What is RSS feed and why do I need it?

Educators today have access to a vast amount of amazing content that supports both teaching and learning.  The Internet is overflowing with blogs and websites that contain rich resources, engaging activities, lesson plans and expert advice.  The problem has become-- How do we find this great content and how do we keep up-to-date without becoming completely overwhelmed?

Enter the RSS feed.  RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.   Most websites have RSS feeds. You can use a free RSS reader to subscribe to your favorite websites and blogs.  When you subscribe, the RSS reader will alert you every time a website is updated with new content.  It is kind of like a subscription to a magazine.  RSS readers can be installed on all of your devices.

My favorite RSS reader is Feedly, but there are many free options out there.  Feedly works with my google account log in.  I did not have to create a new account.  Feedly was recommended to me by one of our administrators, Andrea Welch.  I used to spend a great deal of time visiting individual bookmarked websites and then having to return to them to check for updated content.  Now Feedly updates my reader with freshly published content as it is posted.  I use Feedly to check in with my favorite websites whenever I have a few free minutes (lunch break, sitting in a waiting room, reading before bed, etc.)

To give Feedly a try, start by copying the URL above from this blog and plugging it into the search bar in Feedly.  This allows you to subscribe to my blog.  Click on my blog and add it to your reader.  Next, copy and paste several more URLs from your favorite websites into the Feedly search bar.  You will now receive timely updates on the content that matters most to you.  Please share a comment below if you have a favorite RSS reader or a favorite website that might benefit another reader.

Looking for one place to connect with ALL of your parents and students this year?

Bloomz is a new parent/teacher communication tool that works across ALL platforms and devices.  If you are familiar with Remind (formerly Remind101), it is similar but with some additional and unique features.  I first learned about this tool from Angela Watson at The Cornerstone.  She saw it in action at the ISTE conference in June of this year.  She has analyzed and shared some of the best features of this tool in this informative article.  I love that you can schedule your parent/teacher conferences on it!  I have not yet personally tried this out, but plan to give it a go with our upcoming Girls on the Run program this fall.  Please comment below if you have experience with or additional information about this application that you can share.

Back to School

A brand new school year is under way.  In my role as building technology coach, it is my goal to assist teachers and classrooms in utilizing and integrating the many great technology tools that we have available to us in our classrooms today.  I have created this blog for the purpose of sharing useful tips, tools and ideas as well as to highlight the commendable work of our district teachers and students.

My role as technology coach was new last year and my first task was to introduce some foundational tools that could be used in a 1:1 iPad environment.  These tools were chosen because they could be used across various grade levels and content areas.  The focus of these tools was on content creation rather that content consumption.

To warm us up this school year, I have found some top notch ways that other educators are using some of these same or similar tools...

Anyone interested in having their learners use interactive notebooks in class this year will definitely want to see this blog post from Book Creator where Brittany Banister and Tiffany Copple from 2 Techie Teachers have detailed how they used the Book Creator app to digitalize the traditional interactive notebook.

Meghan Zigmond from Zig Zagging through Education and Technology  has an inspiring blog post about teaching informational text features to her elementary students with the Explain Everything app.  Although our district uses the Educreations app for screencasting, this idea could easily be adapted to use with just about any screencasting tool.  See Meghan's post here.

                                       

Do you play scoot with your students to review or practice skills?   Erin Flanagan from Erin*tegration has developed lots of ways to play this classic game on an iPad.  Read her post here to learn more.  Erin sells many of her products on her Teachers Pay Teachers Store.