Beyond School

Another limitation of RSS readers I’ve often griped about before: with a few exceptions (Bloglines for one), they exclude comment threads from the feed. This sends entirely the wrong message: that the posts are the main thing, and the writer of the blog is the expert.

I operate on the opposite assumption: I post my thoughts or questions, and expect the comments to lead to better and new understandings - and that’s what often happens. RSS readers miss all of that.

So just for the record, though I haven’t written a new post in four days, I’ve been busy reading and replying to the conversations in three recent posts - A Sunday Science Sermon (68 comments about what “knowing” means), Muhammad Ali: D- Student? Or F- School? (90 comments about whether schools sabotage the futures of smart non-writerly communicators), and For the Roses: My Latest Position on Classroom Blogging (45 comments on whether non-homework blogs should be pushed on all or pulled for the few).

I say this simply to invite those who never leave their readers to take a stroll into planet comment, where the real learning - dialogical, challenging, mutually sharpening - takes place.  It’s a fairly new development on this blog, this type of discussion, and I’m enjoying it immensely.

I’m dealing this week with all sorts of trips to embassies and immigration offices (the legal hangover of the marriage party), so no new posts. But you can catch me and many smart, engaged people in the comments.

Come on - don’t be an RSS potato. Get out and mix a bit.

Bear with me. This is an experiment in Bloglines. BL wouldn’t read the Google Video embed (Google Reader did), so I want to see if it will show this YouTube version (new original GarageBand soundtrack - my second outing as an electronic “composer”).

Google Reader keeps formatting - italics, picture resizing, etc. Bloglines doesn’t. I work on those italics, blast it. (And Bloglines readers, that “work” was italicized.)

Why I don’t like any reader I know of right now:

1. They don’t include comments (I know you can subscribe to comments, but it ain’t the same).
2. Readers miss coComments and other side-bar widgets. It’s like entertaining guests without furniture.

Anybody know any readers that show the whole blog, not just the post, in its window? Please drop a comment!

Pageflakes - your free student and teacher start page

• I am a complete idiot for not reading Will Richardson religiously. Pageflakes for students and teachers is powerful stuff.
  - post by cburell

Weblogg-ed » Using Pageflakes as Student Portal

• A gem from Will Richardson on classroom use of Pageflakes. I see a migration coming.
  - post by cburell

Extracurricular :: For technologists who do their homework : July 2007 : THE Journal

• From the article:

  The benefits of integrating technology into K-12 education are being demonstrated nationwide. Here is an illustration of the quantitative impact Texas’ Technology Immersion Pilot has had on the Floydada Independent School District. - post by cburell

Borderland » Blog Archive » Teaching the Controversy

• Note the “habits of mind” approach to ‘teaching the controversy” instead of “indoctrinating.”
  - post by cburell

[Update: Short answer: No, Flash doesn't work either.]

This is a test of feed readers. I want to see if the Flash version of the polls I embedded in “A Quick Youth Relevance Poll: School, Church, and Unschooled Youths” will show up in Bloglines and Google Reader, since the Java versions don’t.

If you’ve already commented on the polls, please don’t vote again. (And so far, churches and unschoolers are getting more votes than schools for relevance….after two whole votes, anyway.)

Let’s see if it works:

Poll 1:

Poll 2:

Poll 3: