3.3 Reflection - Beginning Thoughts on Implementing Genius Hour

Reflection Prompt: 

Reflect upon what an activity in your classroom might look like using one or more of these Web 2.0 tools. Think about:
• what the experience looks like for students.
• types of outcomes ...
This summer I am going to be combining my class assignments with my goal of implementing #geniushour into my classroom routine. 

There are many definitions of genius:

• an attendant spirit of a person or place
• a strong leaning or inclination
• a peculiar, distinctive, or identifying character or spirit

You may notice that I purposely left out the following definition:

• a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially a person with a very high IQ

As I work to implement #geniushour I am going to use the top three definitions of genius with my students.  I want them to realize that genius is driven by your spirit or soul.  I also want them to understand it is an internal drive that at times can be peculiar or distinctive or identifying.  As my students quickly learn, I am a peculiar person and teacher and therefore there can be genius within those traits.  

As I take my students through the process of #geniushour I will begin with the Analysing level of Blooms Taxonomy which asks students to: compare, organize, find, link, tag, integrate, deconstruct, structure.  As a requirement for my summer class I will identify the Web 2.0 tool that will enable my students to organize themselves as they begin their journey into "genius".  There are two tools I will be introducing to them: Evernote and Livebinders.  These two tools enable students to do all of the above mentioned verbs in the Analysing section of Blooms.

In previous blog posts I have mentioned how I am going to have my students find what they are passionate about - Heart Maps, Passion Papers, and Paper Blogs.  Once they figure out what they are passionate about, they have to start becoming experts.  After reading the blog post on Project Based Failing I want to make sure that my students are working on "Human-Centered Projects" rather than "Student-Centered Projects".  

So what are my beginning steps?  Back on May 18th, I attended a Classroom 2.0 Live Saturday Seminar on Genius Hour: Passion-Based Learning.  I have been thinking about how I will implement this incredible learning experience into my classroom.  As a beginning step I will teach my students how to collect and organize information using Evernote and/or Livebinders.  As the students explore their passions, they will need a place to "warehouse" the websites, you tube videos, images, blog posts, and any other online resources they gather.  I use both tools and will share how I use them as an example for my students.

As my students work on becoming genius' they will need to research as a beginning step.  A desired outcome I will have for them is to find a place to collect, organize, tag, etc... the information they find.  I will work with groups of students who pick the same tool to guide them as they learn how to use the tool.  I will identify student "experts" who naturally understand how to us the tool and have them help other students.

I see the first step in implementing #geniushour is having the students identify their focus and as they work to become experts they have a Web 2.0 tool that can help them organize themselves and their resources.