Ms. Mulder ten Kate's Blog

In-depth Week 16 (only two more weeks until show time)

qmtk — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:08:39 +0000

It is hard to believe that it has already been four months of exploring a particular passion, of expanding our horizons and of experimenting with new skills. The in-depth celebration on May 28th from 7- 1o pm is a little over two weeks away and only a few days after returning from a five-day adventure trip to the Squamish region. These two events, in-depth night and adventure trip, are two of the five pillars for our program. The June orientation, fall retreat and eminent person night are the other three significant milestones in our program every year. This last post is an opportunity for TALONS learners to reflect on their learning and to describe their learning centre, station, activity or stage presentation. It is an chance for you to preview this amazing evening, filled with laughter, learning and lively conversations.

Hope to see past, current and future Talons learners and their parents enjoy this culminating evening of two or one year of program participation. See you soon.

Megan’s insight on two years of Talons and in-depth wrap-up and more writing.

A final analysis by Richard about his screen play.

Vincent is experimenting with fruit flies.

Victoria teaching ballet.

Rowing with Immy.

Cake decorating with Emlyn.

Double-kicking the drums with Alvin.

Jeff learning and teaching First Aid.

Play badminton with Derek.

Song writing with Iris.

Know tying with Hayley wraps up.

Quirien Mulder ten Kate

In-depth Week 12

qmtk — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:11:06 +0000

We are now in our third month of this long-term project. Learners should be in the thick of their learning. Learning occurs when we challenge ourselves and when we reach beyond our comfort zone to enter the courage zone. We are gaining new insights, not previously part of our being, doing, thinking and feeling. This project accomplishes all these aspects as long as we stay focused and engaged. When our skill level rises and matches more challenging learning opportunities, we are in the zone, experiencing a sense of flow.
The following blog entries demonstrate some of these ideas and possibilities:

Jen and Jen (with a mom) hiking the Juan de Fuca trail in spring which looked more like winter!

Sepehr playing guitar

Golfing with Conrad

Animation with Christina

Screenplay writing with Richard

Baking with Jonathan Z.

Fairy tale writing with Megan

Chelsea’s contortionism act in Mexico!

Water Colour Painting with Kim

Unicycling with Marie

Drumming with Max

In-depth week 8

qmtk — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 02:36:04 +0000

Talons learners are encouraged to reflect on their in-depth learning in as many ways as possible. The following in-depth posts feed your senses.
Drumming with Max.

Unicycling with Marie.

Painting with Kim.

Ballet and more with Chelsea.

Tasty treats with Jonathan Z.

Guitar with Daniel P.

More colourful treats with Emlyn.

Animation with Christina.

Food carving with Isaac.

In-depth Week 4

qmtk — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:08:58 +0000

The in-depth project focuses on learning a new skill. Its main goal is to develop this skill over a five month period, gaining experiential knowledge. Practice makes perfect in this case, too! Learners may do some secondary research to get their topic focused and gain some basic background knowledge; however, most of the learning is hands-on/ primary experience. The following blogs exemplify learners who have taken steps in this direction and are developing a feel for their skill.

Snowshoeing with Jen and Jen and Zoe

Playing the Guzheng with Louise

Juggling with Michelle

Contortion with Chelsea

Music composition with Toren

Golfing with Conrad

Through the eyes of traceur, called Daniel

Film editing with Bronwyn

Cake decorating with Emlyn

Fruit and vegetable carving with Isaac

Jess drawing comic characters for now

Yoga with Katie

Cloning with Vincent

Quirien Mulder ten Kate

In-depth projects Introduction (week 2)

qmtk — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:52:00 +0000

In-depth Study: Two Universal Goals.

The in-depth project is the TALONS’ program final large component of the school year. The in-depth project has two main goals:

1. Know something about everything and everything about something.

In school you are usually taught about many subjects. In this project, the goal is to learn a great deal about one field of activity, usually not available in a school setting.

2. Learn what others tell you is important and learn what you decide is important.

In school you are told what to learn and how to learn it. In this project, you will decide in what field and with what strategies, you will become an “expert.”

REMEMBER:

We are interested in three components of your study.

1. The process: as young people, you will be learning patterns of behavior that will emphasize your strengths and that will help you overcome any difficulties.

- Project will last at least five months

- Your bi-weekly blog will demonstrate the process:

Blogging Criteria
Post includes: thorough progress report, includes information on mentor, describes frustrations, overcoming obstacles, includes evidence that illustrates process and product, includes modifications to project, includes relevant research, quotes, articles, references, websites etc, shows a caring about project. Entry makes sense, is written concisely.	4
Includes most of the above description, but in less detail.	3
Includes about half of the above description, but in little detail. Little progress is demonstrated.	2
In-depth study is progressing too slowly. Entry is vague. Demonstrates that not much effort has been made since last entry.	1
Not completed or handed in on time	0

2. The product: The product will include three areas:

i. The evidence of learning

ii. The source of self-esteem

iii. The cause for celebration

3. The mentor: The relationship with the expert in your field. This relationship will include three areas:

i. Meeting with mentor on regularly basis

ii. Expanding network in community

iii. Getting feedback on progress

iv. Obtaining an in-depth understanding of chosen field.

The learner’s first entry this week introduces their project, reasons for their choice and a description of their mentors.

Sample in-depth blogs for this semester:

Immy introduces us to rowing and her mentor.

Victoria continues to explore her passion for ballet

Sam is making jewellery.

Having a mentor for in-depth is the critical piece. Anyone knows a local drum teacher who could mentor Max?

Follow Katie on her journey of yoga.

Ventriloquism with Galen

View Julie’s prezi about the history of fencing

Learn cake decorating alongside Emlyn

Juliana is developing skills in soap making

Follow fashion design with Carlin

Jess is drawing web comics

Bhangra dancing with Aman

Jeffery is taking advanced first aid

Alphabet photography with Alysha

Tie knots with Hayley

Driving lessons with Stephanie

Learn to animate alongside Christina

Take golf lessons with Conrad

Sara will share her learning with photoshop/graphic arts

Screen writing with Richard

Once upon a time there was a writer called Megan

Learn alternative guitar from Sepehr

Talons Program Science 9 and English 9 Final Exam

qmtk — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:40:53 +0000

Grade nine learners researched, wrote, presented and recorded 6 to 10 minute TED Talks–their final exam for English 9 and Science 9 this year. They share their understanding of a topic of choice connected to science 9 and/or science 10 learning outcomes, demonstrating their research and presentation skills learned in class during this past year. Powerpoint slides, video clips and/or a hands-on demo are added to illustrate their topic. As part of this project, they listened to five TED talks preferably related to their chosen field and learned how TED talks are structured and presented. After having posted their own TED talks, they will comment on at least five of their peers’ TED talks, learning about five additional topics as well as furthering the discussion by leaving comments. You find links to their posted TED talks below. Please feel free to provide additional questions in the comment section of each edublog.

Richard discusses Panspermia

Sara discusses going green

Michelle discusses cancer and cancer treatment

Conrad discusses global warming and reproduction link

Megan discusses why we should not eat beef

Louise discusses oppositional defiance disorder

Toren discusses perception of time

Chelsea discusses dreams and memory

Alvin discusses steroids

Iris discusses lost memories

Jen S. TED talk

Sepehr discusses stem cell research

Immy discusses superbugs in meat

Jen. A. discusses what gymnastics does to your body

Leanne discusses instinct

Emily discusses terraforming Mars

Derek discusses biolumminescences

Zoe discusses dopamine systems

Lexi discusses stem cells

Kelsey discusses spleen cancer

Macguire discusses how fear works

Stephanie discusses how light affects sleep

Jonathan discusses antimatter

Albert discusses technological singularity

Clayton discusses how we experience space

Daniel discusses collapsed lungs

In-depth Week 16

qmtk — Sun, 08 May 2011 17:25:51 +0000

Sharing our personalized learning!

We still have three more weeks until in-depth night! However, due to, for example, finishing last minutes details for our adventure trip, the trip itself and one science experiment report completion, we are wrapping up our in-depth blog posts with just one more. These final posts illustrate how we are presenting our five-month long learning journey . Each presentation/ display/ performance should capture the essence of each project!

Enjoy a sampling of posts below that illustate the ways our learning is going to be shared with our mentors, family members, Talons alumni and future Talons, teachers, adminstrators and school district support staff on May 30th.

Jonathan juggling in the audience. Jason carving fruit.

Rebecca immersing us in Spanish culture. David finalizing his costume.

Richard presenting an investment seminar. Meghan doing makeup.

Liam presenting one of his sparring matches. Elleni doing magic

Conrad playing guitar. Michelle reading part of her story.

Megan’s ceramic art gallery. Toren sharing his music compositions.

Nick’s computer progamming for a game. Jonathan Z. and his bonsai trees.

Sara’s art gallery opening. Iris playing guitar on stage.

Clayton projecting his movie. Jenn A. sharing her sustainability strategies.

Chelsea’s flexbility routine on stage. Kelly’s ballet stage performance.

Leanne presenting a Shakespearean monologue.

Louise sharing her wire crochet projects.

Derek is playing guitar. Albert will share his home-made laptop.

Kelsey will share her bookmaking talents.

Stephanie will use her medical terminology.

Learn about webdesign from Andrew. Raiya applying Mehndi for guests.

Jenna displaying her photography. Immy sharing her home-made paints.

Zoe sharing her martial arts skills.

QMtK

In-depth Week 14

qmtk — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 05:42:31 +0000

In-depth projects are also an opportunity for Talons learners to teach others. We learn best when we can teach “it” to someone else. When they tell you, “I get it!” then you know you got “it” too. Talons learners may present short seminars to the entire group. Check out Liam’s post for an excellent example. Or, they may teach the entire earth science 10 unit to their peers in small sections per quad. In the latter case, they wrote lessons plans with objectives, materials, outline what the teacher teaches and the learners learns, assessment strategies, timing of parts and so on. These lesson plans looked like professional teachers’ lesson plans. They taught the lesson alone or in pairs. The grade tens looked and sounded like professional teachers in term 3 when they presented lessons on thermal energy, climate change and plate tectonics.

Blogs are another tool to share succintly and to teach others what they are becoming experts in.

Like to learn to play electric guitar? Check out Conrad’s recent post.

How about some magic? Read Elleni’s post.

Juggling is challenging. How about unicyling at the same time? See Jonathan T.’s post for more info.

Ever wondered how computer games are designed, read Nick’s blog.

Throughout many of their in-depth projects, learners also explore possible careers (Planning 10) related to their topic. Check out Andrew’s blog.

QMtK

In-depth Week 12

qmtk — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 00:26:25 +0000

We are concluding month three of our five month long term in-depth project. This post will be rather short as three other talons leadership 11 learners and I are hosting a garage sale for building a schoool in Ecuador tomorrow and I am supervising a bike trip on Sunday for the talons program as well.

In addition, I have reached another milestone in my Ph. D. process by completing my final draft of my thesis this week. My committee and I are ready to select internal/external examiners and start preparing for my defence, hopefully in July. This journey has been very insightful and has been about a lot more than my thesis proposition.

I have linked the following posts below because these posts also illustrate that learners are learning a lot more about themselves in some cases then their actually area of study!

Check out the following blogs: Emily, Daniel, Jason, Richard, Kelly, Megan, Andrew and Raiya.

Have an inspiring read.

QMtK

In-depth Week 10

qmtk — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:24:11 +0000

The BC Ministry of Education mandates the curriculum for each grade and each subject. The Talons program provides some choices in what, when and how learners learn. The in-depth project is another example that illustrates this philosophy. The following links exemplify what happens when learners explore passions and interests that matter to them. Incidently, many of their skills match learning outcomes in electives offered at our school. In our case, learners decide what learning outcomes to address, how to assess their work, and how to represent their learning. They also set their own pace. Sometimes their project is on hold for a few weeks and other times they have a marathon session that leads to long hours of dedicated learning. What these projects have in common is learning that is in-depth, focused, intense, personal and meaningful to them at this point in time. I also believe that not everyone knows what is best for them at a certain time. Adults have a role to play in setting the course; however, learners, when given the chance, can chart their own course some of the time as well. They often take more care with their own learning when they have ownership over it. Even though their choice of projects varies widely, they are learning a lot of the same lessons:

Persevering when things get tough

Showing commitment

Overcoming challenges

Asking for help when needed

Being reflective

Being humble and flexible

Being motivated

The following learners demonstrate these skills and exemplify a great variety of projects.

Meghan is learning about make-up.

Nick is writing computer code.

Daniel is break dancing.

Louise is wire crocheting.

Emily is making jewellery.

Alvin is writing a book.

Veronica is doing vocal training.

Jennifer is reducing her ecological footprint.

Michelle is writing a story.

Jonathan is juggling.

Albert is rebuilding computers.

Sepehr is writing video scripts.

Clayton is film editing.

Ms. Mulder ten Kate's Blog

In-depth Week 16 (only two more weeks until show time)

In-depth Week 12

In-depth week 8

In-depth Week 4

In-depth projects Introduction (week 2)

Blogging Criteria

Talons Program Science 9 and English 9 Final Exam

In-depth Week 16

In-depth Week 14

In-depth Week 12

In-depth Week 10