Thing #3: RSS, Personal Home Pages and Feed Readers

 After spending the last couple of weeks clicking back and forth between the list of participant blogs and saving the blog sites as favorites, I figured there must be a better way and.. who knew.. there was!  feed readers like Netwise!  I even showed my son how he could use it.  I set up the dashboard and also a tab for all the blogs I would like to follow.  So far I like it, although I'm having trouble adding and deleting widgets (I think that is what they are called).  I'm using my laptop and Netwise doesn't always let me get to the delete choice before the pop-up window disappears.  It works much better on the Ipad.  Also, when I add a blog/widget to my dashbord, it seems to be adding it twice. Frustrating.  It did say something about brower versions when I started.

If I can get it to work I might try and put all my email accounts on it then I don't have to log into three places every night to check them.  If it works it will be a big time saver. 

I've checked a lot of the blogs today and I really like the look of Wordpress much better than Blogger so when I get some time (haha) I may switch over. I'm impressed - many people have added pictures from their libraries!

Well, I have to get back to my old fashioned hand-written plan book for this coming week. 

Setting limits

Had an interesting situation today regarding online communities.  A parent in the school sent me a friend request on Face Book.  I hadn't previously discussed Face Book with him at all.  When I saw it Sunday evening  I declined it.  He came in the library today and told me he sent the request.  Awkward.  I had to tell him in person I declined because I think it best to draw a line and keep personal and work issues separate.  He said he respected my decision but it was still awkward.  I didn't feel comfortable - not because I'm worried there is anything wrong with what's on my Face Book, but because I think bringing personal Face Book pages  into parent / teacher communications crosses professional lines.  Too many risks, like if they let their kids read their Face Book, or if the kids have a Face Book, you definitely don't want to friend students.
On the same topic, I know someone supervised student teachers at a local college and a parent searched and found the student teacher's page on My Space.  The page was very inappropriate.  The parent told the principal, the principal called the supervisor, and the college and school decided the student teacher had to leave and the college would not recommend her for certification.  Online communites bring with them new issues our society is learning to handle.