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Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

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Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

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Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

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**Permission for use granted by Discovery Education.

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**Permission for use granted by Discovery Education.

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**Permission for use granted by Discovery Education.

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Grinberg, E. (2014, March 10). 'Genius hour': Students, what would you like to learn today? Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2014/03/09/living/genius-hour-education-schools/index.html

Juliani, A. (2019, February 25). The Research Behind PBL, Genius Hour, and Choice in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://ajjuliani.com/research/

Leslie, Kenny, M., Russell, Cheryl, Brooke, Kim, . . . Padilla, J. (2017, November 02). Implementing Genius Hour in Your Classroom. Retrieved from https://minds-in-bloom.com/implementing-genius-hour-classroom/

Robinson, K. (2006, February). Do schools kill creativity? Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

Schrock, K. (2019, March 06). Online Tools. Retrieved from http://www.schrockguide.net/online-tools.html

Shaffer, H. (2017, December 07). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS9Yjfxia0o&feature=youtu.be

Smith, M. (2017, September 15). Genius Hour in Elementary School. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/genius-hour-elementary-school

Spencer, J. (2017, March 10). The 5 Biggest Mistakes I Made with Genius Hour (and How I Fixed Them). Retrieved from http://www.spencerauthor.com/the-5-biggest-mistakes-i-made-with-genius-hour-and-how-i-fixed-them/

TeachThought Staff. (2015, December 26). 7 Pros & Cons Of Teaching With Genius Hour -. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/learning/7-pros-cons-of-teaching-with-genius-hour/

Images:

Discovery Education, Light Bulb. [Image]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com
Magnifying Glass. [Clip Art]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com
Face with Question. [Clip Art]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com
Krebs, D. (2013, February 18). Genius Hour By Any Other Name [Digital image]. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsdkrebs/8486746334
Krebs, D. (2013, June 17). Genius Hour [Digital image]. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsdkrebs/9071497283
Krebs, D. (2014, July 08). IDEAS for Genius Hour [Digital image]. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsdkrebs/14625360713

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Technology is a huge piece of Genius Hour.  Here are some ideas for implementing Genius Hour with tech tools!

-Padlet: Help students stay organized by storing and organizing notes and websites! A blueprint, if you will!
-Google:  This tool can be used for ANYTHING Genius Hour related, from research to design to sharing!
-Piktochart/Canva: Students can create infographics to display data.
-S'more: Students can create a flier for a product or persuasion.
-Anchor: An easy way for students to create podcasts.
**Looking for more ideas? Click here!

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A simple search in google will bring up thousands of teachers excited to share their experiences with Genius Hour, their successes, their failures, their mistakes and how to fix them, and their inspiration with encouraging their students to be life-long learners.  I came across many outstanding experts through my research, and these are just an extremely small subset of educators that helped me throughout this learning process.  If Genius Hour is something you are interested in, I encourage you to take a dive into their blogs!

Kimberly Crouch from English, Oh My!

Kayla Bloomstrand from ABC’s with Mrs. B

I also interviewed a teacher from a neighboring school district to learn about how she is implementing Genius Hour in her classroom.  You can find my interview here.

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What does Genius Hour look like in the classroom?

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What does Genius Hour look like in the classroom?

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If you were to walk into Jenn Wilsons third grade classsroom in the South Western School district, you would find her students eagerly researching and diving into their projects.  In her classroom, she starts with having the students develop a topic list.  This list is developing at all times throughout the school year.  The students take a brain dump and compile things they wonder about, and then share out their ideas.  From there, Mrs. Wilson teaches how to narrow down the topic and how to begin to search for information about the topic safely and appropriately.  She then teaches her students how to research, teaching them to record the source and compile research under each source.  Next, she teaches how to take research and organize it into a project, and finally allows for them to decide on their project and run with it.  This is a great example of the role of a teacher during Genius Hour.

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What are the steps to implement Genius Hour?

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What are the steps to implement Genius Hour?

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The most important step is Research.  One should take the time to dig deeper into the movement, get to know the expectations and structure, and reach out for support from others that have already implemented Genius Hour in their classroom.  Once you have wrapped your mind around Genius Hour, planning is key.  It is important not to assume students are self-directed learners, for they need to be taught.  Planning is important to ensure that there is appropriate structure to support student’s in the learning environment during Genius Hour.  Clear behavioral expectations should be set. Finally, one has to be willing to let go of some of the control in the classroom.  One of the most challenging parts of implementing Genius Hour is the role of the teacher.  The teacher is supposed to be a guide, and strictly that.  Genius Hour challenges students to answer their OWN questions, plan their OWN process, and figure out how they are going to meet their goal.

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There has been a push in education to ensure that our students are ready to become working adults in our world.  This has been defined as using higher standards for teaching and learning and making the learning environment more rigorous.  In turn, there is one important element of teaching and learning that is beginning to disappear in the learning environment, and that is Creativity.   In Ken Robinson’s TED Talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”, he explains that instead of growing into creativity, students are growing out of it. Genius Hour is a way give students the opportunities they need to be creative, inventive, and innovative.  Research suggest that this type of learning is not about seeking the right answer, but rather developing inquiring minds, which in turn leads to significant benefits.  As contrasted with the more traditional forms of teaching and learning, Genius hour emphasizes the process of learning to develop a deep understanding in addition to the acquisition of content knowledge and skills.  Through a developed connection with academic and technology standards, Genius Hour provides students with opportunities to learn that inquiry and their own experiences can help them to achieve a deeper understanding of their world and aims to foster inquiry in all students, encouraging them to become life-long learners.

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Genius Hour is a choice-based, inquiry-driven learning experience where students work on projects focused on their passions.  This movement was inspired by Google’s 20% time initiative, where they gave their employees 20% of their contracted work time to dedicate to a project constructed around their own ideas.  Post-It Notes and Gmail were invented while these employees were pursuing these passions and challenging their minds.

Since then, this movement has been integrated into the world of education.  It is part of a larger movement in education to promote student-driven learning, encouraging students to think for themselves and form their own conclusions.  Genius Hour engages students in 21st century learning, emphasizing skills such as life skills, planning, overcoming obstacles, critical thinking, problem solving, adaptability, flexibility, goal setting, and most importantly, creativity.