SPARK Students' Interests by Bringing in Community Members

What better way to spark student interests than bringing in parents and community members!? 

We did just that at our school. I have always been inspired by Ted Talks, like these:

The Key To Success: Grit by Angela Lee Duckworth

Do Schools Kill Creativity? by Ken Robinson

• Success Through Effort (Okay-Not a Ted Talk but still great!)
• Why You Need to Fail

I was inspired by Ignite Chicago's version of Ted Talks where people are tasked with the following:

I decided to bring it to our school. The plan was to have parents and community members come share short presentations (20 slides that advanced automatically every 15 seconds) to spark new interests in our students (see what I did there?) for Genius Hour! Andddd....it was AMAZING! We had 11 volunteers come share their passions, hobbies, and/or careers with our students. After about an hourlong presentation, I heard gaggles of students (and teachers!) say things like, "I want to be a pilot!" and "Maybe I should be a rock star?" and "That was SO cool!"...and it was! The plan is to turn it around and have some of our students do the SAME thing after their genius hour projects. Not only is it engaging, but it's incredibly challenging!

Our SPARK event was even featured in the Chicago Tribune! Check it out here: 5 Minute Lectures Highlight Careers

Here's the quick how-to:

• Check with your principal and teachers. (We did 3rd-5th grade at our school.)
• Create a quick poster like this:

• 

• Share it EVERYWHERE: Twitter, School newsletters, and more! I searched local businesses and even our local mayor's office (Yes! He came!) for contact information and sent out the flyer. We had a great response!

• Make sure that all schedule changes (for Specials/etc.) are made.

• Check with secretary about signing in procedures.

• Get all the tech ready, including microphones and projectors!

• It's SHOWTIME!

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• Have kids write thank you notes afterwards.

• After students complete their Genius Hour projects, look for volunteers who are ready for the challenge of presenting this way!

Building a Library of Books and Ideas!

Building a Library of Books and Ideas...for Genius Hour!!!

Before diving into a Genius Hour project, we spent some time discussing a growth mindset, practicing brainstorming, problem-solving, and collaborating. We had students practice peer feedback, make their learning visible in different ways, and reflect in a variety of ways. 

Our book discussions and activities with have helped us practice these skills and expose us to new ideas!

                         

               Activity                                               Activity                                                 Activity              

               Activity                                                                                                               Activity

(and more!) 

Picking A Topic for Genius Hour

In one of our previous posts, we had students complete an A Lot, Some, Little chart after picking a topic. This year, we spent some more time playing around with different ideas before getting to that lesson. 

Students Considered Their Passions...

We had students list out their favorite activities and their passions. We had students use each other as resources when brainstorming different topics. This was a good way to build community within the classroom.

Students Considered Their Heartaches...

And...this was an even better way to build community within the classroom. Students can easily make connections when they hear that someone else plays soccer or another person likes to play Minecraft. But when you hear another student is afraid of talking in front of the class or another person gets worried about making a mistake...that...that is how you build community. Often, it's the things that cause us sadness, heartache, or anger that cause us to take action and do something differently. We had students think more about problems in their schools and communities that they wanted to tackle. We also had students follow their hearts and consider what makes their hearts swell, as well as what makes their hearts ache. Check them all out here! Not only did we find that our classroom became a little closer, but it also sparked some new topics for Genius Hour that may not have come about without these activities!

We want to send a big SHOUT OUT to the monthly Genius Hour Chat for introducing us to this idea! It meets on Twitter (#geniushour) the first Thursday of every month at 8pm central time. Find us there! #20percentgenius

Get Your Students in the Right Mindset

What skills do your students need to be successful in the 21st Century?

How about persistence, a growth mindset, creativity, and hard-working? Those sound like skills that we want students to practice during Genius Hour! Oh wait, those are just a few of the fantastic examples that students came up with after reading Rosie Revere, Engineer.

Why this book?

This wonderful book written by Andrea Beaty chronicles young Rosie's attempts at making gadgets and gizmos to help her friends and family. She's worried about what people think about her ideas. She doesn't get it right the first time. Or the second. Or the third. She gets knocked down but gets right back up! Hey, that sounds a lot like she has a growth mindset! (Check out how we introduced growth mindset here!) 

Start by reading the book as a class and practicing some creativity.

We had students begin by being creative by imagining different uses for a towel, just like Rosie and engineers! We had some wacky ideas...some creative ones...and some plain ol' PUNNY ones (a decoration for a baby shower...see what he did there?!)!

Dig a little deeper.

What characteristics did Rosie have? Why are these important? How did she feel throughout the book? What do engineers do? How do they help people? Why is this important?

Not only did we learn about engineers, STEM, and reinforce the idea of a growth mindset, but we sparked a new interest for several students by exploring engineers!

Listen to the author and engineers!

Northern Illinois University has a great website (that they are keep adding to) that includes videos and activities for different books. If you haven't had a chance, check it out here! 

Act like an engineer!

The next step involves students collaborating, brainstorming, and problem-solving! (Hey-sounds like some more practice with 21st Century Skills!) Students worked in small groups to brainstorm problems they have noticed in the classroom, school, and community. After picking one of the problems to try to tackle, they brainstormed many different solutions and created a plan for it. 

Not only are they identifying problems, brainstorming solutions, but we had some friends who are considering this for GENIUS HOUR!  

 

Get the entire lesson here!

20 Day Genius Hour Challenge - Day 8: A Lot, Some, Little Activity

Day 8: A Lot, Some, Little Activity

Some students may be ready to go as soon as you give them the opportunity to pick ANY topic that they want to explore. Others may have ideas...

that may need some work.

If this is your first time, you may want to have your students do a little pre-searching before picking a topic. When you pre-search, you use Google or any search engine to dig a little deeper into different topics.

Ask yourself:

• What's new or interesting that I didn't know about this topic before?
• What new questions do I have now?
• Are there any connections that I can make with other topics?

After students have decided on a topic like "Dogs" or "3D Printing" or "kite-flying"...or...

We have students explore their topics a little further using an A Lot, Some, Little table (which is available on our TpT site - woohoo!)

Before you have kids do this, make sure you do 3 things: MODEL, MODEL, & MODEL!

No. Not like that.

Walk your kids through the process. Without modeling, you will get a LOT of charts that look like this:

Topic: Dogs

A Lot: fluffy, hairy, big, 4 legs, 2 eyes, big tail, Rover is the best!

Remind your students to think about the smaller topics within each category. What do you know A LOT about? What do you know some things about, but maybe you aren't an expert in? What have you heard an adult talk about or one of your friends mention once or twice? 

As your students work on this chart, walk around and help them dive deeper into their topics and stretch themselves to add to the list. They will be using a topic from the Some or A Little category for their Genius Hour projects?

WAIT A MINUTE...WHAT'S THAT?! You have some kids who can't doooooooo it...take a step back. Maybe direct them toward our Growth Mindset posters. Do some pre-searching OR have them fill out a chart like this to get their juices flowin'!

Resources:

Science Kids: Fun Science & Technology for Kids  Includes a wide variety of science related topics with interactive resources.

Career Resources - What do you want to be when you grow up?  Includes links to learn about different careers.

Genius Hour 20 Day Challenge - Day 2: Brainstorm Your Interests

Day 2: Brainstorm Your Interests

Once they're all PUMPED UP from the video, do a brainstorming activity to give students ideas about what to research.

This Brainstorming Page on Teachers Pay Teachers will help! Surprisingly, brainstorming was kind of challenging for my fourth graders. This graphic organizer is another great tool to help students generate ideas. Have the students write down as many topics as they can think of. The more they have to think of later, the better!

Sometimes busting this brainstorming activity out a couple times for short periods of time allows students to think of more topics. Inspiration helps. See if you can get community members to come in and share about their jobs or skills. Here are a few websites students may choose to browse to get inspired:

• PBS Design Squad Nation
• Wonderopolis 
• PBS Zoom Build
• DIY

Extension Idea: If you keep all of the Genius Hour materials in a folder or something, have students make a Wordle with all of their topics of interest. The Wordle can be on the front cover of their folder! This way, the folder looks cool AND if you do more than one Genius Hour project, students will quickly have another idea for what to research.

Genius Hour 20 Day Challenge

Two years ago we piloted a program (in our district referred to as Personalized Learning), but many refer to it as Genius Hour, Passion Projects, 20% Time, or any combination of those words combined. To stay consistent, we'll refer to it as Genius Hour, because that's what we're seeing used most frequently in the Social Media world -- but it's all very similar!

So...what is Genius Hour/Passion Projects/20% Time?! Genius Hour is where passions come alive! Students are given the opportunity to pose their own questions, problems, or challenges. With support, students will plan, manage, and reflect upon their learning. Students will switch roles from learner and teacher throughout the process. They will have the freedom to think independently and interdependently, take risks, and learn from their attempts. You and your students will not be able to get enough of it!

Follow along in this 20 day challenge to see one way to implement Genius Hour this school year! The goal is to work students up to independence. We'll be posting one post per day for 20 days!

These posts will include online resources, student examples, TpT Freebies, and MORE! Please feel free to ask questions and share your experiences! I'm looking forward to making my Genius Hour even more successful this year! 

"Since my first year teaching I've dabbled in Genius Hour components, but it wasn't till last year's pilot that I felt really good about what I was doing with these students. Why?? Because this is a new way of thinking for this kiddos, and you have to gradually work with them on this process! You can't expect to hand them a packet, and have them come up with something great. Feedback, collaboration, and scaffolding will get them there." 

- Lauren

Please note that this may take more than 20 days depending on how in-depth you get with the lessons.

Day 1: What is Genius Hour?
Day 2: Brainstorm Your Interests
Day 3: Website Evaluation
Day 4: Researchable Questions - Inch, Foot, or Yard?
Day 5: Bloom's Taxonomy and Research Questions
Day 6: Reflection Practice
Day 7:Searchable Words for Google
Day 8: A Lot, Some, Little Activity
Day 9: Question Drafts
Day 10: Critical Friends
Day 11: Finalizing Questions & Final Project Discussion
Day 12: Writing a Plan & Organization Tips
Day 13: Help Wanted Board
Day 14: Research & Problem Solving Minilesson
Day 15: Research & Setting Up an Interview
Day 16: Knowing When to Move On & Where Am I Board
Day 17: Conferring
Day 18: Creation Station & Video Tutorials
Day 19: Share!
Day 20: Genius Hour Self Evaluation