Talk about writing motivation! When you incorporate Genius Hour or Passion Projects into your classroom, students love to write about things that they are interested in. So what is Genius Hour? I have written about it last year under Passion Projects for my Wonder Wednesdays series. Genius Hour is a time that you have set up to allow children to explore their own passions. These are usually things that they don’t get to learn about in school because teachers have so much curriculum to get through. The beauty of Genius Hour though, is that often what students choose to work on and learn about has many spillover effects into the curriculum that is already being taught. Not only that, students practice their self-awareness and cooperation skills. Want to give it a try or learn more? Read on!
Genius Hour is a way to have students get excited about learning and “dig deeper” using techniques taught by the teacher on wondering, observation, cooperative learning and using inquiry questions.
It starts with some wondering about things. This is usually done either in partnership or alone and then in a think-pair-share format. Last year, I had students bring their wonderings home and discuss them with their parents.
What exactly does Genius Hour look like in the classroom?
It is not quiet.
It is not neat and tidy.
Kids are not necessarily in their desks.
It is not organized so that all kids are doing the same thing.
There is no lesson plan.
24+ students are all doing different things.
So, how does the typical overly-organized, neat and tidy, lesson-planning, dot-your-I’s and cross-your-t’s, bin-loving, anchor-chart making teacher supposed to pull off Genius Hour and still remain sane and know that students are learning?
The students are the masters of their own ideas. You might find that students will change their idea or inquiry as the process goes on. I think that is okay although I try not to let them keep changing as it becomes unfocussed and may cause the student to be frustrated. I often will take their original topic and find a new twist to it that really appeals to them and the idea is still their own.
It’s important that students have time to fully explore topics, avenues and aspects of their topics before they move on. It’s important that they have a chance to talk about, explain, and elaborate on their ideas with others. I used a “wonder” page last year which you can find in my TPT store here which was quite effective to help students identify their wonderings and plan out what they wanted to do next.
This year, I wanted students to be able to see their #geniushour work as more of a work in progress that is continuous and on-going. For that reason, I have created an Interactive Genius Hour Notebook. How much easier and fun can it get? Students can incorporate their learning and their progress and reflections all in one tidy notebook! There is room for continued inquiry questions and this will be the vehicle in which students represent their learning and more importantly, their growth in thinking over time. You can take a look at more by clicking on the picture.
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