I just read an inspiring blog post by Vicki Davis over at her CoolCat Teacher Blog, ‘What happens when students take the reins’. It is wonderful to read about the amazing things can happen, when students are encouraged to think independently and take the lead, and when schools have the confidence to support them. One of the things about this story that I found especially interesting was that the students saw the value of a Ning Community as a social network for the extended school community.  Ning has interested me mainly due to its inherent similarities to the structure of sites such as Myspace and Facebook, as I thought that may appeal to students and encourage participation.  I knew that the Flat Classroom Project had successfully used a Ning Community, but this was the first time that I heard a story of students choosing to use Ning, and foreseeing its advantages.

I will look forward to hearing more about this end of term project with Vicki’s class, and seeing where it leads.  And hopefully, I will be able to inorporate that approach, even if in a small way, in my classroom work next year.

Do you know of any other great examples of student led curriculum?  Please share!