Google Reader Project

Our EDUC 520 Team 2 created a presentation on Google Reader - Google's application which allows the user to subscribe to various news feeds and blogs all in one place.  

In this presentation you will find:

• A brief description of Google Reader and a few of its key features
• How this tool could be used to improve productivity or enhance teaching/learning
• Our team's reflections on this tool and how we might use it
• Resource links where one can learn more about Google Reader

For this project, I helped share how this tool can be useful by being able to subscribe to "bundles" of news feeds - several feeds on the same topic.  I also provided a YouTube site on how a fellow science teacher utilized this application.  Last, I shared my reflections on how I might use this in a science setting and also a drawback in that I could see it also quickly becoming overwhelming if one doesn't manage their subscriptions.

As a science teacher, I can see this as being a great time saving tool in that I can subscribe to multiple science related RSS feeds so I'm keeping up on current events for class discussions.  Also, I can share the latest research on topics we may be covering in class.  And, my students could use it to subscribe to all their teacher's blogs and keep up with classes in that manner.

At first I didn't really get the uniqueness of this application as it is very similar to MyYahoo personal page.  There, I've also subscribed to many RSS feeds on science topics and other topics of personal interest to me.  However, I'm not sure one can subscribe to blogs on MyYahoo.  Sometimes in the Google environment, I'm not sure where I am or how to quickly get to another area.  So, I'm still getting more acquainted with the Google world.

I hope you enjoy our presentation and can take something from it to make Google Reader work for you!

Post # 3 - Reflection on Welcome Activity

As mentioned in “Did You Know”, the internet only took 4 years to reach 50 million people and now with the prevelance of smart phones, that virtual landscape is accessible to billions of people world wide.  Due to this, we as teachers have many more tools in our tool belt to share information with students, and for students to share information with each other.  As mentioned in the “Vision for 2011” video, we no longer have a choice of whether or not we want to participate in the digital community.  However, In my work with schools and students with my job in school fundraising projects, I have come to realize too how many students in our state still don’t have access to this technology.  Many do not have cable TV, computers, let alone smart phones.  So, while my philosophy of teaching embraces incorporating the digital world into my classroom, I also struggle with how not to disenfranchise my lower income, non-digital students.

Post # 2 - Using Blogs in My Classroom

I think there are a variety of ways I can utilize blogging in my science/biology classroom.  This is an easy to use application where ideas can be shared, new topics can be "pre-introduced", and outcomes of class lessons can be drilled into more deeply.

I can see an opportunity for class conversations to continue in the Blog world.  As lessons are learned and new topics and concepts are introduced in class and in readings, my classroom blog can be a great place for students to log in and discuss these topics in further detail, or perhaps to find answers to questions they may have had in class or in readings.  My blog can be a place where questions from students can be posted and answered by either me or another student.  This can be a wonderful tool for student collaboration!

When introducing a new topic in class, having a little exposure to that topic ahead of time can be very beneficial.  In my blog I could post the new topic or lesson and some thought provoking questions for students to start thinking about.  I would need to design these questions to really capture interest to get them to start thinking.  One way to do this is by using video blogs to bring the material to life.

This will allow the class to really hit the ground running with the new topic.

Unfortunately there is only so much time in class which needs to be used to cover new material and hopefully, manipulate the new material in some way for better learning.  I think to really understand some concepts in science and biology, further discussion can also really lend to better learning.  Blogs can be a great technology for continuing the conversation started in the classroom into the virtual classroom.  I could envision having blogging debriefing sessions where students can post what they got out of the lesson and others could further learn from their insights.

Of course, in order for all this wonderful stuff to happen, students need to go to the blog.  So, I'm not sure how to make this happen as to whether going to the class blog should be a routine part of homework or if the blog should be an additional resource for students if they so choose.  It probably depends on what I'm using the blog for at that time.

I definitely see blogging as a part of my future class and expect it to be a valuable teaching tool.

Post # 1 - BIO

My name is John Ling and this is my FIRST blog post on Google Blogger!  This is a brief auto-biography.


I was born in Las Vegas, NV in 1966, so I was a child of the 70s and a teen of the 80s.  I saw bussing when I was in grade school shortly after moving to Los Angeles in 1976, and I remember racial tensions between the "home" kids and the "bussed" outsiders from a mainly Hispanic part of town.  Not fond memories and it was a very confusing time.


I dropped out of high school at the beginning of my senior year.  After having a truly wonderful junior high school experience, I quickly became disillusioned with high school upon entering in 10th grade.  To me, my teachers seemed mostly uninterested in my success as a student, and though my school wasn't the roughest in Los Angeles Unified, it had it's share of gang activity.  During my high school experience, I was mugged 3 times and punched in the face by a gang member on the public bus going home from school.


I soon met my first wife while on a family trip during Christmas to Kansas City, where we would visit my dad's sister every year.  we became quasi high school sweet hearts, I was 19, she was 17 and just graduating about the time I moved there in 1986.  We were together for 8 years, marrying in 1994.  While Jen and I were together, after my music career didn't pan out as I had hoped, I stumbled back into school at Santa Monica College in 1990 after moving back to Los Angeles in 1988 and began my 8 year collegiate career full of twists and turns.


After, well, quite a few major changes, I graduated with a BS Ed. in Biology from the University of KS in 1998.  This former high school drop out managed to graduate with distinction with above a 3.75 GPA. It was at that time that Jen and I were splitting up so finishing my "fifth year" to get my teaching certificate was trumped by my need to get my own place and work full time.  So, I figured I'd soon go back to finish.


Well, here we are 2012 and I finally made it back.  


Since Jen and I split, I was married and recently divorced again; Kelly and I were together about 8 years.  We had a dream of running a bed and breakfast, so after living in San Diego for a few years, we decided to quit our jobs, sell our obnoxiously overpriced home and buy a B&B in Garibaldi on the Oregon coast.  This venture did not end up so well since we lost the business and our marriage, but I have a beautiful, vivacious, intelligent wonderful 8 year old daughter as a result.  


I now live in Gresham with my partner Leanne and we've been together now just over 2 years.  I have my daughter Enya on the weekends and she and Leanne's older kids (19 year old Hailey and 22 year old Corey) have bonded quite famously - especially Enya and Hailey.  Life has just become very busy again with starting my MAT program and I look forward to earning my degree and becoming certified to teach high school biology, perhaps chemistry too, or middle school science.  My odyssey to become a teacher is finally in its home stretch.