Thing 5: Getting started with RSS
Ok, I have to admit it: I had never even HEARD of RSS before I started my homework this week. Now my head is spinning. Honestly, RSS seems to be an amazing tool that, once I get the hang of it, will speed my web-searching up a lot! It really is amazing how I I will be able to save time by bringing my favorite websites and blogs to me. I also think I am really going to like being able to use my reader to scan articles and posts for information that I want. This way, I won’t have to read everything. I feel so high-tech!
I was intrigued by Vicki Davis’ post on the Techlearning Blog about the blog by ps233techteacher, so I went to the site. The ps233techteacher blog shows an animated video created by students about Harriet Tubman. The children did all of the animation, narration, and production. Amazing! What an fantastic video. I highly recommend it! I would love to have my students be able to create something like this. One thing I particularly liked about this blog is that it was designed not only to show off the student work, but also included student reflections on the learning process while working on this project. Here are some of the student reflections:
Amber: “I really enjoyed working on this animation project. One reason was because me and my partner both communicated with each other pretty well so we were able to finish the work that we did. Me and Halina both did a equal amount of work so it was fair.While we worked on our animation it was fun because we actually got to learn some things about the history of Harriet Tubman.I thought we did a very good job.”
Halina: “I liked the animation a lot. In the beginning we had trouble, as we moved on we got better at it. I enjoyed working with Amber. I like to do animations now.I wish to do another animation with Amber because it was easy for us because we agreed with each other. If I could do another animation it would be about my experience doing my first animation. I had a lot of fun.”
What a cool project! I think I am going to really enjoy having Google Reader to help me track websites and blogs more efficiently.
