RSS

In my efforts to understand Really Simple Syndication, I typed in a few topics.  I can’t say I know exactly what I am doing, but I am enjoying playing around with Google Reader/RSS feeds.  RSS feeds have really opened my eyes to the many possibilities teachers and students can use to acquire information about a topic.  This would be perfect for my fifth and sixth graders who conduct research for their Big6 project.  According to Richardson, students can actually create RSS feeds that would bring new information about a topic to his or her aggregator as soon as it is published (pg. 79).  The RSS feed is doing all the research and it’s up-to-date.  (This feature would have saved me hours looking for articles while in school.) Now, that our students have acquired information about a topic, it is our job to teach them to skim and scan the information, analyze, and synthesize their readings to prepare them for the 21^st century literacies. However, the issue still remains that there are not enough computers /technology in our schools and not all students have access to a computer and/or Internet when at home.