Anne relates a recent experience working with a teacher and her elementary class on their weblogs. The teacher gave the students some basic rules for blogging:
1. Read
2. Think about what you are writing
3. Make connections about what you are reading and what someone else is writing
4. You may decide to write about what you are reading and even do some linking as you go!
And "a blogging" they went!
A simple set of rules? You bet. Should there be more rules? Perhaps but only if they are created by the students.
I like how the teacher frames the activity:
Step one: read. This is how we learn about things; this is how we begin to make sense of the world and people around us.
I love rule #2: Think about what you're writing. What a concept! This rule gets at the heart of metacognition -- modeling reflective thinking.
Rule #3 gets at the heart of connectivist thinking that I believe many of us are beginning to fully understand and articulate.
Rule #4 builds on the synaptic and physical connections being made and asks students to literally "link" to others.
Ultimately this list provided by the teacher attempts to keep things simple yet relevant as well as student-centered.
I'm hoping Anne will stick with this story and provide updates to how things are progressing in the class.
This story also illustrates a point I am coming to re-discover myself: Everything I need to know... I should have learned in primary school.
Keywords: blogging, blogs, connectivism, reflective thinking, rules for blogging, student-centered
