YWP Tips Letter 3.5.12 -- Setting up a Newsfeed and newsfeed prompt

Notes from the Underground  

3.5.12

This is part of an ongoing series of Tips Letters -- at minimum once a week -- for users of the YWP Schools Project digital classrooms.  Hopefully you will find the information helpful and easy to process. We are always looking for new lesson ideas and useful tips to pass along to the many users across the state -- please contact your school coach with your thoughts. 

Q u i c k   T i p s

Having trouble with something and really need some specific advice from your teacher coach? Set up a web conference! Simply email your teacher coach with a few available times and they will set up the conference through Web Ex. You will receive an email notification with a link to the site. When it is time for the meeting, log in and you and your teacher coach can toggle back and forth between your screens.  Consult your teacher coach to set up a meeting: Darcie Abbene, Nick Brooks, Cindy Faughnan, Geoff Gevalt and Kathy Folley.

H o w   D o   I ??

Set up a News Feed...

First, determine what you want to feed into the site. Choose a standard source and look for the RSS button on the site, usually at the bottom. Or use a search engine and get to the search’s RSS button. Click it and then choose from the options or if sent to an ugly looking page with story teases with blue links:

Copy the url or web address of that ugly view. That's the url you’ll want for your News Feed to your school site. Now, go to your site, click on "Add a news Feed") and then you'll see a form (don’t be alarmed by the title, “Feed Aggregator” ...)

Create a category first if you want, or you can use an existing category. The category will help you differentiate between your feed and another teacher's. Remember you share this feature with all site members.

Now click "add a feed" if you first created a category, and then in the form, paste the URL, give it a name, give it description if you'd like but it's not required. And then save.

ONE MORE IMPORTANT STEP ... Click the list tab (if you've gone somewhere else, click "Add a News Feed" and click the "list" tab....) And you will see your new feed with 0 items.   Click update... This is the only time this will happen and if you've done your feed correctly you should now see your feed with more than 0 items...

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TO SET UP A NEWS FEED FOR YOURSELF to stay on top of the latest ideas and developments in the digital education world, go here: http://digitalteachers.net/node/1756 for two quick videos and instructions for setting up a Twitter account and Google Reader.

E x e r c i s e   I d e a s

(cut and paste onto your site)

This courtesy of Darcie Abbene, YWP Teacher Coach.

For today’s writing prompt we will be doing things a tad bit differently.  Today we will be using the “Newsfeed” tab as a way to find inspiration to write and think.

Step 1:

Click on the “Newsfeed” link under the “My Classroom” heading on your left hand toolbar. Scroll through the New York Times recent articles and choose one that catches your fancy. Read it. Be sure to open the news link in a new tab by right clicking on it and selecting “Open in new Tab”. This way you can read and write at the same time.

Step 2:

When you are finished reading the article click on the  under the link.  It will automatically create a new blog entry with a link to the article in your text box.  Fill in your own title, select this class under classroom and select the tag “Newsfeed 1”.

Step 3:

In the text box respond to what you read in two paragraphs.

            Paragraph 1: Summarizes the main points of what you read.

            Paragraph 2: Write a personal response to what you read. Here are some things to think about when writing your response….What did you think of it? Can you make a connection between what you read and your life? A book/story/movie you read? Another person you know? Something in the world? What were the similarities? Differences? Was this article useful? How might you use this information? Did you have an emotional response to what you ready? What was it? Why did you have it?

Step 4:

Post!

Step 5:

Comment.  Read some of your classmates’ blogs and comment on what they wrote. Do you agree with what they say? Do you (respectfully) disagree? See Paragraph 2 suggestions for ideas…

Step 6:

Pats on the back- you’re finished! Good job!!