It seemed a natural extension of the type of learning we put to use in class every day: research and communication, collaboration and presentation. In encountering the context of the American Revolution, and interpreting not only the Founding Fathers’ possible intentions in creating the Declaration of Independance as a political document, but also a […]
Read more "Talons’ Showcase of Learning: American Revolution"How many other subjects are deserving of this same heat, though: Just because paper was invented before computers, doesn’t mean that you get more to the basics of a subject by using paper instead of a computer in teaching math.
Read more "The Silver Bullet in Teaching Mathematics: Computers"Busking captured by cellphone. As even the devil might need an advocate from time to time, I thought I’d offer a few points in support of delaying the rounding up of the school’s cell phones and putting the kids who use them in camps where they might better concentrate. An unfortunate wordplay that evokes a […]
Read more "Essay as Blogpost: Cellphones in the Classroom"When I began teaching TALONS (2006), the requirement for learners’ Eminent Person Studies to make us of an interview with an expert presented an age-old sticking point. Documents in the program binders inherited from teachers of the original, locally-developed gifted program supplied handouts and tips for students conducting their first interviews (back then, only either […]
Read more "In search of the elusive Eminent Person Interview"After watching Sir Ken Robinson‘s latest incarnation as the subject of an RSA Animation, Donya was compelled to commit herself to bringing about an education revolution: I believe this is what I want to be when I grow up… if that makes any sense. I want to be a meaningful part of this education revolution! […]
Read more "KAPOW: Sir Ken Robinson Blows Donya's Mind"Sometime Thursday evening, my phone buzzed with an email from Jonathan telling me that I should check Veronica’s blog, as “it look[ed] like John Vaillant commented on her chapter three post.” Veronica’s interpretation of Grant Hadwin’s close friend (and backwoods competitor) Paul Bernier outlined him as the by-now-traditional character of a sidekick: All classic heroes […]
Read more "Did the author of the Golden Spruce comment on two TALONS' Posts?"The TALONS have spent the last year with students – and teachers – adopting the use of individual student blogs, publishing writing and other media for projects and self-initiated posts to the public web in growing leaps and bounds. What at first was not without its tough-sell moments – encouraging young learners over the barrier […]
Read more "TALONS Launch class blog, continue Defying Normality"Sitting down to recast an updated listing of the RSS feeds, Twitter favourites, and podcasts I make a habit of perusing on a daily weekly monthly basis, I would be remiss to not isolate one of these sources of infotainment above the others — the unparallelled public radio institution that in all honesty, I cannot […]
Read more "This American Life"On Tuesday afternoon, a group of TALONS students had the opportunity to visit a classroom at the University of Regina. Professor of Educational Technology Dr. Alec Couros extended an opportunity for classrooms to connect to his, via Skype, so that his class of student-teachers could gain first hand responses to their questions about the use […]
Read more "The TALONS meet Alec Couros, via Skype"The class’ blog feed swelled this weekend with a range of posts (and comments) on everything from our city buses, to the recent Olympics, to novel study reflections and in-depth updates. At a concert Friday night and skiing Saturday, it wasn’t until Sunday (after a late breakfast over which a friend and I (correctly) picked […]
Read more "A Rash of Ravishing Student Blog Posts"