EXAMPLES+FOR+EDUCATORS


 * EXAMPLES FOR EDUCATORS**

EXAMPLES OF RSS FEEDS: The number of uses for RSS Feeds in the classroom is only limited by the educator's imagination. Each subject area holds a lot of potential to make an exciting student engagement activity. Following are two examples.

First, An English teacher could have students visit The Morning Call newspaper (Allentown, PA) through this hyperlink, []. You will find a list of blogs on various subjects. To the right of each of these subjects is a link that allows you to “Subscribe to Feed”. The students could not only participate in an appropriate blog, they could copy a portion of it, paste it into a Word file, correct the spelling & grammar and submit it electronically to the teacher for assessment.

Another example of classroom use for RSS feeds is to make a topical site available to the students as their reference for an assignment. The government sites are my favorite because it is their job to serve my needs as an educator. The information is reliable and continuously updated. [] This site is one of those gifts that keeps on giving. It is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations site that houses links to many other RSS feeds. Using this site as a resource will make creating a differentiated lesson plan easy!

One of the best ways that I have found to build a lesson is to assign the task of finding RSS feeds to my students. That way they have hands on learning that serves a practical purpose and the teacher saves a lot of search time. For example, in this case of creating usable RSS feeds I would delegate the task of finding X number of appropriate feeds to the students.

EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL BOOKMARKING: When it comes to Social BookMarking there are a lot of free platforms for teachers to choose. Examples are: GoogleReader, [|www.google.com/reader] Wiki, http://www.wikispaces.com/ WordPress, [] Delicious, [] PageFlakes, [] to name a few. Examples of what a teacher can do with these sites are, of course, is left to the imagination of the teacher. Following are examples.

In WordPress, the teacher can create a blog site and ask the students not only to respond to the blog, but also respond to each other’s responses. A science teacher can blog about an experiment that is not practical to actually do in the classroom (Perhaps it would require equipment that is too expensive). The students can sign into the site according to the teacher’s instructions and discuss the procedure, data and conclusions of the experiment.

This can also be done with a Wiki. The teacher can present the experiment with flaws in its scientific method. It would be up to the students to continue to edit the experiment until it represents a correct final report.

Another example of using social BookMarking can be done through Google Reader, Delicious or PageFlakes. In each of these sites a teacher can collect age appropriate RSS feeds as a foundation for a differentiated lesson. Each student can be given a report to do based on choosing one RSS feed, summarizing its content and creating a final product for the teacher to assess.

It seems that new social networks are emerging everyday. No doubt, as soon as you present the lesson to your students they will be telling you about another BookMarking site that you have never even heard of yet!