I have had a lot of really great conversations with people about Genius Hour. I am passionate about helping kids find their passions, explore their interests and inquire into their wonders. So I love these chats!

But sometimes people ask: is it rigorous enough? is their topic deep enough? important enough? Stuff like that...

And I talk about the difference between googleable and non-googleable questions, and teaching inquiry in other subjects and then reminding students of those lessons and skills during Genius Hour. Or I might share Paul Solarz's acronym for PHAT questions: Pretty Hard and Tough.  All things that I have done with my own class when I try to steer them toward a more rigorous inquiry.

But sometimes I just want to say: 
Why does everything have to be so serious?
How about play for the sake of play?
Does everything have to be tough?

Maybe we are over-thinking and over-managing Genius Hour a bit too much? 

People ask me for worksheets to support Genius Hour, and I have some. And I am happy to share. But I also don't want kids to have to fill out too many of these forms...because I wonder if then Genius Hour has become just like every other course/subject...and isn't fun anymore!  Now when we do inquiry projects in Social Studies or Science or anything else, then we definitely make sure that there is a certain level of "tough-ness" or rigour. I want them to struggle a bit, to push themselves and think hard. That is important to me. And we do that for every other hour of the week. But for the 1 hour of Genius Hour...I wonder if we are getting too unnecessarily worried?

So sometimes I just ask: are they having fun? Yes? Then--great! Perhaps it is okay to just learn and make things and do things and have fun. For the sake of fun. 

For example:
--They made a lego stop motion video. Fun!
--They designed iPod touch covers and want to become fashion designers when they grow up. Fun!
--They baked a cake and learned how hard it was to make it look like pinterest. Fun!
--They cut open an old book and built a spy camera inside. Fun!

These are all projects my students have done before. And they had fun. And they loved it. And I loved it. 
And they were definitely learning (especially in regards to the core competencies of communication and creative thinking). Without having to fill out too many forms.

You may disagree. And on some days I might even disagree. But this is how I feel today. 
Sometimes it is OK to just have fun in our learning! For the sake of fun!

Ideally, we want everything our students do/learn/make at school to be meaningful experiences. And please don't get me wrong--we spend plenty of time pushing ourselves, problem solving, thinking critically and focusing on the tough stuff. But...

I think fun/play is meaningful too.

​----
Side note: A friend of mine was talking to me about how some of his fellow parent-friends were talking about putting their kids into music classes because they have heard that will make their kids good at math. And he said: or how about just because music is fun!  

Yeah. How about that? Music is fun.

A little while ago, Denise Krebs and I wrote an article for MiddleWeb.com called "Idea Starters for the Genius Hour Classroom". It was written in response to a question we get a lot: 

I watched the Oscars the other night and one of the speeches made me leap off the couch and yell in agreement. It was Pete Docter's acceptance speech. Docter is the creator of the movie "Inside Out" and in his speech for 'Best Animated Feature', he said:

Yes! Make stuff.  

I know a lot of us are encouraging our students to make stuff at school. We are implementing Genius Hour, creating MakerSpaces, teaching them to code, encouraging them to bake/cook/make art, etc. 

But what about us? I know that I can easily go days where I only consume (watch tv, read books, check twitter, etc) and don't end up making/creating much. I have to remind myself that it is not only my students who are makers, but that I am a maker too! And so I push myself to write in my journal, make cards, colour in my new colouring book, because I think it is good for all of us! Good for the kids and good for us grown ups too.

View other ISTE presentations here

I am so excited to announce that the book Denise Krebs and I wrote about Genius Hour is now available online! We have been working on this project of ours for years and it is finally out!

With the launch of our book, we have also put together a companion website: geniushourguide.org.
On it you will find many resources from the book, plus bonus articles and materials. Best of all, you’ll be able to engage with colleagues eager to support each other as we implement Genius Hour in our classrooms and schools. Read the welcome message for more information about the site.

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?

Pro: 
Spending time with like-minded educators around the world. A while ago I blogged about how I love twitter because instead of just being able to collaborate with the teachers in my hallway, I was now able to collaborate with amazing teachers everywhere! The whole world became my hallway! Similarly, ISTE is like a face to face twitter feed! I am able to connect with all those same amazing teachers in person--we literally get into the same hallway finally! 
 
Con:
The hallway is super crowded!!! You have to become a professional person-dodger (new word: it works, right?) to make it from one end of the convention centre to the other!
 
Pro:
You find yourself nodding along with all of the presenters.  You have found your people.

Con:
But it is hard to find the time to chat with your people.  Most folks are in a rush because there is so much going on. How do we ensure more real conversations are happening? With the people you know...and maybe even with someone new!

Pro:
Choices! Choices! Choices!
I had dozens of workshops starred on the ISTE app (oh! there is another pro-the app). There were so many amazing workshops being offered and I wanted to go them all. I mean, when else do you get to attend workshops put on by inspiring educators from around the world?

​Con:
You go to the sessions. BUT...now what?  I need a now what component!  I know what the issues are...let's talk solutions.  Maybe we need to have a discussion area for people who want to continue 'nerding out' post-presentation and discuss.  I felt like a lot of what I heard at ISTE was preaching to the choir…and…I already believe! I am with you! Now let's talk about what we are going to do next...Please! 

I am in my third, and final, year as a Faculty Associate at SFU. During this time 20% of my year has been teaching at the elementary level and 80% of my time has been working with Student Teachers on campus or in their practicum classrooms. It has been an amazing experience and one I would recommend to my fellow Classroom Teachers who enjoy mentoring.  I have learned a lot by taking the time to step back and reflect on my own practice and pedagogical beliefs and one thing that I have really come to value is the power of the 1 on 1 conference.

As a Faculty Associate, we have pre and post conferences with our Student Teachers before and after we observe them teaching in their practicum classrooms. We also try to have a few 1 on 1 conferences during our time on campus.  This time is incredibly valuable and is when I am able to ask my students deep questions that have to do with their specific learning journey. It is when I get to personalize my feedback for them and ask them questions that I hope will move them forward in their learning.  Really meaningful formative feedback.

I used to do a bit of this as a classroom teacher but not nearly enough. But as I reflect on my years as an FA and as I think about my upcoming full time return to the classroom, I know it is something I will need to make more time for because it may be the best type of formative assessment strategy that I know.

1 on 1 conferences--not just for Writer's Workshop and Genius Hour anymore! I am planning to make it a part of my assessment plan in all subject areas!

Any advice?

A little while ago by friend Oliver Schiinkten sent me a tweet asking: 

I responded with a quick tweet back:

And I said that I would probably have to write a blog post to actually explain what I really think. In the mean time, my fantastic friends (and super fast bloggers) Denise Krebs and Joy Kirr responded with their ideas here and here. So now it is finally time for me to sit down and properly reflect on my answer to this question:

What is the purpose of school?

I think school has many purposes--a place for us to learn new things, a place for us to practice new methods of learning, a place for us to ask questions and share our thoughts. A place to play and socialize with others. A place to become more literate, develop a strong number sense and get elbow deep in paint and paper mache once in a while as we test out new ways to express ourselves. A place to be creative thinkers.  School has so many purposes. It is really a complicated thing--because it isn't completely clear and it isn't just one or two things. We get SO much out of school.  

But if I had to zoom in on one aspect that I think is of KEY importance it would be: thinking.

School is where we learn:
how to think. 
how we think. 
how others think. 
what ways of thinking work best for us. 
how to share our thinking.
and what we like to think about. 

It is about learning and learning is about thinking. And there are so many fantastic ways to do this. And the better we plan for opportunities for our students to think & learn the more engaged they will be and the more they will love learning and thinking. And that is really what I want out of all of this whole school thing for them: for them to continue wanting to learn. wanting to think. being curious. AND being life-long learners who LOVE this. 

That is what I think today anyway. What do you think?

A little while ago I blogged about Appsmashing. You can read that post about what appsmashing is and how to do it with your iPad here. 

This past semester I tried appsmashing with my class of teacher candidates. It was the end of their first term in PDP (the teacher education program at SFU) and I wanted to give them a project where they could share some of their learning/understanding of our module theme with the class.

Our module is called Literacy in the Urban Classroom (LUC) and so we started the term with a "What is Literacy? What is Urban? What is a Classroom?" project and so I thought it would be fitting to end with something similar so that they could see how much they have grown in regards to their understanding of these complex concepts.  So they got into their same groups and created Appsmashes.  

The other purpose of this project was to get comfortable using the iPads and technology for learning purposes. It is a tool that I want them to be comfortable with as they begin their new careers as teachers and I wanted them to see how they could use it as a summative assessment as well.  The student teachers really enjoyed the project, I got lots of positive feedback from them.

Check out Karen, Danielle, Amanda and Michelin: