Project Background
What is Genius Hour?
Genius Hour is a regularly scheduled time for students to explore their own passions. It encourages creativity in the classroom.
In Daniel Pink’s book Drive, he writes about the three elements that motivate people to do extraordinary things: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Autonomy is freedom to determine your own actions or behaviors; mastery is the action or process of mastering a subject or accomplishment; and purpose refers to the reason that something is done (having a purpose).
Genius Hour provides students with all of these elements. Students will get to choose their projects and come to class with their own plan for how to use their class time. They will work at the project for approximately 12 weeks and then share it with the class.
In Daniel Pink’s book Drive, he writes about the three elements that motivate people to do extraordinary things: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Autonomy is freedom to determine your own actions or behaviors; mastery is the action or process of mastering a subject or accomplishment; and purpose refers to the reason that something is done (having a purpose).
Genius Hour provides students with all of these elements. Students will get to choose their projects and come to class with their own plan for how to use their class time. They will work at the project for approximately 12 weeks and then share it with the class.
How Does it Work?
Step 1:
Choose a topic. Topics can be something that you’re passionate about already, such as hobbies like playing an instrument, cooking, or knitting. They can be something that you would like to learn more about. They can be goals that you have for yourself, like trying to do more for your school or community (service learning projects). They could also be problems that you see, such as bullying or pollution. The topics for your projects are truly endless.
Some ways to decide your topic include brainstorming a list, watching or reading news articles or TED talks, discussions with your parents or anyone else who knows you well.
Step 2:
Once you have a topic in mind, you need to decide what you are going to do for your project. What is the purpose? What are you going to create and share with the world? Project ideas include creating videos, infographics, websites, presentations, dioramas, podcasts, digital posters, etc.
Step 3:
Timeframe. You need to decide how long it’s going to take to complete your project. This doesn’t mean you are locked into this timeframe. Coming up with a timeframe means that you’ve considered all of the steps to completing the project and estimated how long all of those steps should take. Sometimes we under or overestimate how long something will take. That’s fine. You won’t stop your project until you’ve achieved mastery. But the timeframe must be considered if you are going to be successful.
Step 4:
You’ve chosen a topic, project, and considered the timeframe. Now you need to come to class before each Genius Hour with a plan for how you want to use your time. You should estimate that you will be given around 60-70 minutes each Wednesday. You should have a clear plan for how you will use your time. This is essential.
If you come to class without a plan, you are going to waste 10 to 15 minutes deciding what needs to be done that day. Now you are down to around 15-20 minutes of actual work time. Without a plan, you might also come to class without the materials you need to get any actual work done. This is the only homework required for Genius Hour.
Step 5:
Blog about your experience. It is important that you not only put up the final projects on your blogs, but also document the process of completing your projects. You should update your blog every week. This should be done on your own time. If you do not have access to the internet (either through your phone or home computer), and this is just not possible for you, allow yourself about 15 minutes in your Genius Hour plans every week for updating your blog.
Step 6:
Present. At the end of the semester you will present your project to the class. I will go over the requirements for the presentations when we get closer to that time. If you are curious what this will entail, however, you can look at TED Talks (www.tedtalks.com) to get an idea of what I have in mind for your project presentations.
Choose a topic. Topics can be something that you’re passionate about already, such as hobbies like playing an instrument, cooking, or knitting. They can be something that you would like to learn more about. They can be goals that you have for yourself, like trying to do more for your school or community (service learning projects). They could also be problems that you see, such as bullying or pollution. The topics for your projects are truly endless.
Some ways to decide your topic include brainstorming a list, watching or reading news articles or TED talks, discussions with your parents or anyone else who knows you well.
Step 2:
Once you have a topic in mind, you need to decide what you are going to do for your project. What is the purpose? What are you going to create and share with the world? Project ideas include creating videos, infographics, websites, presentations, dioramas, podcasts, digital posters, etc.
Step 3:
Timeframe. You need to decide how long it’s going to take to complete your project. This doesn’t mean you are locked into this timeframe. Coming up with a timeframe means that you’ve considered all of the steps to completing the project and estimated how long all of those steps should take. Sometimes we under or overestimate how long something will take. That’s fine. You won’t stop your project until you’ve achieved mastery. But the timeframe must be considered if you are going to be successful.
Step 4:
You’ve chosen a topic, project, and considered the timeframe. Now you need to come to class before each Genius Hour with a plan for how you want to use your time. You should estimate that you will be given around 60-70 minutes each Wednesday. You should have a clear plan for how you will use your time. This is essential.
If you come to class without a plan, you are going to waste 10 to 15 minutes deciding what needs to be done that day. Now you are down to around 15-20 minutes of actual work time. Without a plan, you might also come to class without the materials you need to get any actual work done. This is the only homework required for Genius Hour.
Step 5:
Blog about your experience. It is important that you not only put up the final projects on your blogs, but also document the process of completing your projects. You should update your blog every week. This should be done on your own time. If you do not have access to the internet (either through your phone or home computer), and this is just not possible for you, allow yourself about 15 minutes in your Genius Hour plans every week for updating your blog.
Step 6:
Present. At the end of the semester you will present your project to the class. I will go over the requirements for the presentations when we get closer to that time. If you are curious what this will entail, however, you can look at TED Talks (www.tedtalks.com) to get an idea of what I have in mind for your project presentations.
How Will it Be Graded?
Students usually like to know how this will be graded. The answer is that your projects will not be graded. It’s important that I do not create extrinsic rewards for your creativity. The internal reward of creating something special should be motivation enough. I will grade your blog, give you a bi-weekly evaluation on your progress, and I will grade your presentations.
Some people like to know how this relates to language arts and the standards. Genius Hour does a great job of developing your listening and speaking skills (presentations), your writing skills (blogs), and your researching skills. You will also read informational text on the internet while researching your topics. Hopefully this clears everything up for you. Good luck. You are all geniuses. The world expects your contribution.
Some people like to know how this relates to language arts and the standards. Genius Hour does a great job of developing your listening and speaking skills (presentations), your writing skills (blogs), and your researching skills. You will also read informational text on the internet while researching your topics. Hopefully this clears everything up for you. Good luck. You are all geniuses. The world expects your contribution.