Google Reader- Friend or Foe?

I have previously mentioned my addiction to blogging, and now here we are facing one of my most difficult tasks...cleaning out my google reader!  I knew this day would come.  Here are my conflicting points of view on this subject:
FRIEND
I think my excessive number of feeds is a testament to how helpful using google reader can be for educators.  The more you blog, and read other blogs, the more you need a tool to help you keep up with all of the great things you are reading!  This tool allows me to keep up with the thoughts and ideas of "several" of my teaching friends from around the globe.  I have met most of the people in my reader at conferences, and like to be able to keep up with and talk about new ideas.  I must admit I am more of a lurker than a creator of content at this stage of my addiction, but I know that when I have new ideas that I want to roll around with someone, I can go to my blog, write something, and get feedback that will help me refine my idea before trying it with kids.  It's like a virtual teachers lounge, but without the gossip:)

FOE
Google reader can be a time vortex.  Use in moderation, and set a time limit or you may find yourself so absorbed by the massive amount of great content that you completely lose hours....days perhaps:)

I Dig Diigo!

I just finished setting up my diigo, and I was so happy to see that I could import my delicious bookmarks into diigo.  It made me remember all of the great websites I had saved on there, some of which I have not visited or used in quite a while. 

As an eMINTS teacher, I am always looking for great things to use with my students to help reinforce skills that I am teaching.  Every Friday I find myself googling for new stuff, which I will probably still do, but now that I have diigo, I will try to work smarter and save what I find to utilize later.  I don't want it to turn into a virtual file drawer that I pack full and then never use, so my goal is to be sure to organize it in a way that will make me want to use it as a time saver.

Blogging in Education

Blogging for me as an educator is very much about reflection and growth as I continue to learn more about myself, students, and teaching as a profession.  More than blogging myself, I love to read other educator blogs, and I have had some amazing conversations and gained alot of insight from connecting with other teachers from all over the world.  I must admit I was once a blog junkie, but I have cut down now, and  only read and comment occasionally on other blogs because I could spend hours on them.  Here are a couple of my favorite blogs to read (besides Matzat's of course:))
A Year of Reading- because I love to read children's literature
Practical Theory- because I love to stretch my brain sometimes

Blogging with my students is, I believe,  one of the things that will link the past with the future.  Being able to embed and include tools that students naturally want to use is bringing thier real world into the classroom.  Synthesis of classroom instruction and real life skills is a way to empower our students to be creators of content and dialogue in the real world. I love to blog with my students because they tell me things on the blog that they might not say out loud to me.  I love that the students can comment to each other and read other students' thoughts and be able to respond to those.  I also encourage my parents to blog, and my students think that is so cool when their parents comment on a post.  It is another way to be transparent between school and home.  Here is one of my favorite classroom blogs:
Mr. Yolli's 3rd Grade