Thing #12: 10^100 Tools

I have been a fan of the many tools Google makes available ever since my undergrad days when I opened my first GMail account.  Since then, the tools have grown exponentially in number and quality.  Google's cloud-based tools, like Google Calendar and Google Documents, give access to what I need from any Internet connected device, whether that's my desktop at home, my smartphone on the go, or from a public computer (although I take a lot more security precautions on that last one).

Google Calendar is equal parts daily schedule and collaboration tool.

Thing #11: Feed Me, Seymour!

Finding new feeds to read and enjoy was a lot of fun!  The method that allowed me to find what I was looking for most easily was to use precise search terms in Google Blog Search.  While all of the feed search services were able to (eventually) point me toward new and interesting feeds based on my search criteria, Google Blog Search was the easiest to use for me.  Perhaps it was the fact that it is powered by Google's search algorithms, but Google Blog Search seemed to just zero in on exactly what I was looking for, while the others required me to "work-around" the search function, since they always brought up a bunch of irrelevant blogs/posts.  For example, I wanted to find a blog on teaching high school math, so I typed in "teaching high school math," expecting a deluge of unrelated posts.  Instead, the very first blog to appear was Reflections of a High School Math Teacher, a blog created by Illinois high school math teacher Dave Sladkey.  Sladkey's blog is a charming mix of anecdotes, tips, and strategies that illustrate what it's really like to be a high school math teacher, and it is one of my new feeds (unfortunately, there is no RSS feed, you can only subscribe by email).

Check after the jump for more of my feed search results...

Thing #10: Better in (Really Simple) Syndication

For me, this "thing" was an exercise in extremes.   On one hand, it was extremely simple in that I already use Google Reader and had subscribed to a number of blogs, Twitter feeds, and even a couple of webcomics that I follow on a daily basis.  Adding a few more for good measure was not a problem at all.  On the other hand, what was extremely frustrating was that Google Reader failed to load on any computer I tested it from at my house.  This had never happened to me before.  It turns out the problem lay with my internet connection:  the high latency times were causing the connection to be reset.  Once I reset my router, the problem ceased, and I had no trouble completing the assignment.

The convenience of having all my favorite blog, Twitter, and webcomic feeds in one spot is my favorite aspect of RSS and newsreaders.  Rather than clicking through forty or fifty links, I can get all my daily feeds at once.  I already use RSS quite a lot in my personal life, and I can see a lot of potential for using RSS in the classroom.  Creating a public page of RSS feeds that students could use as resources would certainly be viable.  I could also have students create individual blogs that both their classmates and I subscribe to by RSS.

There is an interesting new webapp called Magzinr which I found through the Free Technology for Teachers blog.  It allows you to create a "magazine" of bookmarks that you can instantly share via Twitter.  However, you can also attach tags to the bookmarks, which are then turned into pages that can be subscribed to by RSS.  This could be used as a collaboration tool by students or with fellow teachers.  Check out my Magzinr profile page to see how it works.