RSS in the Classroom

An RSS feed is like a window on the world, a lens through which we view a place, a person, or a situation. For these reasons it is very important when we are assigning feeds to students as required reading to closely consider why we are doing so. A major goal I have for students in my classroom is that they become more informed of different nations, cultures, and ways of living around the globe. Teaching young teenagers in a small community, my classroom is for some of them their first real contact with people from around the world so I need to be very careful about the impressions they form.

For example, most of my students would have very limited knowledge of life in Asia or Africa. They know bits and pieces about poverty and difficulties gleaned from glancing at tv commercials or picked up from friends or magazines, but that is mainly it. When I begin to require them to read blogs like Nata Village or Afrigadget, it gives them a deeper understanding of what these places are like from real sources of information. These choices of reading material that I have brought into my classroom are probably more important than any novel or other piece of writing they will work with in my room as they will spend much more time with them, often having to read something for months before I will allow them to remove a specific source from their feeds if they wish.

Also important with RSS in classrooms is the number and topics of feeds that are being used in a classroom. What topics are important enough that I want my kids to read about them on a regular basis? When I was stuck with print resources, I often had little choice. I was given certain novels in my classroom and I had access to a limited amount of magazines or newspapers that I could get information from to share with my class. But now with RSS, we can design a set of feeds on almost any topic. If I want them to be immersed in issues from Africa or Asia, we can find a number of quality feeds to work with. If we need blogs and sources about technology, or space, or scientific issues, we can find those as well. I locate a few base sources of information, the students find others and then I can put all of these feeds together onto a single iGoogle tab which I share with the class. Free information from authentic sources that is constantly updated on any topic of our choice.

It is always interesting to have students find blogs that may be conflicting in their views of a certain topic. When we looked at global warming earlier this year, students found dozens of different sources of information, many of them speaking passionately either about their belief in this issue or against it. I had people read both and then the debates raged before we came to some understanding as a class about our beliefs. Many students were very surprised to see the differences of opinions that were being raised and this gave them another window on how opinions form. Some of my students are also not impressed with me when I refuse to give them answers to questions like these as I want them to form their own opinions which I also ask them to defend based on evidence they have read.

Finding and organizing feeds and making time available to use them in classrooms mean changing our relationship with the information available to our students and as the model of access changes and our ability to bring in multiple points of view from around the globe expands, I'm left with many questions about helping students to see the world in new ways.

Image: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/78/211122147_2b36ba2003.jpg

Tags: RSS, classroom, afrigadget, nata village, igoogle

Comments

[Robin Ellis]

I believe there are many places in the world where students have the same experiences as yours, limited knowledge of other countries, cultures, people, other than the sources you refer to. RSS is a wonderful tool to use for students to help them understand the world from the perspective of those who live in any particular area. I know I am always trying to connect students outside of the geographical area in which we live, for some it is the only way they will ever "travel" outside of the town they grow up in.

[Janice Stearns]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with using RSS in your classroom. It offers concrete examples of how RSS pulls rich, authentic resources for students. Sharing a gadget of these feeds via iGoogle is such an easy way to manage feeds. This is a great article to share with other teachers. Thanks!

[Barbara]

Clarence,

Nicely said. I have to agree with Robin...there are many circumstances which contribute to students limited understanding of the world. Even living in the midst of a metropolitan area like Los Angeles students can have a very limited world view. Your take on RSS as a window to the world and a gateway to travel makes a good case for RSS as an essential tool BUT here comes the rub...

I do not find it easy to find the quality feeds you are talking about...especially for a window on the world. I appreciate the two examples and I will be looking at them. What about thinking through and posting a kind of guide/wiki/tutorial to help us find and evaluate RSS feeds for the 12 to 14 bracket???

I really do think these kind of RSS feeds are important but as an admin if I struggle with this how much more so will my teachers?

Clarence...thank you for leading the way and for your constant encouragement for us to move forward.