Genius HourSTANDARDS ADDRESSED: S1, S2, S3, S4, S6, T1, T3
I began piloting Genius Hour in my classroom in October of 2013. I started by asking students what they were passionate about - a loaded question for 8 and 9 year-olds. We broke down the word passionate by naming synonyms that related to it:
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Other S1 Standards |
Abbey and Clary design pages for a picture book they're creating.
My students soon had no trouble picking the topic that they wanted to design a project about at school. We worked with development of questions about their choice topics and soon were our way to choosing a central question that our project would be based upon.
Now, months later, my students have designed projects that range from building mini football stadiums in which they will create movies to describe football plays to raising money and awareness to our local SPCA. I have shared the idea with teachers in our school, two of which are now running the project in their classrooms, as well as locally and internationally through presentations at conferences such as GAFE Summits and CanFlip14.
Not a day goes by in my classroom without at least one student asking when we get to have Genius Hour next. Excitement is building as projects are becoming increasingly more developed. Some students have connected with other experts and students who've created similar projects. Others are working with new digital technologies that we haven't explored in my classroom such as coding and stop-motion animation photography & movie development.
You can click through the gallery below to check out some photos of student passion projects from my classroom as well as the slides from my co-presentation at GAFE Summit Roseville, CA.
Now, months later, my students have designed projects that range from building mini football stadiums in which they will create movies to describe football plays to raising money and awareness to our local SPCA. I have shared the idea with teachers in our school, two of which are now running the project in their classrooms, as well as locally and internationally through presentations at conferences such as GAFE Summits and CanFlip14.
Not a day goes by in my classroom without at least one student asking when we get to have Genius Hour next. Excitement is building as projects are becoming increasingly more developed. Some students have connected with other experts and students who've created similar projects. Others are working with new digital technologies that we haven't explored in my classroom such as coding and stop-motion animation photography & movie development.
You can click through the gallery below to check out some photos of student passion projects from my classroom as well as the slides from my co-presentation at GAFE Summit Roseville, CA.
Student Projects |
Passion-Based Learning Presentation
GAFE Summit - Roseville, CA - February 8-9, 2014
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