TALONS Class Blogging 2009 – 2010

Our intended classroom
Our intended classroom.

As a personal professional development and learning tool, I began this blog during the spring of 2009 as a means of connecting to the web and the world in the most personalized manner possible. After experimenting with Twitter, Delicious, and an English Department blog at work, having my own blog seemed the natural course of things.

This year I have brought my class into the fray. A two-year program for gifted high school learners in our district, our class tackles English, Socials, Science, Math, Leadership and Planning curricula, with added notes of community service projects and cultural events in and around the local community. At the best of times, it can be trying (for students, as well as the program’s two teachers) to stay on top of the class’ varied passions, interests and government mandated topics. But with blogs, I began to think as my own online communication took shape over the summer, each student could present, record, and reflect upon their individual learning, as well as support one another in a fluid and ongoing conversation around topics of interest and course materials. As teachers in the program, our goal has long been to blur the lines between our diverse subjects as often as possible – supporting essay theses with biological arguments, using math analogies during the study of history, and many other as-yet-undiscovered connections – and have so far been astounded by the depth and individuality in the class’ blogging, only a month old at the time of this introduction.

You can follow our blogging by RSS feed on this shared Google Reader aggregator:  TALONS Blogs RSS. As well, you can access and subscribe to the comments here: TALONS Comments RSS.

Here are some of the class’ memorable learning experiences as shared on this blog:

As well, our individual bloggers are listed with links below:

Grade Ten Blogs

Grade Nine Blogs

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