Inspire others with Genius Hour

         Last Thursday marked the presentations of our Genius Hour. We were divided into partners of our choice or groups of three individuals, and had to research a topic of exploration that interested us. Genius Hour signifies “a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom.  It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school” (Kesler 2013). Genius Hour is a new strategy that schools have been implementing in order to expand creative and intellectual abilities and research a topic through a skill-testing question. Personally, I have never experienced an assignment quite like Genius Hour, and I feel it was liberating. Finally, schools are beginning to understand that researching topics of interest fuel motivation within us. I was much more willing and determined to work on something I had interest in learning about, as opposed to something unavoidable from the curriculum. This type of thinking fuels meta-cognitive processes as students are inquired to think about the way they think. Thinking about the way they think relates to Genius Hour through the expansion of a single question that you – yourself or your group members created. "What is Genius Hour?" explains more details on how to partake in this task! Take the driver's seat and control what you want to learn!

            Our Genius Hour presentation focused on the effects that project-based learning had on motivation. Quite honestly in one of the studies we found that tested this theory, it was reported that motivational rates were increased because students found they were able to visualize themselves partaking in the task. As well, the third grade and sixth grade students in particular agreed that the tasks were fun and engaging. The study results explain, “These hands-on manipulatives in conjunction with cooperative groups had a positive impact on students’ confidence, therefore, improving their motivation to complete homework assignments” (Bartscher 41). When student interest is involved in the task, the expectations are that the student will strive to achieve higher value.

            Genius Hour is a great way to figure out the things that are most important to us. I believe that more schools should be open to the inclusion of this task. It is such a good idea to have students, for one day, choose what their assignment will be and in what direction they will take it. Teachers should be impressed by the results and project ideas that the students within their classroom can think of. If, to stay on track with the curriculum, teachers don’t feel that they can dedicate a timed lesson to let kids explore a topic of their choice, then they can modify Genius Hour. They can modify this assignment so that they are working under a larger category – kind of like a big question. Say for instance, the children are learning about the solar system in science class, for Genius Hour they will each choose a question of interest under that heading.

Genius Hour can be a collaborative or individual project that to me, no-doubt, instills confidence within students and encourages them to question the unknown. 

* The link for the study can be found below* 

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED392549.pdf

 *Genius Hour website listed below*

http://www.geniushour.com/what-is-genius-hour/

Bartscher, Kathy. (1995). "Increasing Student Motivation Through Project-Based Learning". ERIC. p.41
Kesler, Chris. (2013, Mar. 29). "What is Genius Hour?"

21st Century Integrated Learning Influences Motivation

“The backward design process facilitates a process where all collaborators can find a substantive place for their subject areas by providing a way to discover what is in common across them” (Drake, Kolohon, & Reid 121). The most exciting, intriguing, and motivating curriculums are the ones that integrate a variety of subject areas into a lesson plan. Currently in our education course we are designing, in groups, an integrated curriculum between our major subject areas. It is difficult because we have to find a way that each of our subjects ties together. For example, what commonalities do drama and science share? My group in particular is working very hard to incorporate big ideas and understandings between science, dramatic arts, and healthy living – a branch of physical education. It is extremely hard, as we are realizing now, to create a curriculum that not only fits the desires and requirements of the course content but also caters to student interests and has the ability to increase motivation.

Motivation is a huge factor that can often contribute to negative responses and productivity in the classroom. If students lack motivation, they can portray signs similar to a behavioral problem. Students with a lack of motivation seek attention and can jeopardize both their own learning, as well as the learning of the students around them. An interesting study was done a few years ago which highlighted, through numbers, percentages of drop-out students and the reasons behind their lack of success. There were several indicators that a lack of motivation played a large role in the drop-out decision. The study can be seen through this link:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/27531184

In attempt to teach more towards the expectations of the twenty-first century, I remember one teacher in my high school that did her best to educate us in an interesting and motivating way on a Shakespeare unit. She aimed to cater to our differentiated instructional needs. For example, when we were learning a lesson in class, she showed us the main expectation of the assignment, which would be to convey that we understand the main themes of the text we are examining. But instead of handing in a typical essay…

which was the original instructions of the assignment, we were allowed to demonstrate our ‘main argument or lesson we learned’ in a write up following a creative presentation of some sort. We had to demonstrate our knowledge of the text in our own creative way. Some students sang a song, some students rapped lyrics, some students wrote poetry, some students wrote a speech, etc. and each student had the chance to present their piece to the class in some way and explain, afterwards, why they chose to do what they did. My particular piece in that class involved a dramatic scene with 2-4 of my classmates in which we restated, through a mini skit, all of the major important dramatic lines from the Shakespearian play we were studying. This assignment was in no way limiting or restricting, in fact, it left the expectations quite open and interchangeable for students which we gladly enjoyed.

In my opinion, education should be fun, educational, and experimental. It should be something that everyone wants to participate in and receive along their future endeavors. Part of the twenty-first century view encompasses the idea of the teacher as an experimentalist. Drake, Kolohon, and Reid state, “The twenty-first-century educators open their classrooms to the world… they strive to develop strong relationships with their students…At the heart of their practice is caring about their students and being a catalyst for their growth as a whole person” (153). Teachers who follow a twenty-first century outlook are always learning. They are great innovators and strive towards making goals attainable through different areas of focus. Students like myself are also continuously learning, so if the learning process happens collaboratively, then we are not only able to work towards a more constructivist classroom approach, but we are also able to integrate subjects into the curriculum so that each student partakes in connecting with multiple subject areas in different ways.

Characteristics of a twenty-first century teacher can be seen in this short YouTube clip:

Drake, Susan M., Wendy Kolohon, and Joanne L. Reid. Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: engaging the 21st century learner. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print.