One of my delights as an undergrad was the twice annual visit to the campus bookstore to buy my texts. My fellow English majors probably have similar fond memories: armloads of paperbacks with a few Norton anthologies thrown in for good measure. As a financial aid recipient, my checking account was always fat at the beginning of each new semester, and money seemed to be no object as I piled blue books, spiral-topped notebooks, and highlighters onto the checkout counter along with the semester’s readings.
Now, as a graduate student with a kid and a mortgage, the book-buying ritual isn’t nearly as fun, but thanks to a recent post at Weblogg-ed, I have a new way of thinking about my required reading for this semester and beyond.
To borrow Will Richardson’s metaphor, one of my “textbooks” this fall will be my RSS aggregator.
As described in my previous post, I will soon begin an independent study on best practices for computer-mediated, peer-to-peer mentoring for new and novice teachers. In addition to poring over traditional, “scholarly” resources, I plan to use RSS to channel the best-of-the-best blog posts on the subject. The aggregate is indeed a text to be studied, with the added benefits of being totally topical, customizable, and (the best part) free.
This means tweaking my RSS aggregator to regain some much needed focus. I’m in the process of dropping some feeds (if only temporarily) to make room for others that may be more fruitful.
For example, I’ve recently added subscriptions to blogs by Christopher D. Sessums and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach.
Who/what am I missing?
ThinkTime 
Wes Fryer? David Warlick? Miguel Guhlin? Chris Craft? Darren Draper? Jason Hando? Jane Nicholls? Rachel Boyd? Julie Lindsay? Vicki Davis? Sheryle Nussbaum-Beach, Cheri Toledo? Cyndi Daqnner-Kuhn? Jeff Utecht? Kim Cofino? You might want to check these people out. Warlick and Richardson do wonderful presentations, but no longer teach.
Thanks!
Heard of about half of those folks — of course, Will Richardson, Vicki Davis, Warlick, Nussbaum-Beach.
Every time you drop by, I feel like I have a new homework assignment.
I am fine-tuning my aggregator. Personally, I don’t understand how some manage 100+ feeds. How many do you subscribe to? How many do you read (and read well)?
Jennifer,
You should add me. I am a new blogger but I have a lot of interesting ideas and I would love to hear what you have to say. I found your blog by checking out technorati.
Hope to see you soon.
Glad to see I made your list! I now have added you to my aggregator. I can relate to your college woes. I am finishing my PhD while paying for my two youngest to get their undergrad. My oldest just started Grad school but she is paying for that, thank goodness, and the middle child is just finishing her RN and following with Medical School.
It’s only money right? Ha! Our book bills alone could feed a small country.
Looking forward to learning from you.
Sheryl