds and their usefulness in our teaching. We were taught how to set up an application so that we could receive daily updates from our favorite sites. I remember thinking—“Great! Now I need to have information pounding at me from my computer too!”

I tried keeping up with the recommended teacher sites but soon found this too much and quickly deleted this feature from my toolbar. I didn't need another 'to-do.'

Now enter my life 5 years later, where I have rediscovered blogging and RSS feeds. I feel like a child entering a library for the first time. I relish the new articles and appreciate their thought provoking relevance to my life and my teaching. I am an avid reader and pride myself in reading professional books but must say, I feel like I have absorbed more information this last week on my RSS feeds than 3 shelves of books! I am questioning more and finding out how others feel about topics that I am interested in. I am getting up to date research and references for relevant books.

I know I will need to set limits on my computer time once school starts, but for now, I am enjoying cruising through this amazing source of information. I no longer feel it overwhelming to receive articles on topics in my inbox--I find it SO exciting!

Does anyone know how to search for specific blogs? I would like to research best practices, specific reading philosophies or recent research findings. I'm not sure how to navigate my way through the myriad of blogs and would be interested in learning any tips. Thanks.