I don’t have a lot of time to pursue a lot of side interests. My fellow educators know that teaching is a full-time-and-a-half sort of job. However, by using an RSS reader (I have used Feedly ever since Google Reader was discontinued) I nevertheless engage regularly with a variety of topics that interest me: yoga, cooking, personal finance, photography, interior design, theology, and many others.
I am not an expert in any of these areas, but reading a little a few times a week over several years has contributed significantly to my knowledge. In conversations, I find myself frequently saying, “I read somewhere that…”. I will often find ways to include what I have learned into my classroom, giving richness to lessons that might otherwise fall flat. I think that many of my acquaintances think that I read and study more than I do, when in fact I spend no more than ten, maybe twenty minutes per day catching up on what appears in my Feedly reader. And most of that time is over coffee or in-between other tasks, so that the time spent is essentially none at all.
Here is an incomplete list of some of my favorite bloggers, by topic:
- Minimalism: Reading My Tea Leaves
- Personal Finance: Mr. Money Mustache
- Theology and Religion: Rachel Held Evans
- Exercise: Yoga with Adriene
- Travel: Snarky Nomad
- Interior Design: Little Green Notebook
- Nutrition and Health: Mark’s Daily Apple
Since I have already experienced the benefits of small doses of information over a long period of time, it is no trouble at all for me to imagine that I could do the same for my professional work as well. I look forward to discovering new friends and mentors that will challenge and encourage me in my teaching practice as much as I have in my personal life.
ilatina 
Thank you for taking the time to post some of your favorite bloggers! I am new to using RSS readers and frankly I am a bit overwhelmed. When doing this assignment I was so fixated on finding professional and academic feeds that I didn’t even consider looking into things that were just for fun! I think I will even follow some of the ones you suggested- I have been wanting to get into Yoga for a LONG time and there are some great videos for beginners- thanks again for sharing!
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I’m glad to hear you’re starting to explore! I started yoga about a year ago, and I really love Yoga with Adriene. I never have the time or energy during the school year to do anything too intense, and so my first few years teaching I didn’t exercise at all during the school year. I love Adriene’s videos because they are short, easy and even relaxing. I can usually do them before bed in my pajamas, so I feel good and sleep good too 🙂
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From a productivity standpoint, this is an excellent strategy! We all need 10-20 minute breaks from other tasks anyway, so using this time to learn new information in small chunks makes a lot of sense. “It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.” – Anthony Robbins
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Absolutely! Consistency is so important, but such a challenge when you are constantly battling yourself. Developing routines that sync with our natural rhythms definitely helps!
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