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:

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• 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!

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! Day 1: What is Genius Hour

DAY 1: What is Genius Hour? 

As we mentioned earlier....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!


To begin Genius Hour, the most important thing is getting the little nuggets excited! Show them how cool it is that they are given the opportunity to research, and become a genius on    A N Y T H I N G   they want! 

I started by showing them a video about Genius Hour. This (Genius Hour LiveBinder) is the best website I've found for inspirational/motivation videos relating to Genius Hour and creativity. Find one that's engaging and/or informative, and play it for your students. This is the time to explain what Genius Hour is all about -- researching your passions, then creating an appropriate product to share what you've learned. This is a time for students to ask questions and get excited about this! If you've done this before, you might show pictures or videos of past projects to get the students inspired! 

Side note, I also found it helpful to play one of these videos during my curriculum night to keep parents informed (and on board).

If you haven't checked out Caine's Arcade, DO it! This is a fabulous video to show your students to get them thinking!

Generate excitement by dedicating a part of your classroom to Genius Hour. Instill common language with this We Are Geniuses bulletin board, and encourage collaboration with this Help Wanted  

bulletin board.

Lauren's True Confession: Genius Hour didn't go so hot the first time I tried it. 

When I first tried Genius Hour (4 years ago), I jumped right in by having them write a question, and gave them free reign on how to research and share their information. Sure, they enjoyed it, but I knew it could be better.

• Their questions didn't require much (if any) research. They weren't challenged. That doesn't mean they didn't want a challenge, they just didn't know how to write questions TO challenge themselves! 
• Many students were off task. They didn't know how to find the answers. They didn't know how to distinguish the good websites from the bad. If they came across a problem, they didn't know how to overcome it. 
• It was difficult to manage! I didn't have a good system, central location, and didn't really know what to expect or even how to help. 
• Students bounced around with topics rather than sticking with one and delving deep. This goes along with the off task students. If they couldn't find the answer, their reaction was to try something else instead. 

I can't say that we have the magical cure to make all Genius Hour issues go away, but we have seen that with the proper preparation (what this whole challenge is all about), students can do amazing things! 

SPOILER ALERT! 

Here are just some of the questions that FOURTH GRADERS asked -- and successfully answered!

• How can I create a simulator that teaches the fundamentals of basketball? 
• How can we teach first graders Common Core algebraic thinking, and how do we make a lesson? 
• How does 3D printing work, and how can I build my own 3D model?
• What are the different parts of the brain? How can I find out weaker parts of the brain and create exercises to improve those weaker parts? 

3-D Printed M (For Ms. Miller) 

Basketball Target Practice Simulator using Makey Makey and Scratch

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