I have been neglecting my RSS feed lately, and so one of my tasks this holidays was to work my way through a vast number of blog posts and notifications that I had allowed to pile up during marking time.
I make it sound like an arduous task, but really, it's a rare pleasure. I find it's an opportunity to fill up my Evernote database with fascinating journal material, read articles relevant to my interests and simply enjoy the thoughts of talented teachers and learners.
It occurred to me however, as I worked my way through the many posts, that most of the blogs I have slowly added to my Google Reader feed over the years, are by people working in education. That's not a problem really, the quality of their considerations is almost always extremely high. It did start me thinking about who I wanted to direct my attention toward in the future however.
I select novels and audio books with care, as I do podcasts. I generally only have a narrow window of time each day to enjoy them after all, and so I'm careful to consider what is worth my time. I weigh up my options, and select topics I know I'll draw something new and unexpected from. I apply the same critique to those people I follow on Twitter. I tend to try and follow new people that I feel add something unique and powerful to the discussion. It doesn't mean I'm not interested in what they have for breakfast as well, it just means I'm conscious of wanting to use Twitter to its greatest advantage in the time I have available to use it.
With this in mind, I've shed half of the sixty or so blogs I've been faithfully following, and I'm striking out with a dozen new ones that I think might challenge me in new ways. I'm looking forward to seeing what's new out there, and hearing from some different minds on subjects I'm not as familiar with.
I'm on a hunt for more, and plan to add another ten at least, exploring a range of subjects. Blogs for example, like the one kept by Seth Godin', which explores business models and marketing techniques, but often has parallels to my work in education. I've chosen some psychology blogs, design blogs, and blogs about science and environment amongst others.
Now to find the time to catch up on them all :-)
