What's your passion?
A Journey of Passion, Wonder and Inquiry
Today began the next phase of the Genius Hour projects, the "pitch." Students began presenting information about their projects. The students needed to present Shark Tank style presentations lasting no more than 60 seconds.. I had shown my students a YouTube video of a child pitching a lemonade stand on Shark Tank, and gave them the following presentation guidelines. Create a slide (or slides) and tell your audience "What your project is about." "Why you chose this project." "What materials you will need?" and "What obstacles do think you may face?"
Almost half of the class presented today. They were nervous especially since I recorded their pitch, but all of them did an awesome job explaining their projects. One focus of our presentation was limiting the information they could put on the slide. Often students want to put all of their information on the slide and then proceed to just read that information. Many used notes to prompt themselves or did the presentation from memory. The level of detail some students went into on the choice of material or how they were going to go about completing their project was impressive. One students presented, they received feedback from their peers on their project design only. Once myself and the other students were satisfied with the plan we were able to give the go ahead to begin working on the project.
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Today the students were introduced to Weebly and wrote their first blog about their passions. The students are enjoying the freedom to express themselves. Tomorrow they will write a post on their webpage to guide visitors to their blog page.
We also discussed thick and thin questions, and the need to choose a thick question to drive their research. Students have until Friday to choose their question, at which point they are locked into their project. I cannot wait to see their questions and watch their projects develop over the coming weeks. What is Genius Hour?I am introducing a new project called Genius Hour in my classroom. The search-engine giant, Google, allows its engineers to spend 20% of their time to work on any pet project that they want. The idea is very simple. Allow people to work on something that interests them, and productivity will go up. We are following a similar model. I will give the students two or three, 40 minute blocks a week to pursue a topic they are passionate about. They will be presenting their learning in January. Here are two videos that explain Genius hour in a little more detail. Goals of this project: *to promote, support, and model creative, innovative thinking and inventiveness *to allow students an opportunity to discover/investigate one of their passions and reflect on/share their learning with others *provide students an opportunity to develop skill sets that are valuable in any learning situation (research, experimentation, collaboration, creativity, problem solving and critical thinking) *to provide an opportunity for students to share their Genius and Passion Projects with others Brainstorming This week students began brainstorming ideas for a project. Students are working alone for this first attempt. While brainstorming, we were identify things that we wish we could learn about, but don't get time, thinking about hobbies we would like to try, or things we want to get better at. Some student were able to choose a passion quickly, while others have struggled. Some students used a march madness bracket to narrow down their passion. Next week we will begin generating "thick" questions about our passions, (ones that are not easily googleable, and harder to answer) for example, What could be done to improve...? How could I change or modify...? What is the impact...? What is the result...? How? and Why? Some project ideas I have seen while researching Genius Hour include, a child learning sign language and signing a song as she had a deaf cousin, Lego stop motion video, learning how to paint, making a movie, learning an instrument, and computer coding. Once the students have selected their question they cannot change their project. Proposal Once the student has an idea of what project they want to pursue, they begin writing the proposal. This is how the student will pitch the project to me and the rest of the class. We will be using a 60 second Shark Tank type pitch In this proposal, students will answer the following questions. What is your project? Why did you choose this project? How are you going to learn about your project? How will you know you are successful? Timeline Once the project is accepted the students will create a timeline to ensure they know what time they have available to complete the project. They will also need to determine any supplies they need to complete the project and think about potential barriers/concerns they may have. The Blog or Journal Each week each student is required to write a blog post or journal entry to discuss their progress. They will write about the week, what they worked on, what they learned, what challenges they faced, and what they anticipate in the future. The Final Presentation At the end of the course, each student will give a presentation to students, teachers, and parents where they will show off their work. This will be carefully written, choreographed, and rehearsed to produce the best presentation they’ve ever given. Presentations will be in the style of a TED talk. (Date and location to follow) Assessment I am going to assess students on the various elements of the project. A significant portion of their grade will be dependent on the following elements with rubrics. The Proposal Is the proposal on-time, and does it address the required questions appropriately? The Blog or Journal Do the blog posts meet the required length, address the required topic? The Product Did you successfully move from idea phase to production phase, and do you have something to show at the end of the course? Self-assessment rubric Productivity Are you spending your Genius hour time by actively and passionately working on your project? If not, we need to quickly adjust the project so you are working on something that is intrinsically motivating. This is less objective, but if I see students not being productive, I will intervene. Final Presentation Does your presentation meet all of the required elements? (Once created I will post all rubrics) What if my project is a failure? The only truly failed project is the one that doesn’t get done. I want students to strive to show off a successful product at the end of the course, but I don’t want the quest for perfection to lead to an incomplete project. If you feel that your project is a failure, I want to hear about it. What did you learn about it? Think about a science fair project. If your hypothesis was wrong, was your project a failure? If you worked productively and your project did not turn out as you hoped you need to share your learning in your presentation. Don’t strive for failure, but don’t be afraid of it either! What NJ Student Learning Standards does Genius Hour support? 21st Century Career Ready Practices CRP4. Communicate clearly and effectively and with reason. CRP6. Demonstrate creativity and innovation. CRP7. Employ valid and reliable research strategies. CRP8. Utilize critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. CRP11. Use technology to enhance productivity. ELA Student Learning Standards 5th Grade Reading Informational Texts RI.5.4. Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area. RI.5.7. Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently. RI.5.9 Integrate and reflect on (e.g. practical knowledge, historical/cultural context, and background knowledge) information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. Writing W.5.2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. A.Introduce a topic clearly to provide a focus and group related information logically; include text features such as headings, illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. B. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic. C.Link ideas within paragraphs and sections of information using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., in contrast, especially). D.Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. E.Provide a conclusion related to the information of explanation presented. W.5.6. With some guidance and support from adults and peers, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting. Research to Build and Present Knowledge W.5.7. Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different perspectives of a topic. W.5.8. Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources. W.5.9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. B. Apply grade 5 Reading standards to informational texts (e.g., “Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point[s]”). Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas SL.5.4. Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace. SL.5.5. Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes. SL.5.6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, using formal English when appropriate to task and situation. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know. I look forward to sharing our learning. Keep checking back for photos and updates. Tina Smith References: Kesler, C. (2013, September 06). What is Genius Hour? - Introduction to Genius Hour in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMFQUtHsWhc Academy, B. B. (2014, July 17). Genius Hour. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEQzKH7v0-Q |
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