My days spent at #TCEA16 last week were motivating and extremely inspiring. This week, I would like to select a few highlights to share with you. First up, School-Wide Genius Hour.
Several members of the staff of Cottonwood Creek Elementary in Coppell ISD woke me up on Thursday morning with their incredible presentation about student-led EdCamps and Genius Hours at their school. Not only did the teachers and administrators impress me, but some of the students also participated through Skype and videos, completely winning me over with their heartfelt comments about their school.
One significant “take-away” that I got from this presentation was that Cottonwood Creek offers a school-wide Genius Hour every Friday. Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a big proponent of Genius Hour, and I even offer a page of resources here. However, we do Genius Hour within my GT classes – meaning that a very small percentage of our school gets the opportunity to participate. Cottonwood Creek sets aside an hour every Friday for Kinder through fifth to participate in Genius Hour, with students traveling all over the school to work with others of similar interests.
Some of the Genius Hour projects underway include a Culture Corner, gardening, basketball, broadcasting, and more. The keys to making this successful seem to be a combination of several things: a great emphasis on students as leaders in the school, parental involvement, requiring students to declare a purpose for their Genius Hour time, and reflections after each Genius Hour.
You can access Cottonwood Creek’s presentation here. The slides include a list of the amazing educators who presented at TCEA and some pictures and video that will convince you that this idea is good for kids!
