Thing #5: Starting RSS

As honesty is the best policy, or at least the most widely accepted of the policies, and thus I'll be honest and say that I'm already an RSS addict. However, this was actually my first foray into reading about education. Traditionally, I read about starving children in other countries, civil rights protests, international issues, and the arts. Oh yeah, and books. (Such a nerd, I know.)

After reading through a few of the suggested blogs, I came across what I knew would be my favorite of all the ones to read: The Choice. This blog is actually mainly focused on getting into college and all of the steps leading to it. Last year, I spent most of the year trying to convince my ESL students that they COULD actually go to college if they wanted to. I don't think I've ever had to work so hard at anything in my life. TAKS prep was nothing compared to changing their stubborn little minds.

The great thing I discovered about this blog is that it uses a mix of professional journalism and "civilians," if you will, to write the articles. In a stand-out entry, Cue the Choir, I read about a student's last few days of high school. I'm planning to use this as an example of a wonderful personal narrative in a unique style for my students this year. Not only will it inspire them (hopefully), but it will start the college conversation.

As a side note, I'm enjoying visiting everyone's unique blogs. Teachers are entertaining... sometimes I forget that.