Written by I’ve had two classes devoted to Genius Hour so far (see my previous post for details on how I’ve integrated Genius Hour into my course). There is a lot of buzz about this project, including students in other grades asking me about it! Without a doubt, one of the things students are excited about is the potential to replace their traditional final exam with a presentation and written reflection linked to their Genius Hour project. That motivational carrot aside, I think I’m onto something with the project itself.
Here are some of the things I am excited about:
I LOVE the Genius Hour timeframe so far.
The space between our initial sessions has allowed students to sit back and really think about what they’d like to take on as their project. Many of my students have approached me outside of class time to discuss a particular learning goal, and I can tell they are excited / motivated / grappling with their ideas.
The initial student blog posts highlighting their interests.
For many students, this is the most careful attention to written work I’ve seen all year. I enjoyed reading these posts as much as watching the videos my students made about themselves to send to their e-pals in France in September. They’re all so unique and special!
Here are some of the challenges I’ve experienced so far:
Balancing freedom with accountability.
How much structure should I provide for my students? So far, I’ve had a formative check in during class to go over what they’d been thinking about ahead of any formal goal setting. I’ve commented on everyone’s blog since then to give feedback or push students to complete a [SMART] goal setting activity that has them using specific language structures they’ve learned in class.
Students know what’s expected of them for this week’s Pitch Day (when they have 2 minutes to pitch their learning goal to the class and how they plan to achieve it for feedback), but will they be ready to present? How far should I go to make sure they are ready? Or is it a valuable lesson if they’re not prepared and they see to which lengths their peers have already gone? Perhaps I just feel nervous because I’ve invited our Head of Senior School and Instructional Leader (who both happen to speak French) to participate in our round table presentations and I’ve never done this before!
Making time to find my own inner genius.
I liked that Laura Sexton modeled Genius Hour to her students by setting her own learning goal to reach for. My students’ final evaluation for the year will involve listening to a reflection on my Genius Hour project, which is to learn how to do finger picking on the guitar and play one of my favourite songs. (Do you know how to say “finger picking” in French? So far all I’ve found is “le finger-picking”). I’m really excited to finally learn how to play the guitar! …but first I need to focus on report cards. And check in on those student blogs. And put my kids to bed. Wow, this is going to be a challenge.
Stay tuned for an upcoming post about how Pitch Day goes, and all the ideas my students have come up with!
Hi Jen,
What a great update! I love the idea of the Genius Hour and what it could turn into! In terms of Freedom & Accountabilty, you should check out the Design Thinking structure that we put into place. That provides a great framework for students to develop their thinking.
Speaking of thinking, this is a great way to bolster inquiry-based learning in your French Class too! Nicely done! By framing student learning in Questions, you get them to shift the responsibility for learning back on to themselves.
I’d love to hear how this went, perhaps share a student blog post too!
thanks
garth.
Hi Garth,
Happy to have your feedback. I will certainly share some student work the next time I post! I have had that Design Thinking site the Cohort has been referencing bookmarked for a few years now; I’m sorry to have missed an opportunity to learn about it firsthand at mARS! I will definitely look more closely at bloggers’ use of the Design Thinking structure in the rollout of their action plans.
Thanks!
Jen
Hey Jen,
Thanks for sharing! I love the idea of a pitch day – it sounds much more exciting than simply having students submit their proposals and is a great way for them to learn presentation skills. I’ve done a project like this in the past (I call it Choose Your Own Adventure), and plan to do it again this year, so I hope you don’t mind if I steal the pitch day idea.
I echo your thoughts about how much structure is enough vs. too much. The first time I ran my CYOA project, I didn’t provide enough structure and some students really struggled to build a good plan. The next year, I tweaked it (using the Design Thinking framework) and provided a set of templates for students to follow. The templates helped to guide them, but still provided enough freedom for them to set their own goals and deadlines as well as determine their own model for learning. The project was a little different than Genuis Hour in that the topics were a little more limited, but the focus on students building their own curriculum was still present.
Here’s a blog post I wrote on that if you’re interested:
http://www.lesmcbeth.com/choose-your-own-adventure-student-designed-curriculum/
And here’s one from two years ago:
http://www.lesmcbeth.com/cyoa/
I look forward to hearing how the pitch day goes!
Les
Hola, Jen! This looks great! I’m especially intrigued by the initial blog post and Pitch Day! Topic selection is something I’d like to work on, so I’d love any ideas you can offer on how to set up the blog post–AND Pitch Day. Also, what level are you dealing with? I’m not sure if my novices have enough vocab to produce a cogent blog post about potential topics…
Hi Laura,
I learned about Pitch Day from AJ Juliani! I’m piloting this Genius Hour project with my enriched Grade 10 class, which is probably like a Level 3 in the US. Our classes are 100% in the TL and most students have been taking French since the fourth grade at least, some in an immersion setting. In terms of topic selection, I feel like I’m still deep in the learning stage; I’ve called in some help for Pitch Day tomorrow in the form of some French-speaking admin. I’m excited to see where students are going to go with this!
Hi Jen!
It’s great to read about this exciting and ground breaking project that is taking shape. I’m wondering what some of the issues around accountability have been so far. I think many people (and I count myself in this pile) hesitate to open things up so broadly for fear that some students might not use the time completely productively. Then again, maybe that’s part of the learning.
It sounds like there is really great excitement and investment so far though, so that could really help to bolster students’ accountability. I was just curious what things looked like on the ground.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Celeste,
Those are great questions and I will definitely try to answer them in my next blog post, when I publish my Pitch Day observations! In short, allowing students to set their own learning path and potentially not reaching their goals is definitely part of the learning! The format of Pitch Day was a real eye opener for some students in terms of the investment of their peers in their project at this early stage. Thanks for checking in!
Hi Jen,
What a great project! It’s so great to have students learning language in different ways. I love the idea of having them explore what they like, and that you’re commenting on all of their blogs! That’s really impressive!
It’s true that if they’re creating for a wider audience they’ll be much more careful with how they express themselves!
Are you having trouble with some students who can’t choose a topic? Any issues around finding sources – especially audio? Thanks for keeping up with the blogging so others, like me, can benefit from what your doing with your 10s!
Hi Derek,
If I continue to use the Genius Hour format in future years, I would definitely change the parameters for Gr 11 & 12 French and have their project be more linked to French language and culture. The difference for Gr 10 is that the sky’s the limit on what they will be learning about. (They’re still communicating about their projects in French – see my latest blog post for more info in that regard). So, in terms of finding audio, I am not necessarily doing that research – it’s all in the students’ hands. However, I’m modelling some French audio options with my GH project. Last class, I was practising finger picking on a French youtube site.
Thanks for your comments! -Jen