RSS feeds and blogging

Although it's extremely popular as a method of communication for people of my generation, I've never really been much into the blogging scene. I'm kind of a computer person, but not really, and creating, managing, editing a blog seemed like too much. So when we got this assignment, at first I rolled my eyes. Ehh, dang it. Blogging. But I surprised myself and volunteered in class to create a blog in front of everyone. And I spent hours searching for widgets, customizing colors, and planning on what to write. So who knows, maybe I'm a blogger now!

I've been thinking a lot about applying blogging in the classroom. I'm planning on being a chemistry teacher (if you didn't see that from my blog title then....I guess you're blind...), so at first I couldn't really see much application in using blogs in my classes. I always thought of them as a way to present your thoughts, and have other people read and comment on them. In chemistry, there's a lot to learn but not much to analyze, so how could I ask my students to use a blog like that? But in class on Tuesday, someone suggested the teacher having a blog, and using it to put up all their assignments and things they did in class so that students who were absent could know exactly what went on. And that is definitely useful in a chemistry classroom. I could post my worksheets and labs, and talk about what was discussed in class.

Another use I thought about for blogging in chemistry is for students and I to share interesting or awesome or new things they've learned about science or the world in general. I've subscribed to three feeds that are just general science stuff: news about discoveries and how things work. The websites are Science News for Kids, ScienceNews, and New York Science Teacher. These are useful sites that science teachers of all types might want to look at. I've been reading the cool discoveries just for my own benefit, and there's tons of stuff that students and teachers alike would love to learn about.

After all, school isn't just about learning your subject matter, is it?