Personal PBL: Where to begin
Genius Hour. 20% Time. Personal Project Based Learning. Different names for the same heart: giving students the reigns, for at least a time, in both what they learn, how they learn it, and what they do with their new knowledge or skill.
While I’ve read countless articles and lurked on my fair share of Twitter chats centered around Genius Hour, I’m finally stepping up to the plate to give it a try. While I strongly believe in the power of Genius Hour to establish personalized learning and build essential soft skills, I truly have no clue what this time actually looks and feels like. I am excited to spend this semester learning alongside 5th grade students building personal projects centered on questions that are their own.
So, how did I set the stage?
You’re fifth graders. Not only that but you are in your last semester as an elementary student. You’ve spent 6 years, some of you all six here at MHES, learning the basics. You’ve learned to read and write and spell. You’ve even learned strategies for long division, the root causes of the Civil War, and the proper way to organize an informational writing.
But the secret is, these things individually aren’t really the point of elementary school. It’s not the real reason why your here. You see, the goal of the last 6 years is LEARNING HOW TO LEARN. While we’ve spent 6 years showing you the rope of learning, the sad truth is, we aren’t always going to be with you. Sure you have teachers by your side for the next 7 years plus, but the responsibility for learning is moving off of your teachers and onto you.
Because, school or no school, learning never stops. It’s a part of being a human. We are always curious, always asking new questions, always wanting to try new things. And to be successful, we need to know where to get this new information, what materials are needed, and what to do when we mess up over and over again.
The cool part about this is that for the past 6 years, you’ve also been told WHAT to learn. But as soon-to-be middle schoolers, I want to shift that responsibility back to you.
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