Mrs. Womersley's Blog: Genius Hour?

This summer while learning how to use Twitter for professional development, I happened upon the term genius hour. I found it when following links related to project based learning and design thinking.

Even if you teach in a traditional setting, it only takes one teacher with one innovative idea to make a tremendous difference in the lives of your students. By reading this today and following these links, YOU could be the one to start something wonderful in your classroom or school this year.

The more I read about genius hour, the more interested I become.

I'm not sure how this looks in practice, but I'm sure the links below can shed more light on the subject.

What if, for one period per week, your students were allowed to create a project based on their individual passions?

I posed the question to my son, who will be starting middle school this year. I asked him what he would want to learn more about. Connor replied as I predicted with "pugs." For quite some time now, Connor has been in love with pug dogs. Well, what about them? "Everything!" he replied. He wants to pull together his favorite pug photos, resources about their care and training, and where to find one locally. This led to a conversation about the varied projects he could create around his topic. Academic skills could include reading, research, critical thinking, validity and credibility of sources, writing (grammar and usage), presentation skills, tech skills related to the format of the presentation or project method he chooses to share his learning, and so much more.

My son immediately began creating a PowerPoint presentation featuring his favorite pictures of pugs. His audience is himself. It's July, he's not in school yet, and he took it upon himself to do this. Just the mention of creating something based on his passion inspired him to get started right away.

If this is presented in the classroom, think of how students will react to being encouraged to pursue their passions within the school day.

Follow some of these links below to learn so much more from educators who have already implemented this plan in their schools.

http://www.geniushour.com/

http://cybraryman.com/geniushour.html

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=829279

http://ajjuliani.com/the-research-behind-20-time/

Genius Hour Newsletter Link:

https://stemgeniushour.bloomfire.com/posts/832288-genius-hour-newsletter/public

Compassion Based Learning:

http://compassionbasedlearning.blogspot.com/2014/06/are-you-part-of-this-if-so-help.html

Mr. Solarz Genius Site:

http://psolarz.weebly.com/2013-2014-passion-projects.html