I’m going to try a new feature on Sunday nights for the next few weeks.  WordPress lets you find random posts in your blog, and I’m going to post three old entries every so often, to see what comes up, and what kind of stuff I learn from the back catalogue.  Reviewing your journal from time to time is one of the major ways to reinvigorate old insights, so I’m hoping this leads to some new ideas for me, in teaching the second trimester at my new school.

Here they are:

1. From the National Educational Computing Conference, 2009: Blogging Best Practices
2. From deep in the archives, back when I kept my journal on LiveJournal: Five Questions
3. From my days as a hardcore gamer: The Sardian Manuals

I learn a lot of things from these three.  First, I’m reminded that I have to spend more time reading and commenting on other people’s journals.  Second, that I need to do more to engage my readers if I want to have a quality blog — Five Questions has the most comments of any blog entry I’ve done in years.  Finally, the Sardian Manuals reminds me that any game — including the game of school — has rules, and you have to figure out what the rules are, and adjust your plans to match the game rules. Don’t be afraid to write creatively, either.  Human beings are storytellers by nature, and not all stories must be rooted deeply in the truth.  “Inspired by a true story” has led to some of the most thrilling adventure tales there are.

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