RSS Feeds In The Classroom

RSS feeds can be used for multiple purposes in the classroom. As a teacher we can subscribe to feeds to ensure we are continuing our education and keeping pace with recent actions within the community and/or government regarding our careers and school districts. As for students, my specialization is social studies. I can have students subscribe to feeds regarding local or even global news. This way they can see what is going on in their own community as well as what is going on in other areas of the world. With this information there are a number of lesson plans I can draft, depending on grade level. I can also have students subscribe to a feed surrounding a content area. For example, earlier in a lab I did a lesson plan on the rainforest. I could have students subscribe to a feed that discusses issues of the rainforest, the effects of destruction and where we are now in terms of conservation. This past election would have also been a great thing to have students subscribe to and keeping track of the multiple debates/primaries. As a future social studies teacher I see this as a huge resource. I believe learning is much more meaningful when the students are able to connect to it on a greater level. Using these feeds (current events) to teach the content instead of focusing on a textbook will allow this meaningful learning to evolve.