Thing 5

I am trying to search and subscribe to some blogs. I have found several blogs that are of interest to me in one of my favorite areas......writing. Of the several blogs that I have found that I like, I still cannot figure out how to add them to my blog library/rss. I can add them to my facebook page....YEAH! But, that is not really where I want all of that information going. I love that I am finding so much information that I am interested in. Now if I can just get it to this place where it is easier for me to read and keep up with. As I said before, I will keep plugging along. Maybe by the end of this course, I will actually get it.

Thing 4 The RSS

Ok.....I like the idea of the RSS. However, I am afraid that I will get overloaded. My favorites list on my three different email accounts is already too much for me to handle. I also have had trouble figuring out how to find where the stuff is to read that I have subscribed to. Sometimes when I get on, I have no trouble finding it. Other times I have no idea what I am doing. So, like the rest of this techie stuff............I will live and learn. I know that it will come with time. It wasn't that long ago that I could not text or IM, and I just came to that realization. Onward I go.

How do I feel about blogs

I definitely liked looking at the different blogs out there and seeing the information available. I have a few concerns about blogs. My biggest concern is security. Not just for my students, but for myself also. I have family members who are in a huge mess/fight because they have had their identity stolen, and I have seen what can happen to people. These family members are not even computer/internet users, at all. So I worry about exposing myself and my students. My other concern is availability. I know that students have different levels of access to the computer and internet. I have students who have phones with everything all the way down to students who have no phone or internet access outside of school, unless they go to the library. So I worry that students will not have equal access, therefore hurting those students who cannot get the access that the other students can. I can easily see already how the children from homes where their exposure is limited seem far behind those where it is not. My other issue, is for my own children. While I do not mind them spending some time on the computer/i-pod/video games, etc., I am not comfortable letting them spend hours on end electronically tethered to the world. When they are, they are not outside moving, they are sendentary.......and tend to want to move from the computer straight to the tv. I also feel that it inhibits their interactions with people on a one-to-one level. Having a back ground in Speech and Language Pathology, I know how easy it is for one to loose social communication skills. My son already has some issues in those areas, and I do not let him spend a ton of time on the computer, etc. The more time he spends absorbed in these things, the less time he spends interacting with others, which will only further inhibit his growth. I think as time goes on, and everyone has more equal access, I will likely feel better about some of it. I will always be vigilant though with my children. I feel that I have to provide them access to the technology so they can function in this world, but my job, first and foremost is to protect them.

The beginning

Why am I doing 23 things? I am trying it for the second time. I tried last year and got lost early into the program, and gave up. My technical guru husband finds it frustrating that I cannot do much in the way of taking care of myself in this digital age. So I am here to learn. I am learning for myself, so that I am a better teacher and parent, as I also help my children with their school work. I am here as a Special Educator, looking for ways to make life easier for my students who have difficulties with learning. I am here as a person, because I hate feeling left out. Every day, I feel like there are huge chunks of the world just passing me by because I do not know what they are talking about. As I reflect on what it is that is passing me by, I have come to realize that it is technology. It is about time I catch up before I am lost and have no way to find my way out.