Tag: Genius Hour

3-12, Apps, Education, Motivation, Teaching Tools, Videos

Genius Hour Flyer

Terri Eichholz

thequestflyerimage

Update:  *As of 1/2/14, you can now download all of my current Genius Hour resources in a bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers for $5.  Or, you can still download them separately (for free) by clicking on the links below.

I suppose you can tell that I am on a Genius Hour kick this week.  I am trying to take advantage of my time off to create some of the materials I wish I had last year.  Last night, I worked on creating a flyer for Genius Hour using Smore.  My initial intent was to stop there, but then I thought, “Wow, wouldn’t it be neat if I could print this out, and add an “Aura” to it so kids could scan it, and see the video?

So, three hours later, this is what I have.  You can still view the flyer online here.

Or, you can download the PDF I made of the flyer below.  Be sure to print it out in color.  To make the Aura work, you will need to have the Aurasma app on a device.  Make you sure you have added the Hidden Forest Elementary channel.  Then, when you use the app to scan the image of “The Quest” the movie should start playing on your device.

If you are not familiar with using the Aurasma app, you might want to check out this post (be sure to read the “Update” as the app did change right after I published that post.)

I also have other posts on Aurasma, including how to make your own Auras.  Just type in “Aurasma” in the search box on the right.

And, here are more resources on Genius Hour in case you are new to the blog.

Here is the link to the flyer:  “The Quest” Genius Hour Flyer

3-12, Creative Thinking, Education, Motivation, Student Products, Teaching Tools

What Are My S.K.I.L.L.Z.?

Terri Eichholz

Screen Shot 2013-07-01 at 11.00.20 PM

A few weeks ago, I posted some of my ideas for the upcoming school year.  One of my posts focused on my ideas for improving our Genius Hour, and in that post I mentioned that I would like to have a “catalog of experts” in my class.  I noticed this past year that there were a couple of students who turned to others to help them with something, such as the boy who asked the girl to teach him HTML.  I thought it would be cool to have a spreadsheet of students shared on their Google Docs, so they could see who might be able to help them with certain topics.

With that in mind, I created a brainstorming paper for the students to use at the beginning of the year.  It’s called, “What Are My S.K.I.L.L.Z.?” (You can see the meaning of the acronym in the image above.)  The students can use this sheet to help them think about their areas of expertise, and then narrow them down to topics they would feel comfortable teaching other students.  Then I can just have them type the final topics into a Google Form, and share the results with them.

I tried to make the sheet a bit more visually appealing than just a plain questionnaire.  By the way, I used some online quote generators to create the text – Quozio and Pinwords.

You can download the PDF of this document below.  Also, for those of you new to the blog, I also have a Genius Hour Resources page which might interest you.  And, yesterday, I unveiled a Genius Hour Trailer you could use to excite your students about the project.

What Are My S.K.I.L.L.Z.?

3-12, Creative Thinking, Education, Motivation, Research, Student Products, Teaching Tools, Videos

Genius Hour Trailers

Terri Eichholz

geniushourtrailerpic

At ISTE last week, Jane McGonigal showed a fascinating trailer that had been designed for a project she was doing with the New York Public Library.  You can see it here.

I was intrigued by the concept, and thought it would be a great way to introduce Genius Hour to my students this coming school year.  I found an excellent Genius Hour trailer online that had been created by Ryan O’Shea, but I wanted to make one that was a bit more generic so anyone could use it.

Plus, I wanted to play around with iMovie.

So, with a little help from my daughter, who shares billing with me, here is what is probably the first draft of my version of a Genius Hour Trailer.

And if you are interested in more Genius Hour resources, don’t forget to visit my special page devoted to this topic. (Update:  *As of 1/2/14, you can now download all of my current Genius Hour resources in a bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers for $5.  Or, you can still download them separately (for free) by clicking on the links on the Genius Hour Resource Page.)

Fair warning – the music is a bit spooky, so you would probably not want to use this with K-2.

Creative Thinking, Education, Independent Study, K-12, Motivation, Research, Student Products, Universal Design for Learning

New Genius Hour Page

Terri Eichholz
Two students try to figure out why their rubber-band car isn't working.
During Genius Hour, two students try to figure out why their rubber-band car isn’t working.

For almost two years, I have been implementing a “Genius Hour” with my gifted 5th graders.  I periodically post about this, but I thought it might be nice to collect all of the posts and resources on one page for reference.  You can now access this page by clicking on “Genius Hour Resources” at the top of this blog, or you can click here.

If you have never heard of Genius Hour, then you might want to start with, “What is Genius Hour?”  Another good place to start is “Designing 20% Time in Education.”

Even though I teach gifted students, many of the resources on my new page are evidence that Genius Hour can work in any classroom.  It won’t look exactly the same, but that’s the point!  As teachers, we can be innovative about how we encourage innovation in our students.  During Genius Hour, students learn how to pursue and communicate their passions – and isn’t that why we really teach?

Creative Thinking, Education, K-12, Parenting, Research, Student Products, Teaching Tools, Websites

Make!

Terri Eichholz
"Ice Cube Crayons" project by Jennifer Perkins
“Ice Cube Crayons” project by Jennifer Perkins

You have probably noticed the “maker” trend is gaining headway.  With 3D printers becoming more affordable, and new inventions like the 3Doodler, this trend is beginning to find its way into the schools and libraries – and I welcome it wholeheartedly.  But you don’t have to wait until you have access to a public “Maker Space” to become a “Maker”.  And, you don’t need fancy technology, either.  Last October, I posted about the DIY site (which is also an app), and its wealth of hands-on projects.  Another resource you might enjoy is the “Kids and Family” section of Make’s online magazine.  From designing your own Marshmallow Shooter to making a 10-Rail Model Rocket Mega-Launcher, you can find all kinds of ideas for projects.  The projects are rated in difficulty:  easy, moderate, and difficult.  Parents could find some great ideas for rainy days or weekends here.  And, if you are a teacher, you might offer this site as another reference for students planning Genius Hour projects.

3-12, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Education, Independent Study, Problem Solving, Research, Student Products

Genius Hour 2013 Part II

Terri Eichholz
During one presentation of a Genius Hour project, the presenters got the whole class involved in making "Tumbling Tetrahedra."
During one presentation of a Genius Hour project, the presenters got the whole class involved in making “Tumbling Tetrahedra.”

Yesterday, I gave a partial update of how Genius Hour has been working in my classroom this school year.  (I also included links to my other Genius Hours posts yesterday.)  Some of you may not have heard of Genius Hour before.  I assure you that I did not originate this idea.  It was inspired by Google’s “20% Time”, and other educators who have pioneered this, including Denise Krebs and AJ Juliani.

At this point of the year, our Genius Hour usually begins with any students who are ready to present their finished projects.  (You can view an example of one student’s “Glog” on our class blog.)  After each presentation, we do a quick class critique of what we liked about the presentation and what could be improved.  Then, the students who presented get new planning sheets, and begin looking for their next topics.  The rest of the students continue working on their own projects.

It can be pretty chaotic.  I have 16 students, so I can certainly see how a regular classroom of 22 or more might need a bit more structure than my GT classroom.  However, I often remind myself that chaos is not necessarily a bad thing.  Despite the noise and constant troubleshooting (my computer won’t load, my website is blocked, etc…) the students are all completely engaged.  I rarely (and I mean like once every two months) have a discipline issue.

At the end of our hour, if time permits, the students complete reflection sheets, and I have some of them share their responses.  Then they let me know if they are ready to present the next week (we only meet once a week), and our day continues.

I know that this model would not work for every classroom, but I ask you to think about a couple of variations on this:

Could you modify this to allow students who have already mastered your curriculum to work on this type of project?

Could you set aside 20 minutes each day to allow a small group of students to work on a project, and rotate the groups so all can participate?

Could you get a volunteer to help you with “crowd control”?

Could you narrow the parameters, and maybe ask students to create Genius Projects stemming from your curriculum?

You might feel completely worn out after the 60 minutes are up, but the rewards are great.