Overview and Outcomes:
Google Reader checks up on all of your favorite sites on the Internet automatically. By using Google Reader, you can quickly and easily see the changes in your news sites, blogs and web sites all on a single page. Google Reader uses RSS to keep track of all of your favorites.

Workshop Outcomes: (In 4 easy pieces) Google Reader, and other reader applications, rely on RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) to collect information about the web resources you are interested in. Take the Google Reader Tour Read the 'Wikipedia' definition of RSS. Read Will Richardson's "RSS: A Quick Start Guide for Educators." The article uses 'Bloglines' as the reader, the setup is close for Google Reader. RSS Workshop: Very detailed description of RSS and feeds. Using your Google Account, open up Google Reader and subscribe to a few blogs or web pages that interest you. Subcribe to pages using the RSS or XML Logo RSS Logo XML Logo Select feeds that could be possible ancillary or enrichment material for your classes. Take time once a week, or more to read your feeds. Use one of the feeds as a discussion in class, on School Loop or on a blog. Relate one of the feeds to the material covered in class. See the Room399 blog about present day Romeo and Juliet stories. Bookmark interesting feeds using a feed bookmarking service, like del.icio.us or furl.net for future use. Think of other ways to use RSS and XML feeds in your classes. Post your lessons in the comments section of this page.

The video below does a great job of describing how RSS and Google Reader works. It's about 3 minutes long and worth your time!