Thing 4:

RSS -- Really Simple Syndication? Okay, I'm willing to try it.

So -- I did the step by step through Thing 4 and found some wonderful things to subscribe to. Decided to use Google Reader although I signed up for Infinite Thinking and NewsGator (for Mac). The article on Using Google Reader like a Rockstar seems really useful with practice.

• What do you like about RSS and newsreaders? finding articles that I enjoy reading and can use to enhance my teaching, stay on top of things.
  


• How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your library or personal life? I found several articles that relate to my personal interests, and subscribed to those feeds. Then I found articles that will help me with lesson plans. I would like to get comfortable enough with what I am learning from the 23 things to teach them to kids (and other teachers).
  
• How can librarian staff or media specialists use RSS or take advantage of this technology? I set up subscriptions for books that would interest my students. I also can see setting up subscriptions that will help me target those subjects my teachers are looking for information to go with their curriculum -- things I can send them to enhance their lessonplans.
  


• Which tool for finding feeds was easiest to use? google blogs was really easy. I have not played with newsgator enough yet to know if it is as good as the intro page says.
  
• What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds? still learning about them.
  


• Find any great sources we should all add to our feed reader? Just the shortcuts and recommendations in the article How to Use Google REader like a Rockstar.
  

Thing 3: Blog Search Tools

"Thang 3"
Stressing at being so behind. I worked on this a few nights ago and managed to translate it into Hindi, a skill I did not realize I had.

After returning my post to English, I decided to start completely over.

Okay, so I managed to claim my blog, but could not figure out how to get the technorati lable to appear on my blog page. Disappointing. I know it has to do with pasting the html into the html, but I feel a bit like Frankstein working on his monster. "What if I stick this little organ here? What could it hurt?"

I always thought that blogs were for beings who liked to listen to themselves expound on whatever issue rocked their boat. Now I realize that it is fairly sophisticated boat rocking. I find that I am printing out some of the resource pages so that I can have time to go back and play more. Instead of 23 things, I could probably do just this one for the next few weeks.

I did try different searches using Technorati and Search Blogs with Ask.com. (It was the first one on my list). What impressed me was the amount of interesting stuff that I pulled up on both searches. I found a good lesson plan that I will probably be using in the next week. I also found that I can get sucked into cool stuff like Alice falling down the Rabbit Hole.

Here is how this is affecting me. No sooner did Blogging come up in 23 things, then blogging with my fifth graders became a new adventure. They are reading Homeless Bird by Whelan and have been doing lots of research in the library to build their knowledge base on India. (Thank you, God, for teachers like Mr. Freeman who love the library). Mr. Freeman and I found that we had to consider the propriety of setting up gmail accounts for each of the ten year olds in his classroom. This meant letters to parents to get permission and getting the blessing of our administration. Extra hoops albeit critical ones.

So far, the blog has been lots of fun. I hope the kids start to use it more and make more comments. I am planning to start a blog on the media center Web site so that I can "book talk" some of the new books in the library. So I guess I am now one of those people who like to listen to themselves. Or maybe we are just hoping that someone else will stop by and engage?

I don't know if this works or is kosher, but here is the url for the blog:
http://freemanhomelessbird.blogspot.com/?zx=1fea651f5444d82b