What is Genius Hour?
Genius hour is a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom. It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school (more information can be found at geniushour.com).
Genius Hour Projects
Genius Projects will be linked with objectives outline in the Ontario Curriculum documents. All the curriculum links that are being covered can be found on the attached rubrics.
Specifically the Genius Projects will integrate objectives from Language Arts, The Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science. Furthermore, students will develop life skills such as planning, collaboration, communication, meeting timelines, and following through on commitments. These experiences inspire self-direction, pride and responsibility in each student.
Working on It
Students spend 1 hour a week researching a topic that they are passionate about. They are to find a creative way to share it with their peers once the project is complete. Students are encouraged to plan Genius Projects at school. They may need your help purchasing materials required for their projects. It will be up to the parents and student to decide if they want to undertake projects that require extra materials/time at home.
A requirement is that students always have work to do at school during assigned work periods. Some basic materials (paper, paint, tape, some science equipment or art supplies) will be available through the school.
Accountability
Students are required to present their finished Genius Hour product to his/her peers in a creative way. Every two weeks students are responsible for blogging about their progress in our classroom Edmodo. They must also comment on peer’s blog postings.
How is it graded?
The Genius Hour projects are not graded in a traditional format. Students will not be evaluated on their finished project, but instead on their process: goal setting, research, reflections (blog) and final presentation. Some projects may be much more involved and difficult than others. In addition, some students will start and finish their projects, while others may run out of time before the end of the timeline. Distributing grades on the quality of the final project is not what the Genius Project is about. Instead, it is designed for students to learn through their own inquiry and reflection.
What are the requirements?
1. GOAL SETTING: Students must have teacher approval of their project and a detailed outline that will demonstrate their inquiry process (see attached rubric).
- The project can be about anything as long as it’s school appropriate and answers one of these prompts:
· I am going to create a __________________________.
· I am going to document my experience doing / trying ______________________.
· I am going to learn and demonstrate how to ________________________.
Students will be asked to share their planning guide with their parents. Parents will be asked to sign the planning sheet indicating that they have seen the sheet, approve of the project and are aware of the steps required.
2. RESEARCH: Student will need to hand in all the research that they have collected during their genius project. It may be useful or not, but this allows for critical reflection . They will be asked to blog about their research and include referencing for all credible sources found.
3. BLOGGING (Reflection): Students will reflect on their learning and progress in a bi-weekly blog entry. They will have a specific format to follow that outlines what should be included. In addition to a bi-weekly blog entry, students will be asked to comment on another students post. Outlines and examples will be provided. Both the post and the comment will be evaluated using a rubric.
4. PRESENTATION: Students will present their findings to the class at the end of the 10 weeks (even if the project is not "finished"). Their presentation can be made in a presentation format of their choice (powerpoint, prezi, animoto, etc.). Details on what needs to be included will be given to students ahead of time and a rubric will be used to assess.
MOTIVATED?!
entire_document_genius_hour.docx |