RSS+Feeds+--+McMullen

**RSS feeds** send you a syndicated update of information from favorite blogs, news agencies, websites, etc. This update can go to your smart phone or email or google account. Thus, it is free and open to everyone. Even if you do not own a computer, you can have your favorite webpages syndicate to a free google account (using [|google reader]). Keeping up with your favorite websites becomes as easy as checking your email! Podcasts are a subset of RSS feeds.


 * To learn how to set up an RSS feed:**
 * see this [|webpage]: []
 * or [|this one]:[]

RSS feeds could allow students to pick topics that interest them and then recieve information on those topics on a regular basis. This can lead to a great jigsaw activity. At the beginning of a course, students and teachers would pick subtopics from a theme (for example, if the theme was "Africa," students could pick a country in Africa, African food, African politics, music, etc). Then, students and teachers would find a blog or other website that would give the student regular updates on that theme. Students could then regularily update the class on their specific area of expertise. They could also use the RSS feeds to create a wordle (or word cloud) image that helps other students to see exactly what words are most used in that topic and to check for comprehension of those words.
 * Teaching ideas:**

Idea- Teresa Venton First, I think it's great that students don't need to have their own computer, just an e-mail account to have this. It seems that this would be better for students who are more advanced in their language reading abilities. It would be great in a current events/culture type class. To talk about current news and discuss life issues in an as neutral way as possible. Also bring up how different websites or news websites can skew the news depending on the perspectives of the writers.