Feedly Screenshot and Classroom Use Questions

Hello again!

I hope everyone had a nice week. I just wanted to take a few moments to share a picture of my Feedly page. One awesome thing that I would like to mention about this tool is the organization system that comes with it. I was able to sort all of the blogs and websites I am following into categories to make my Feedly easier to search. Right now my only categories are "education" and "news," but I am considering breaking "education" up into smaller pieces such as "Phonics," "Literature Circle Ideas," "Basic Math," etc.

I have also been wondering how, or if, Feedly could be used in the classroom. Feedly may just be a personal resource, but I think it would be nice if a class had a Feedly page where students could follow safe, age appropriate, teacher approved blogs, but I am not sure if Feedly has a classroom option. The blogs could also be split into categories similar to what I described above if students wanted more information about a certain topic discussed in class. However, I would be concerned about students adding inappropriate blogs and links to the page. What do you guys think or does anyone have any recommendations for similar, classroom-friendly sites?

Time Management at My Placement

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I am currently student teaching in one of Allendale High School's resource rooms, and I noticed that students and teachers alike waste a lot of time during the day. The most time is wasted at the beginning of class. My CT stands in the hallway during transition times to talk with students and other staff. However, he consistently stays in the hallway 3-5 minutes after the bell rings to continue chatting with someone. The students during that time do not prepare their materials for class but simply chat and play on their phones. By the time my CT enters the room and the students get their work out, ten minutes of the period have been wasted. 

When I asked my CT what he felt the biggest time waster is for teachers, he said making lesson plans. He said that he creates a general roadmap of where he wants to go with his students, but he feels that a day-to-day plan is unnecessary, especially when he is unsure how students will grasp the topic introduced in the lesson. A few years ago the teachers at Allendale High School were required to send the principal copies of all their lesson plans for the week and my CT hated it. He felt that was the biggest building level operation that wasted his time. My CT wanted to feel that he could be flexible with his students which is hard to do when there were daily, step-by-step lesson plans to follow that were being monitored by administrators. Instead of wasting time in both of these tasks, my CT said he would rather plan discussion topics that focus around becoming an adult for his students.