21st Century Skills for Teachers
Grow Your Personal Learning Network

Personalized Digital Magazine
Feed readers. Without getting into all the boring details of how they work, I'll skip to what exactly they do. Feed readers, at their heart, are a way to aggregate a large amount of information into an app or web tool. Think of a feed reader as your own personal digital magazine. Do any of you out there scroll through the news page on Yahoo, MSN or some other news site? I have to admit, I used to too. I would spend more time than I'd like to admit (much to my wife's chagrin) scrolling and clicking through these "news" sites. But were they really news? Is Kim Kardashian's pregnancy diet really newsworthy? Sites like Yahoo are in the business of selling advertisements; the more people who click on a story, the more money they make, so the majority of stories are centered around society's lowest common denominator: celebrities, controversies, and crimes. This is great for selling ads, but really bad for informing the public. Feed readers are a way for you to have your own news site, with information hand-selected by you, personally delivered to you!
Feed Readers for Your Brain
There are a few major feed readers that work really well. I personally use feedly (you might also like digg reader or NewsBlur). What you do is go to to the feed reader site (or download the app if available) and begin to organize the news and information that YOU want to see. feedly is great
because it works on both the web and in an app. The internet is a HUGE place; feed readers make it more manageable. Your feed reader will aggregate all the blogs and other sites into one place. How many of us have found a great education/content site, subscribed to the newsletter, and then never read a single update that the site e-mails us? If you're like I was, this is a common occurrence. Feed readers also let you organize your interests by topic. For instance, I have sections of my feed reader specifically labeled for social studies, educational technology, news, politics, and even sections for hobbies such as chess and photography.
because it works on both the web and in an app. The internet is a HUGE place; feed readers make it more manageable. Your feed reader will aggregate all the blogs and other sites into one place. How many of us have found a great education/content site, subscribed to the newsletter, and then never read a single update that the site e-mails us? If you're like I was, this is a common occurrence. Feed readers also let you organize your interests by topic. For instance, I have sections of my feed reader specifically labeled for social studies, educational technology, news, politics, and even sections for hobbies such as chess and photography.
Once you sign up for a free account, you can begin to curate your digital magazine. You still need to search for blogs and websites to follow, however once these are in your feed reader, your updates will come to you! For a list of content specific blogs, click here. If you are looking for the newest and coolest educational technology, try blogs such as TeachThought, Free Technology for Teachers, Edudemic, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, Edutopia, and The Innovative Educator. Simply copy the blog's URL address from your browser, paste it in the search bar of your feed reader, and every time a new post is written, it will show up in your feed reader. Don't forget to organize the blog into the right category!
A few tips on finding blogs to include in your feed reader and using the knowledge gained to develop yourself professionally:
- Read a few posts and decide if it's right for you; don't simply start adding blogs that have a catchy title. Remember, this is about being efficient. Only add a blog if you like the author's style and topic.
- Make sure to check when the last post was written (usually you can find this at the top of the last post written). If there hasn't been a post since November 2013, don't add it to your feed reader. This means that the person hasn't added content in a while and in the world of educational technology, a year away from new products is equivalent to a decade.
- Expand outside of your comfort zone. This is the time for you to develop yourself professionally remember? Try to be open minded about some of the blogs you find. There might be a method or app that you think could never work, but you won't know unless you try it!
- If you find an app that you think you can use in class, try it yourself first!! If you find that the app or tool is not very user friendly, toss it! There is no need to clutter up your device's memory with apps that you'll never use.
- You are trying to expand your PLN remember? Subscribing blogs to your feed reader is great, but PLNs are all about connecting. The best way to do this is to comment on a blog that you feel was helpful or ask for clarification if something wasn't clear. Most blogs have a comment section at the bottom of the page. Use it!! You'll make connections quickly!
The Best Professional Development

Admit it, how many of you out there have been intimidated by the vastness of the internet before. I know I was. It's such a big place! You might be tempted to say "how can I find (useful) information in that nebulous monstrosity?" As teachers, we are constantly asking our students to show 'grit' and overcome frustration, and yet, how easy is it for us to give up on ed tech at times?
After I presented at the conference the other day, I went to a few other professional development lectures. I can say without exaggeration that I gain more professional development from 15 minutes of browsing my feed reader that I got in this entire PD conference. With your feed reader, you will get more information and ideas in 15 minute than you will at all the professional development conferences you go to each year! I guarantee it!
(Your personal digital magazine) |