RSS Feeds are like having different newspapers delivered to your front door every minute of the day; however, these special newspapers contain only the information you want to know about either on a professional or personal level. It used to be that you stayed current in your industry by subscribing to different professional magazines, be involved in work-related organizations, read the NY Times, Wallstreet Journal and any other local, national or international newspaper of your chosing as well as attended conferences to hear the latest news and information. Today, technology makes it easy, affordable, accessible and most of all, current.
Feeds allow for instant access to great ideas and this is especially important to teachers in all disciplines. My subscriptions include traditional and fun math blogs and websites, as well as the iconic NY Times. I am a also a big sports buff so therefore subscriptions to the SF Giants and English Premier Soccer are also at the top of my list as news feeds. I think that math has to be presented in different ways in order to be interesting. How often is math done sitting at a desk or table with a white board or paper? How often does doing problem after problem or better known as "drill and kill" come to mind? There are great ideas out there to teach math and taking advantage of them is key. Today I received notice of a new movie coming out called "An Invisible Sign" - a movie about a young woman who becomes a math teacher with no formal training. She loved math as a young girl because her father was a mathematician. If I was a high school math teacher, I would contemplate taking my class to see this movie -something interesting, unique and different - something teachers are always trying to do to keep their students interested in their subject.
Having the ability to look at posts or announcements with a click of a mouse is inspiring and keeps my creative juices flowing. I have a responsibility as a teacher to always improve. Each year, I cannot remain stagnate but must push myself to do things differently than before. If lessons went well, then I must think about how to make them even better. Each student is unique and each year brings different students with different learning styles and I must adjust what I do in the classroom. RSS Feeds can help me do this by keeping my up-to-date and on top of my game as a teacher.
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