This Week on Feedly…

If you have read any of my previous blogs, you know that I can be quite skeptical about technology. So naturally, when we were assigned to get an RSS reader account, I was not overly enthused about the idea. Luckily, the more I explored Feedly, the more excited I became. I have seen so many fresh ideas and great resources, I can see this as something I will benefit from.

I decided to mostly focus on following accounts related to educational technology, as I am hoping it will help me in this course and give me ideas for technology that I can incorporate into my lessons during my three-week block. One of these resources I found was Teach Thought.

This particular resource excited me because the blog posts addressed a variety of topics that are important in education and that I am curious to learn more about and encourage in the classroom. Inquiry, critical thinking, and teaching strategies are just a few of these important topics. They provided ideas of how to apply these in the classroom and didn’t shy away from talking about difficult topics to teach (e.g., the Holocaust). This resource also excited me because there is a Teach Thought podcast attached to it by Drew Perkins. Podcasts are an area of educational technology that I never considered and I had actually seen a post about this podcast from a classmate and it interested me. I am excited to continue reading these blogs and listening to this podcast and discovering ways to apply the ideas in my classroom.

Another resource that intrigued me was the Cool Cat Teacher blog. I chose to follow this blog mostly because the name caught my attention right away! After I looked into it, the first blog that was suggested focused on project based learning. Since I am working to expand my teaching strategies, I was instantly interested. Much to my delight, it was another podcast!!! This podcast is only 10 minutes long, which makes it easy to fit into your day. I took a listen to the podcast titled, “5 Ways to Find Project Based Learning Ideas,” and it included ideas including looking for project ideas in the media, looking for project based ideas based around current events, and project based learning outdoors and in nature. After finding the Cool Cat Teacher website from Feedly, I also discovered that there is a Cool Cat Teacher Twitter account that shares additional educational insights.

I am excited to keep up to date with these podcasts and continue my learning through a platform that is new to me. I found Feedly quite easy to use, however; I wish there was a place that the app would recommend articles and channels for you. I have faced some challenges finding new ed teach accounts to follow and I believe it would be beneficial if there were articles suggested based on your searches and who you follow. I also faced a few challenged trying to find articles that I had previously read. As you are unable to conduct specific searches in the free version, I found myself wandering the app trying to track down a specific article that I was wanting to share with my classmates and forgot to save. Despite these few challenges, Feedly has opened up new avenues for me to find resources that I likely would not have found without the app. As I start planning my unit for my three week block, I am excited to continue searching through Feedly to find resources that can help me apply a variety of teaching strategies to engage all students!