Monday, February 15, 2016

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

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!
movie beetlejuice ready beetle juice its showtime\
  • 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!




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Monday, November 9, 2015

How Students Turned MISTAKES into MASTERPIECES!

How students may respond to a "mistake" prior to this activity:


How students will respond to a "mistake" after this activity: 


Showing students that making mistakes is okay one thing, but embracing them and seeing them as opportunities is something that takes practice!

Here's how our students changed their mindset: 

Download the Beautiful Oops activity here. There is a primary and intermediate version. Below shows the intermediate version. 

  • We reflected on the message through some close reading. 
  • We looked at things differently. 
  • 5. ...Then got a second opinion (cough..peer feedback...cough). 
 
  • After...we got CREATIVE! We added details to make our "mistakes" beautiful. We shared our masterpieces with peers and received MORE feedback! 
  • FINALLY, we reflected on the experience. 
BAM. In one 45 minute lesson, students practice the following Genius Hour skills: peer feedback, planning, AND reflection...with a little sprinkle of creativity.

Students had a blast turning these doodles into masterpieces. It made some students really shine. Here are some "after" photos of examples of what students came up with!


This one is unreal. If you look at it like this, it's a wolf...

But cover up the other side, and it's a bird! So creative!! 





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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

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.

Image result for dogs happy

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!

Image result for bachelor crying rose no


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

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Friday, October 9, 2015

What Do You Do With An Idea?


 Image result for real talk

As adults, there are times when we get nervous sharing an idea. We get nervous sharing at a staff meeting or sometimes put off a new way of doing something because it might not be perfect. 

At first, the idea seems perfect!...but then you start doubting yourself. What if it doesn't work? What if people don't like it...or worse...what if they laugh? There are times we push ideas away because of this fear...and sometimes, that causes regret. 
Image result for brave

We want our students to be fearless. To be brave. To make mistakes...and feel okay with that.

Our students need to hear those stories. They need to know that we have had the same feelings. Sometimes, it gets the best of us...and sometimes, we don't let it and instead, let our ideas grow!

What Do You Do With An Idea? is the perfect book to introduce this idea of getting anxious when we aren't sure how others will take our ideas. Not only does it talk about the feelings that bring us down when we feel like we can't share or build on an idea, but it also explains how thrilling it can feel to feed an idea and let it grrrooOOOOWWWW!


This is the book that you need to read with your kids before starting Genius Hour. Check out the lesson we did with it here!

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Monday, September 28, 2015

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!  

 Image result for 2 birds one stone meme
Get the entire lesson here!







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Thursday, September 24, 2015

How to Introduce Growth Mindset to your Intermediate Students

 For the first time ever, we decided to teach a lesson on Growth Mindset to our students! Here's how we went about it!

Read The Most Magnificent Thing


Simply do a read aloud and discuss her character traits, or if you have time try this AMAZING reading lesson that promotes creativity and incorporates planning and peer feedback! (Yay for getting those Genius Hour elements in!) 

Read About how the Brain Works

We used this article to teach students that the brain is like a muscle that needs to be worked! We had the class read the article aloud, then had students answer comprehension questions with a group. 

Make Connections Between the two and Create an Anchor Chart

We asked students to share character traits (and provide evidence) of the main character in the story. We then asked students to share the gist of the Brain is Like a Muscle article. We set that a mindset is like a belief, and that the character in The Most Magnificent Thing believes in the Growth Mindset, and the author of the other article does as well. Based on this, we asked students to define what a Growth Mindset is. 

We provided examples of something someone with a fixed mindset might say and how to change your wording to shift to a growth mindset. Students then provided their own examples of both fixed and growth mindset phrases.


To conclude the lesson, we directed students' attention to the posters hanging in the room. We said that students can use these as a reference and add to it throughout the year. 



Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom, that's it! 

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Monday, August 31, 2015

Making Your Classroom Genius Hour READY in 4 Steps (or so...)

Decorating 101:  

Step 1: Print

Download the bulletin board from our TpT Store.

Step 2: Laminate

So you can reuse them...
A photo posted by Lauren Miller (@diaryofa21stcenturyteacher) on


Step 3: Hang 

 This is seriously one of my favorite products because it takes NO time at all to put up and is so BRIGHT!

Step 4: Repeat. 




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