I Heart RSS Feeds!

I am so terribly over-impressed with myself. I've been confused about RSS feeds and newsreaders and exactly what they do and how they work and apparently my whining was noticed. A friend of mine gave me a careful, detailed explanation of how they work, saying, "The RSS feed itself is, for all practical purposes, magic." After that helpful description he did give me advice and I managed to set up all of my fellow classmates' blogs onto (into?) a newsreader. Which has something to do with the magic of RSS feeds. Which I still don't understand. (added note: David explains them brilliantly in his post here).

Anyhow, the idea is that I will be able to see who has updated their blog! So helpful since we are required to post on someone else's blog for our class. Plus, my classmates are brilliant and interesting and they write so well. But darnit, I can hold my own with them, at least when it comes to drinking coffee and reading fan fiction.

As for the taxonomy chart and this whole business of discussing how you were discussing something, well... I think I still have a way to go before I figure out how to do it.
Ta!

A shortage on Oil of Olay

Wow, I just read a lovely blog posting somewhere about this exciting online multiplayer gaming environment where the set up is a world which is low on oil. Or some such. The blogger was freaking out because a few of the game incidents have actually started to happen.
In any case, there are some lovely teacher resources listed on the site.
Blogs and online games as teaching tools.
I love modern life!

MyTube?

During an in-depth discussion of teaching styles, there was an argument about music in the classroom. According to one of my fellow students, for a social studies class, playing "We Didn't Start the Fire" (which was played in classes of several of the MAC students) is no more relevant than "Lick it like a Lollipop."
Immediately the second song was looked up on YouTube so the discussion could be more insightful. Ahh, isn't it wonderful how we are learning the science of teaching? I'm not certain why I am so easily amused, but there you are.
Cheers!

Now for something completely different.
These are things I haven't yet figured out:
My picture is backwards (look at the writing on my imaginary SmartBoard). No clue how I can fix it though I feel like I have a good idea why the computer takes pictures backwards.
I can't figure out how to post a document and link to it. I wanted to post the syllabus or something but in a different page rather than as a new post, and then link backwards to it but no luck.
I still don't understand RSS feeds.

In a class of its own...

EDUC 504 is looking to be an interesting class though I think I am going to be struggling to catch up. I am just as clueless about cell phones and texting as I am about rainbow parties. Which I am not at all certain I am delighted to know about, now that I think about it... Fear the information shared while eating lunch in the lounge at the Ed building.

Speaking of texting, I do know that the kids I have talked to about it think that it is a fantastic way to cheat on a test. They can all text with one hand without looking and do it right under the desk so no one sees. Amazing skills!

I keep wanting to say things like, "I remember back in the day when the internet was all text. And it was uphill both ways!" Because I do, and it was. So I know all about IRC and MUD games, ftp and telnet, but I have no idea what RSS feeds are. Really though, all of this wasn't so long ago, but it seems like ages when observed through a technological lens.

Blogging will be interesting though I am not certain what sort of format is appropriate for this venue. So far, I seem to waffle between completely informal and only slightly casual. I do hope this isn't intended to be a formal presentation of my thoughts because I will be doing quite a bit of deleting.

I am including a picture I drew in class of a possible classroom set up with some nice technology I would like to have (SmartBoards are your friend):

You will always remember your first post

This is an exciting post which will inspire all my readers.
Yup.
Here is a hyperlink to the DIA, oh boy.