Thing #8: RSS

I have just started using RSS with my Google Reader and found it very easy to use, especially after watching the clip RSS in Plain English. Adding blogs and news sources was a breeze. Copy - Paste is all I need to remember. Almost immediately I had access to the updated list of postings, and reading them all at the same place saved me a lot of time! I also created a Shared Items Page for everyone to enjoy the most interesting and relevant postings I receive. I also liked the “adding notes” feature. That way I can share and give my opinion at the same time.
Using the RSS feed in the library, I could give teachers and students access to articles and blog postings that they may find interesting and/or useful. Teachers could use their shared reading page to post articles and websites for their students to use in an assignment. Since one gets to select which articles are shared, students will only see the ones they need. Teachers can also add notes to help guide students even more.
The librarian, principal, grade level chairs, or department heads can also create blogs for the rest of the staff. All blogs can feed to one Reader page, which can be shared so that the whole staff can read the postings on the same page. This would require a monitor to make sure all postings are being shared, but RSS feeds can easily become a new way of communicating.