RSS Readers

I created my RSS page using NetVibes.  I was skeptical of it's usefulness at first with just having a list of articles.  I knew that it would be something that I probably wouldn't check or utilize.  However, when I found that I could make it more visual with previews of the posts and articles, I found that this was a tool that I could use.  I could quickly scroll through the information and the ones that might be of interest to me were easily identifiable and I could focus my attention on those articles/posts.  In addition to the sites that were to be added to the page through the RSS lab, I added several websites and blogs.  These are sites where I have found useful resources in the past and have posted on my Pinterest Page. That being said, I found that "following" the blogs was a quicker way to create a continually updated list of new posts.  When I go to my Blogger homepage, it lists these blogs under "My Reading List" and has any new posts listed there along with the pictures and the first few lines of the post.

I checked my page several times over the course of the past few weeks.  I took screen captures of three of the days showing what it looked like:

RSS Reader Screen Dump from 3-17-12

RSS Reader Screen Dump from 3-19-12

RSS Reader Screen Dump from 3-26-12

The blogs created by teachers are updated less frequently than the news sites, which is to be expected since it is their hobby rather than their job (unlike NPR, Education Week, etc.).  However, it was the blogs that I found the most useful.  The teachers provide resources that can be used in my classroom and post difficulties they are having in their classrooms and how they are approaching them.  One difficulty a teacher discussed on What the Teacher Wants was her students' struggling with fluency.  I found the same issue with my students.  Therefore, I wrote a comment explaining how I'm trying to approach this:

From this activity, I have found that RSS pages might be useful in staying up-to-date on blogs that I like to follow without having to check each one individually for updates.  I think this used in conjunction with Pinterest to pin my favorite posts could be a useful way to continue to build my library of teaching tools and ideas.