Week #3: Oops! Choice Blog on Google Reader

Do you ever feel like you've just gotten in a little over your head? You end up procrastinating and ruminating about what needs done and yet you don't just do it. Like when your boss asks if you’re ready for the presentation to the school board and you say sure, but you haven’t started it. Or when the IEP meeting is scheduled for after school and you haven’t finished a crucial piece of testing and the student is absent? Well, that’s where I was at with Google Reader.  I’ve got the account.  I’ve added blogs. Now what?  There’s got to be an easier way.  I’ve watched the helpful videos on the class wiki, but sometimes what I need is for someone to just show me.

 Is it my lack of patience or is there just a genetic disconnect? Like a digital difference? Will there some day be a specific coding for students who are digitally challenged? Has Howard Gardner considered the digital world in his various multiple intelligence. YIKES! I may have just stumbled onto a great research project!

 There are times when individuals just aren’t ready for the information provided. This doesn’t mean students shouldn’t be exposed, because I think they should. Sometimes it takes a while to synthesize information and then at some point there’s this ah-ha moment when it comes together and you get it and the information becomes meaningful and useful. We realize we’ve been learning all along but we didn’t know it For me that ah-ha moment with technology often happens when someone ‘shows me’. A friend sat down at the computer and simply asked if I had explored the ‘more’ options on Gmail - where of course you find Google reader. That’s all it took and now I use my RSS. This class has forced me to pay attention, think logically, and not be afraid to push a button! My confidence has increased tri-fold.

 Things that make me smile:

•  the Diigo icon on my toolbar 
• ‘Test this link’ when adding a link to my blog 
• audioboo - its just fun to say - and it really is that easy to use