It’s Genius! Helping your students become passionately curious
I’m going to ask you to join me as I go down memory lane. In my first few years of teaching high school English, my freshmen and sophomores wrote research papers. I booked a week in the library and armed them with overwhelming piles of notecards, outlines, and a long list of requirements. It was HUGE. But I was sensitive to their needs, and I provided them with choice. They were able to choose what to research from a list of topics relating to the time period of the book we were about to start. To me, it was most important that they have enough sources, the right number of pages in their final papers, and the correct number notecards — which I diligently counted on the due date (time I will never get back!). Did they love it? No, but we got through it together, and I was convinced that when they left my class they’d be ready when life assigned them their next research paper.
Fast forward 10 years. I was no longer requiring note cards. Topics were chosen by students. But I still provided an umbrella where all final products looked the same. I mean, I had to be able to score them on my rubric!
Jump forward 5 more years. It is research time — except now I am in an elementary classroom as an instructional coach working with a second grade teacher. Students are on iPads, on the floor surrounded by craft supplies, using make-dos to cut cardboard, and others are meeting with us in a small group. It looks chaotic, but if you asked any student in the classroom, he or she could tell you all about their topic and what they are doing. And more importantly, you could feel the excitement.
I had discovered Genius Hour.
Genius Hour is a trend in education that many say started with Google. Google allows their engineers to spend 20% of their time to work on any project they want.
“The idea is very simple. Allow people to work on something that interests them, and productivity will go up. Google’s policy has worked so well that it has been said that 50% of Google’s projects have been created during this creative time period. Ever heard of Gmail or Google News? These projects are creations by passionate developers” (Kesler, 2016).
When I first heard about Genius Hour (or Passion Projects), I was hooked. Since first learning about it, I have tried out Genius Hour three times. Below are 5 resources and 5 tips that I recommend to any teacher wanting to implement Genius Hour.
Resources
#1 : Caine’s Arcade
Want to show students an example of passion and creation? Nine-year-old Caine spent his summer vacation building an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s used auto parts store. The problem is, he never had a single customer. But Caine didn’t give up. On the last day of summer, filmmaker Nirvan Mullick walked in to buy an auto part for his car. Caine asked the filmmaker to play, and the result is enough to inspire any kid to follow their passion!
Use this short film as a springboard to talk about passion and creativity and the idea that even the smallest of kids can do big things.
#2 : Picture Books
What do you do with an Idea? by Kobi Yamada
How do you bring an idea into the world? This story follows a boy who has an idea, and as his confidence grows, so does his idea. It is a great story to use at the beginning to inspire kids to explore their own ideas. And the pictures are amazing!
The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires
What happens when your big ideas aren’t turning out the way you want? This book is a great one to use after Genius Hour has been introduced, kids have researched, and they are beginning their projects.
# 3 : Videos to kickstart Genius Hour
There are many videos on youtube about Genius Hour that are great to kick it off in your classroom.
It has a class of 2nd graders talking about their experience with Genius Hour.
Here is one that is good if you have older students:
Need more inspiration like Caine’s arcade or one for older students?
Check out the following Ted talk given by Richard Turere. His invention made peace with lions that were attacking the cattle in his village.
# 4 : MakeDo
If you have ever let students loose to create things out of card board, then you know how dangerous it can be! Makedos are are simple to use tools for creative cardboard construction. They allow kids to build imaginative and useful creations from upcycled cardboard- without having to call a teacher over to do the cutting and building for them!
# 5 : Wonderopolis
I often send kids to this website if they are having trouble generating an idea. It is also a place where I send them if they need examples of good wonder questions or a place to find research. This website is a place where there are questions that appeal to students’ natural curiosity and imagination. Each day the site poses a wonder question — the Wonder of the Day — and explores it in a variety of ways. There are videos, articles and pictures. Students can search past questions for ideas.
5 Tips to find success with Genius Hour
- Don’t set a deadline for a project to be finished; instead set a deadline for students to share progress of what they have accomplished so far. Learning can happen anywhere, anytime AND it doesn’t have to stop with a due date! This also takes the stress off of ambitious projects or ones that have taken a different direction.
- Give examples before they start creating or pursuing ideas. Read books, watch videos (there are many on youtube), provide lists of ideas, and give them the support, time and space they need to find the right topic for them.
- Pair up! This can happen in two ways. As a teacher, pair up with your instructional coach or teacher librarian or other adult in the building. This can help with the management that comes when students are all learning and creating different things. Also, once kids have chosen topics, see if any of them could pair up — this lessens the amount of materials and things to juggle for the teacher. It also allows kids to practice that very important skill of collaboration.
- Confer with kids as much as you can. Meet to check in, ask questions, share in their excitement. Meet to set mini goals, create a list of to-dos and supplies needed. By articulating their progress, kids often figure out next steps on their own. I make notes of goals and next steps for the kids as they talk and give these to them when the conference is over.
- Share with a bigger audience! Invite parents in or record presentations to share with families. Have students go in small groups to other classrooms to share what they have learned and created.
Classroom Examples
I teach a summer tech class for elementary aged students. This summer, I had a class of 16 amazing students who explored ideas using Genius Hour. Here are some pictures from our week.
These girls created a cooking show that focused on healthy eating for kids. During class they researched nutrition and healthy recipes for kids. They found a recipe for strawberry popsicles that they wanted to feature. They video taped their cooking show at home and edited it in imovie in class the next day!
It is always hard to share in front of peers. I find that when students are sharing something they really care about the stakes are higher for them. Too often they get up and immediately apologize for their work. To keep this from happening, I focus on the positive. I always do a fun little intro when they come up. Then, the audience members write a compliment on bright colored paper to the student presenter at the end of their presentation and deliver it to their desk. The small (and big) smiles I see on their faces as they read are priceless. It is a gift for all of their hard work. It also gives students a little stretch break as they deliver the notes!
These students used a green screen to pre-record their presentation. We used the Do-Ink app. This is an app the students were familiar with before the Genius Hour unit so students already have it in their tool kit!
In his blog post on Genius Hour, Chris Kesler writes about what an exciting time this is to be an educator,
“This is the most important time to be in education. It is the most important time to care about education. It is the most important time to impact education.
Now, more than any other time in the past 100 years, education seems on the verge of a paradigm shift. You see, for the past century, most of the educational change has been doing old things in new ways. Today, we are beginning to see educators, educational institutions, and educational companies do new things in new ways.”
Genius hour is a way to give you and your students the space to do new things in new ways!
It can be overwhelming the first time, and every time I try Genius Hour, I think of ways to make it even better the next time. I can definitely say I’ve come a very long way from counting note cards, and my students more engaged and empowered because of it.
After reading Kriti Khare’s article on Engagement and Empowerment, I was reminded of how well the process of Genius Hour fits onto the engagement taxonomy that she shares in her article (if you haven’t read it, take the time, it will inspire and challenge you to think about your classroom and your lessons).
The article reminds me of how overwhelmed I felt the first time I tried Genius Hour, and I almost didn’t try it. Hopefully my experiences can help teachers feel more comfortable trying it in their classroom. Her article also sparked reflection for me as well. As a first year teacher I wasn’t satisfied with the research paper I was having my students write. It was a battle to get them to care about these topics, and I was chasing numbers and requirements. They weren’t engaged….and neither was I.
Trying something like Genius Hour is empowering and engaging for me as well. Because good teachers are passionate and curious learners too.
Editor’s Note:
As we grow into our teaching professions, we sometimes forget that we started with a blank slate too: our teacher toolkit was empty and it was from experienced teachers, college/university instructors, books, videos and other sources of information (including our students) that we learned. I love it when my reflection as a student teacher leads to an experienced teacher like Melissa to think of her early days and take the time to share her stories and strategies to fill the teacher toolkit of teachers like me.
That is exactly why I started A Teacher’s Hat and I am blessed to be surrounded by educators who are not only passionate what they do in the classroom, but also want to make sure that new teachers don’t feel afraid to try these awesome techniques!
References
Kesler, C. (2016, 5 August). “What is Genius Hour?” Kesler Science. Retrieved from www.keslerscience.com/what-is-genius-hour/.
Mullick, N. (2012). “Caine’s Arcade.” Caine’s Arcade. Retrieved from cainesarcade.com/.
