44 Blogs in 5 Minutes

I just counted...44 blogs. That's right, 44 different blogs that are of enough interest to me that I want to read them regularly.

Our school district has two main blogs. Most of our schools have at least one active blog. Our junior high band has a blog. Today, I found that our junior high gifted program has its own blog. I like to follow the blogs of several principals in other parts of the state or other parts of the Unites States. In addition to education, I enjoy several of the blogs others are writing on personal productivity, organization, and time management.

Want to take a guess at how long it takes me to check all 44 of those blogs and read the new posts? I am afraid the title of this post has given me away.

That's right. Five minutes. How? Glad you asked. Bloglines. Bloglines allows you to "subscribe" to your favorite blogs. From there on, you simply go to one site, Bloglines. All of your "feeds" are listed down the left side. Any feed with new posts shows up in blod print. Click on the link and you are ready only the new posts.

Bloglines is free. For a tutorial on how to set up an account and get started, click here.

Bloglines is on example of an "RSS reader." RSS stands for "really simple syndication." To learn more about this concept, go here for a short video from the Common Craft Show.

The Blogging School

As I am writing this post, I am listening to a podcast of a session Tim Tyson conducted on blogging. In the podcast, he explains how and why he started blogs in his school as well as how teachers used them. For those who have had some involvement with posting to blogs, I think you are going to find this podcast well worth your time. You can listen by going here. Some of the content can be used to reinforce our existing ideas and other content will allow us to expand some of those ideas.

Speaking of expanding ideas, imagine sometime in the future, a parent checks his/her e-mail. If something new has been posted to the school's blog, the school system's blog, or the blog of any one of the student's teachers, that post rolls right off into the parent's e-mail. Wouldn't communication be easier?

The good news is that "sometime in the future" is right this minute. It's called RSS (Really Simple Syndication), it's free, and it's the magic that makes keeping up your favorite blogs very simple.

I had talked about the concept, and the free software I use with Outlook, here. You can watch a video of it by going here.

RSS in Plain English

If you are like me, you probably have at least several blogs you like to read on a regular basis. One that number grows, the amount of time it takes to visit each one grows as well. Often, you find there is no new content since the last time you visited.

Wouldn't it be great if the e-mails came directly to your e-mail? That capability is here now, and it's called "RSS" or "Really Simple Syndication." I talked about the program that use to do this in this post. Here is video that explains the concept of RSS:



Thanks to Lee and Sachi LeFever for producing this video and making it available through the Common Craft Show.

Tools for Math Teachers

This page gives 24 tools, most of them Excel spreadsheets designed to help teach mathematical concepts. The tools range from those applicable in early elementary school (learning "greater than" and "less than") through simpler Algebra I and Geometry concepts.

To give credit where credit is due, Karen Ferrell is a geometry teacher at Northwest High School in Justin, Texas.

In case you are wondering just how long I spent searching for this stuff, the reality is, all I did was check my e-mail. One of the messages gave me a link to this site. Actually, it's taking me longer to type this post that to find and explore her new additions.

When you go to the link I gave you, notice the orange square that says "RSS." That's the magic. Here is an explanation of what RSS is all about. More on RSS later along with some hints on how to integrate neat stuff like this with your curriculum so that all of the neat stuff you find here and there suddenly comes back right when you need it.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

I talked earlier this week about Web 2.0. With so many people producing so much, one can easily become overwhelmed by good stuff. What if all of the good stuff could be organized in one place? What if every time there was an update to a blog you like that update was delivered to you instead of you having to go and check multiple blogs or news sites?

That is what "RSS" (Real Simple Syndication) is all about. This article gives you the basics of how to do it.

I use a program called "intraVnews." It's free and works with Outlook (not Outlook Express). Once I have identified a site that I am interested in keeping up with, I add it to the list. That list includes blogs from principals across town and principals from across the country, educationally-related discussion groups, and alerts from the National Weather Service anytime there is an advisory for this county. I don't have to do anything. It all goes straight to my e-mail. There's enough in life that's complicated. RSS really is simple.