Genius Hour is a way to get students to want to learn and showcase a passion they have wanted to learn about. We always talk about giving students more choice and genius hour gives them that and the power to really do whatever they want. Students motivation will increase as students take ownership of their learning but still master the skills laid out by the teacher.
As I have been going through the Genius Hour project, some of the struggles I have found are when I find one solution, I notice something else I want to address. I feel that as I dive further into the rabbit hole of my project I find more that I want to do and quickly become both excited and overwhelmed. I am focusing on the creation of a more detailed vision for my student led technology group, the Tech Ninjas. I found some victories in communicating better and trusting these students to want to make their new group be successful.
I plan to introduce genius hour to my classroom next semester. As the communications teacher, this is a great opportunity for students to become experts at something and share it with the whole class through a presentation. I am looking forward to watching them go through the process and create something their proud and excited to present to the class.
You can read about my genius hour process on the Genius Hour tab above. Below is the logo of our students led technology group. Branding ourselves was one of the first steps to get students motivated and excited to be a part of this special group.
I am so intrigued by your Tech Ninjas group. This is my first year as the Technology Coach in my district and I would like to bring back a student tech crew of some variety like we had a couple of years ago. What have you found to be most challenging with this group? Did you or your students create the logo for Tech Ninjas? How did students become part of the group? I love that you created the form for students so they can share ideas with you at any time and that your students came up with the idea to give mini tech lessons at lunch. You are off to a great start with your Tech Ninjas!
ReplyDeleteIt’s Katie Dunneback. It showed my email but then didn’t post it.
DeleteHi Katie,
DeleteI would say the hardest part of this group so far is getting students to be more in control. They ask me a lot of questions or wait for my directions and I'm trying to really make this more like a job for them. Students helped designed everything from our website to the logo. I had teachers recommend students based on their tech knowledge and helpfulness. Some kids are WAY better than others, but it's been very fun so far!
That's the same struggle I've had with teaching in general because I have been pushing my students to take more control of their learning and problem solve more solutions on their own. Thanks for your response!
DeleteHi Brooke,
ReplyDeleteI agree that I also got in a rabbit hole while completing the genius hour! I could envision this happening to so many of my students as well. I think it would be beneficial to somehow come up with a system to have students complete a task before moving on to the next, so that they are able to actually complete something in that hour. Although, this slightly takes away the freedom to learn what they want. I like your idea of using genius hour as a way for students to become an expert on a topic and share it with others in the class. Would you have them do this each time, or just after several times including information learned over multiple sessions of genius hour?
Kim Askew
Hi Brooke -
ReplyDeleteI think the "rabbit hole" feeling is totally natural. I felt the same way when I decided on my topic and began investigating. For some students, I think it is important to demonstrate appropriate, pointed levels of discovery and inquiry. In order for students to become experts on a topic, there does need to exist some focus. Depending on the age of the learners, it could be useful for them to utilize timelines and graphic organizers to stay on task with checkpoints (or mini-goals) in mind along the way.
Ryan