So Genius Hour is now a 'thing' in schools, which is a movement that I joined as quickly as I could! I dove in by giving my students an hour per week and we worked out the logistics as time unfolded. However, like I do most things, my clarity came as I went through the process. The 'What is Genius Hour' came as I analyzed my students spending their time being authentic learners. Here is my clarity of the importance of incorporating a genius hour.
Adults, who are life long learners, engage in 'genius hours' which adds to their life experience. I started thinking of my life.
-My trip to Cuba took extensive research, planning, talking to experts, and had an end goal in sight.
-When I built a shed, I had to research the project step by step. I visited building sites to study the process of building. My end goal was to build a shed.
-Running a marathon was an overwhelming goal. Not only did it take training, it took planning, research, and talking to people who had run marathons. My goal was to run a marathon!
When I asked my students what projects their parents engaged in that took learning and research, they had some awesome genius hours!
-brewing beer at home (haha!)
-raising chickens
-planting a garden
-triathlon
-writing a book about their sister's illness
This conversation helped my students wrap their heads around the concept of a project that required research and learning. Generating ideas that take authentic learning is a challenge and the possibilities are endless! Because the types of end products are so different, they style of research also varies. There isn't a cookie cutter method to getting your students to an end product.
Give them time, have then set a goal for an end product, and support their efforts in deep learning.
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