RSS Reader Part 2

Working with the RSS reader has created a combination of feelings for me. At first there was a feeling of being overwhelmed because when you first connect with all of the sites there is so much material to read and to cover and it bothers me when it shows that there are still posts to read. I know, I’m slightly OCD. The other feeling was excitement. I finally have one stop to see all of the sites that I want to follow. No more relying on the computer to memorize my favorite sites so that I don’t have to type them all in every time. There is such a convenience that comes along with this. It is also a really great way to connect with the sites that really hit closest to home for me.

I found that the blog pages that I found were not as reliable for new information as they are simply created when the creator has time and something new to say. However, they were more welcoming for interaction and feedback. In a couple of the Hispanic culture blog there were several times that the author stated that the reader was welcome to ask more questions or give their thoughts and ideas and what worked best for them when it came to learning Spanish. In the other blog, there wasn’t a lot of recent posts, but I was able to post on one of the pages to let the author know how useful the information was and how much I appreciated her taking the time to share it with others. I like that I can thank people for their hard work and interact with them if I have questions. It makes it more personal to me and in this case I’m hoping that it will encourage her to write new posts.

With the other sites I really liked how often they were updated, some every day, others every few days. Although at times it felt overwhelming because there was so much to catch up on. I think that its important for me to remember that I don’t have to read everything that comes up only what really interests me. However, I think it is very beneficial that I experience the frustration, so that I can empathize with my students if they feel the same way and I can explain to them how I dealt with that. The site that I had to skim the most was the news site about Latin American countries. There were so many new stories everyday that I quickly learned to pick the stories that really popped out or the countries that really interested me.

I focused more on Argentina and Costa Rica as I have been to both of those places. Argentina is actually focusing on coming up with using natural products like onions and peanuts to create natural dyes rather than synthetic ones. I thought that was really interesting and great that they are making that switch. I also focused on countries that came up a lot, like Columbia that had several stories. It was very interesting to see which countries showed up the most. I would say Argentina, Columbia, and Mexico showed up the most.

I was also really interested in some of the articles that showed up in the National Council for Teaching Mathematics. Since student teaching and working with students who greatly struggled with Pre-algebra to Advanced Algebra, I formed the opinion that forcing all students through Advanced Algebra is not the best way to get students more comfortable with math. Nor is it the best way to ensure that the students learn the math as I quickly found that most teachers were just trying to get the struggling students through the class with a passing grade. That was the end goal, not actually understanding the material. And there was an article on NCTM that talked about exactly that. That Calculus shouldn’t be the end goal for all students, but more applicable math. It was really great to hear their reasoning and know that mathematicians who know and love math, realize that calculus isn’t the best fit for everyone.

Overall, I felt challenged by much of what I read, as well as supported, which I think is exactly what should be happening, especially for me as a new teacher. I can obviously see a ton of resources for this for myself, but when it comes to my classroom I see 3 benefits. One is showing the students how the RSS reader works simply so that they can see the benefit and can learn to use it to make their own lives easier. Two I love the news site that I found and really want to incorporate a “what’s happening in Hispanic culture today” day where each student could talk about something different from different countries to give a wide overview of what all was happening in these other countries. I think it would be a great way of connecting the students to the world as well as letting them see some of the similarities and differences between their cultures and ours. Lastly I would like them to be connected to a blog that deals with Spanish culture so that they can actually interact and hopefully get feedback from the author. This way they would learn about and engage in Hispanic culture. I think that the students getting this information from a source that isn’t their teacher actually makes it more powerful and meaningful. I’m very excited about integrating RSS readers into my classroom.