Well, here in Australia (well, my little corner at least) students went back to school today.  So, the time for leisure is over and its time to jump into my new role with both feet.

Today was an interesting day.  It’s obvious from the outset that it is going to be difficult to get the students to wholeheartedly accept the new teaching and learning style we are implementing. Despite feeling like they are flexible and ready for anything, many students are very resistant to change, and their approach to education is no different.

The eLearning focus of my blog might be missing a bit for awhile - the experiential learning project I am in involved in does not have a lot of technology resources so far, although it is an area we will definitely be pursuing.  I am hoping that blogging, a Ning Community, and use the of mobile phones and gps units will be some aspects we explore.

But for the moment, just getting students to be adventurous, to trust us, and each other, that this new approach has benefits, will be a major accomplishment. Many of the activities we tried today fell flat, which was due in the most part to students being unwilling to ‘give it a go’ and being self conscious about the activities.  I think we are going to have to build up an environment of trust before we can expect them to engage in activities that they cannot see an immediate benefit to. 

One of the students said to me today “But we arent learning anything”.  When I queried that fact, she acknowledged that they ‘were learning life stuff’.  I thought it very ironic that she was astute enough to realise she was learning, but that she had no appreciation of the importance of those skills, or why we would teach them in a formal environment. “Dont we just learn them through life?” she asked. It’s is going to take awhile before the students understand how valuable that experience can be.
What a learning curve for all of us! - staff and students, but it should be an interesting ride!

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!