As a vice principal, I have the wonderful opportunity to spend time in many different classes over the school year and I always find it so exciting to see what folks are doing with their students!  Of course I get especially excited when teachers invite me into their classrooms to participate during Genius Hour.  Last year (the 2016-17 school year) I had several different teachers ask me to join in during Genius Hour and it was great to see how they all approached it in slightly different ways.  The overall structure was similar in each room: students were given time to brainstorm lists of things they were interested in, passionate about, cared about, etc and then students designed a project around one of these topics starting with an inquiry question that they would pursue.  Students were then given the opportunity to share their learning in a way that they chose–a fairly typical Genius Hour structure. Good stuff!

However, one teacher structured it a bit differently. Before introducing the concept of Genius Hour to her class, she noticed that students really wanted the opportunity to become the teacher and teach the class themselves. And so, in order to be responsive to this authentic enthusiasm in her class, she introduced Genius Hour and asked them to prepare a lesson at the end. She told them they would all get to be teacher! This is what they had been begging for!

So, we introduced Genius Hour in the same way as the other classes (following these steps). But she added that at the end they would have the opportunity to teach something to the rest of the class as part of their project.  Students in her grade 4/5 class were very excited about this presentation format.  They were thrilled to plan lessons and teach their peers a new skill, some new information, etc.

So, why am I writing about this now? I was recently perusing an article by Parker Palmer and was struck again by one of his famous quotes, “good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher”, and was reminded once again, how there cannot be one prescribed way to do Genius Hour. Like Denise Krebs and I state in our book, you have to make it your own and do what works for you.  I love that this teacher was in tune with what her students wanted to do and made that connection to what she wanted to do–Genius Hour.

It was a win-win for everyone. And I was thrilled to be able to support the learning in her classroom-so a win for me too.
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View other ISTE presentations here

This summer I taught an undergraduate course at Simon Fraser University: 

EDUC 394: Cross-Curricular Connections

Over the past few years I have really worked on planning with the big ideas in mind and thinking about the cross-curricular connections that I can make so I was excited to share some of my ideas, practices I have incorporated, and the theoretical backing for this type of teaching with my students (all of them are working toward a BC teaching certificate).

Some of the themes we touched on were:

• ​ePortfolios
• Blogging
• Year Plans
• Place Based Learning
• Non-Fiction Reading and Science/Social Studies
• Metacognition 
• Imaginative Education
• Inquiry
• Genius Hour
• Global Connections and Mystery Skype
• Assessment
• Meaningful Technology Integration

One of my favourite parts of the course was, of course, when we talked about Genius Hour!

Of course a major part of teaching Teacher-Candidates is modelling teaching while you are teaching, so what better way to learn about Genius Hour (and open-ended inquiry) then by actually doing Genius Hour, right? So that is exactly what we did! After a brief intro (much shorter than I would do with actual elementary students), we took the time to do our own Genius Hour inquiries and then shared our learning/debriefed the experience the following week. Some topics the Teacher Candidates investigated:

What is The Daily 5?
How does Roots of Empathy work and how can I teach empathy to my students?
How do I build a strong sense of community in my classroom?
How do you blog with a class that has very little technology?
How do I help build leadership capacity in my students?
What are the Zones of Regulation and how can I use them in my classroom?
How do you make a stop motion movie?
What is the difference between Faye Brownlie’s lit circles and the kind described by Harvey Daniels?
I wonder how the new curriculum will change the way teachers teach?
How do I set up a grade 1 classroom?
What does student-centred actually mean?
How is Reggio being used around the world?
How can we teach sustainability in our classrooms?
What are literature circles?
What do kids wonder (and what types of Genius Hour projects have they done?) –Lisa had a great discussion of this on hers!
How can I use different desk arrangement styles to help my students be engaged and focused in the classroom? (I am mostly focused on intermediate grades.)
How does Genius Hour work in K/1?
How do you facilitate conflict resolution between students?
How can I create a successful classroom community?
What do I do on the 1st day of school?
I wonder if schools will one day be paperless?
I wonder how to engage students who lack motivation?

Such great questions! So there you have it...Genius Hour: Not just for K-12. It works with Teacher Candidates too!  

I also think that as practicing teachers we should be taking a little time each week to look into our own teaching inquiries!  I loved doing my graduate diploma (a few years back) because it taught me a structured way to inquire into my practice. 

These days my knew personal Genius Hour questions are focused on becoming a better writer and learning more about Reggio.

How about you?  What is your question? What are you looking into these days?

1.  Sir Ken Robinson.

I love this Ted Talk and have probably watched it 20 times! The thing I don't like about it though is that he tells us about what we need in schools, that "creativity is as important as literacy and should be treated with the same status", but he doesn't give any examples as to how teachers can do that.  I have an idea though-- start with Genius Hour and go from there! 

If you love the talk then you should also check out his book, The Element-a great read!

2.  Daniel H Pink.

Daniel Pink's book Drive is a fantastic read! I definitely recommend reading it.  I think that the information he presents on what really motivates people is super helpful for thinking about motivation in our classrooms too. I also really like his RSA animate--a great video to watch before reading the book! I love what he says about autonomy as a motivator--this is why Genius Hour works--because our students have the autonomy to pick their own inquiry questions! 

3. Alfie Kohn.

I am so happy that I was able to find an Alfie Kohn clip of when he was on Oprah!! I think Alfie's research is really helpful and...I love Oprah--so a double win for me (and you)! Anyway, watch this clip to hear a bit about Kohn's book Punished by Rewards.  I totally agree with his point about finding authentic ways to encourage kids to learn, read, etc instead of relying on rewards.  In my opinion, Genius Hour, is indeed one of those student-centred, authentic ways! 

4. Angela Maiers.

Her "You Matter" Tedx Talk is fantastic! I love what she says about the power of noticing and sharing that with your students. A must-watch for teachers. This is where we got the brilliant quote "You are a genius and the world needs your contribution"--a quote that is posted in classrooms all over inspiring kids to find their passions and share with the world. And her book The Passion Based Learning is also very inspiring! We discussed her book during our #GeniusHour chat in May, 2013. You can check out the archive here. 

I could go on and on about other Education videos that I love...but this is probably a good start! I hope you find these as inspirational as I did! 

Also, I would love to know--what would you add? Perhaps post the link in the comments so that the rest of us can check it out!

Some really great points were brought up that I just had to go back and reread the archive.  Here are some of my major take-aways:

• When a student is struggling to come up with an inquiry question, get right beside them.  Have a conversation.  Here are some tips:

              -We brainstorm what we love, what we wish we could do, what we wish we could know, what we wish                  we could change (@tulisue)
              -Ask "What breaks your heart?" (@STEMGeniusHour)
              -I asked 3rd grade to come up with a problem at school that we could solve (@terrieichholz)
              -I ask them if they could sit down at the computer and Google anything, what would it be and we work                 from there (@mcnairan3)
              -I always start with what do they do when they are at home. Kids don't think you care about what they                  learn at home (@hughtheteacher)
               -One-on-one conferences to help find their passions. Eventually something comes out in the                                   conversation (@mrsdkrebs)

• During Genius Hour inquiry time it is okay for students to struggle.  That is what we want!  We want them to learn that it is okay to make mistakes and that the goal is to push through, try again and persevere! Many of us have taught our students that FAIL can also be looked at as an acronym for First Attempt In Learning.  Hugh McDonald also wants us to think about the term failure and think about whether or not it realyl is a failure if we have learned something from the process.  I was so happy he brought this up because sometimes I think students learn more about how they learn from their #GeniusHour projects than they do about the actual topic, and that is just as important, right?  Some tips for when your students are struggling:

 
            -Before they start their project I model my learning and struggles with a new thing I learned                                    (@hughtheteacher)
            -I start the year by telling students that we will fail. We are allowed to fail. That is how we learn                              (@koehnkfisher)
             -LISTEN...Ask questions about their ideas to push a bit further. Encourage goal setting (@JoyKirr)
             -[Struggling is an] important part of learning. But need to watch so it doesn't become frustration                             (@mjreese)
             -I think it is also important to give them examples of how I fail from day to day and then give examples                 of finding a solution (@techducation)
              -I have really been working on #growthmindset w/my Students (@terrieichholz)
             -When I see Ss struggling I pull out TED "I Seek Failure"- offers amazing insight & Ss really get it                        http://youtu.be/H8P7Ni1NwB0  (@kgbellino)

• And lastly, there are so many experts in our communities!  Let's get them in and connect our kids up with mentors in their area of wonder/passion.  Some tips:

             -I'm looking out for family now - what's going on at home? (@JoyKirr)
             -I use Twitter to contact lots of outside experts. (@mcnairan3)
             -blog, newsletter, ask students, know community members, Twitter, PTO (@jcd118)

Many folks have asked me to break Genius Hour down into steps (especially in regards to how to introduce Genius Hour) so here is a little chart that I made that hopefully helps.  Take your time with steps 1,2, and 3 and then let the students lead the way when it is time to Inquire, Self-reflect and Share.  

Hope this helps!

I am so excited to announce that I have just launched a new website: geniushour.ca.

After talking with Hugh McDonald the other day, we decided it would be great to have a place online where Genius Hour (or 20% time, innovation week, etc) teachers could cross-blog their stories and share in one space!  A place where the Genius Hour community can come together to share our stories and adventures.  

And so, I bring you geniushour.ca
Please check it out, comment on the stories from our contributors, and consider becoming a contributor by sharing your story/blog entry!  We would love to have you!

Email me at [email protected] to become a contributor!

Hugh McDonald and I were having a conversation the other day.  After two school years of doing Genius Hour with our students, we realized that the positive affects of this type of learning reached far beyond that one hour each week that we devoted to it.  So, I brought it up during our last #GeniusHour chat to see if others were feeling the same way.  Check it out:

So many of us agreed that by giving students that time to persue their wonders and passions, students began to wonder about everything!  They became curious learners that asked meaningful questions!  

On Genius Hour days, and even on other days, students began to be more excited about coming to school!  We had students start coming in early to get a head start on their projects, and many would work right through recess or lunch because they were so excited about what they were doing. Kids excited about learning! It really doesn't get any better than that!

I love the above comment by Joel Pardalis.  Students taking risks and thinking outside of the box.  Perfect.
More great tweets:

And finally, teachers talked about how Genius Hour changed them as teachers too!  This is powerful stuff!

And then the conversation even turned to how Genius Hour does indeed support curriculum and many of the prescribed learning outcomes.   

I have one more tweet to share!  This one was shared by Joy Kirr, a teacher that I admire so very much! her words are perfect and I think they truly summarize how a lot of us feel.  Genius Hour doesn't just give students an hour (or 20% or however you break it down) to inquire into their passions and wonders...

...It changes EVERYTHING.  

I have change a lot as a teacher over the past few years thanks to my school district's support, graduate classes at SFU and mostly because of the support and brilliant ideas from my PLN.  Thank you all for learning and growing with me!  I am so excited to continue this journey with all of YOU.