My Google Reader

For journal #3, I updated my Google Reader account, which, admittedly, I haven't looked at much since I made it for another course.  I only had 2 blogs on the account then, and I see that one of those is totally defunct-- the author has moved on to another blog, so I guess it's time for me to move on to another blogger!

I did enjoy how easy it was to find new blogs using the Search function.  I first searched for "school library"  and selected Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/atom.xml (I've admired him for a few years now--professionally of course!), as well as the School Library Journal's feed:http://www.slj.com/feed/.  Finding nothing else on the list that jumped out at me, I searched "YA lit" to find my third blog, the aptly named Biblio File http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/fcac.

Even though I've used this tool a little bit before, I found that I still needed to explore some of its features because I've never felt like I truly understood it.  One thing that I found to be helpful is that on the left hand side it lists "subscriptions" and you can click on the down arrow next to each blog and choose from a variety of options that give you more information on the blog like it's feed address and--my favorite-- "more like this," which suggests blogs on similar topics.  That's really quite the rabbit trail, that I wish I had some more time to follow-- but I guess those will be the topics for my blog posts to come!

One thing I don't care for is that the blog posts as seen on the reader feed don't show the graphics that are on the orginial blogs.  This is a little disappointing because people go to a lot of effort to make their blog spaces match their content, and if people only view the blogs from their reader feeds, that seems like such a waste.

Students could use a Google reader to help them decide which books to read, kind of like a do-it-yourself reader advisory.  I could provide a list of student-friendly blogs that review books by category/genre.  That said, I think only students who are already avid readers would probaby take the time to read their accounts.  But those that do would be engaging in critical thinking skills as they decide which bloggers to follow and rely upon.

I could also use the Google reader to help find lesson plans and soloutions to the information needs of my students as they arise because the reader puts experts like Doug Johnson, a world-class teacher librarian, right at my fingertips.

It will be fun to look forward to the new entries each week!