Genius Hour: Still Learning

This semester I am conducting Genius Hour time with my writing class. See my first post here on how I began implementing it earlier this year.  

Early on, I noticed that students were in varying stages of progress with their projects. Some students took enthusiastically to the freedom and creative process that Genius Hour encourages. Those students quickly came up with questions to explore and launched their projects soon after. Their excitement was energizing and contagious. As I interacted with those groups, I was amazed at their creativity, work ethic, and perseverance. For those groups, I acted as an encourager, coach, and sometimes a mediator.  I asked questions, offered praise, and counseling when needed. 

Others struggled with that freedom and, exasperated and stressed, asked me to "just tell them what to do". I spent time with those students helping them sift through ideas and pushing them to take on a challenging question. I assured them that they could handle this work. I was surprised at how these students struggled with the freedom of Genius Hour. They were used to structured learning, but unfamiliar with drafting their own learning questions and goals. I had to strike a balance with these students. I provided structure and support when needed and backed off when they were ready to move on without me.  There is still one group the requires my hands-on assistance,  but slowly they are beginning to need me less. 

I am learning as much as my students. Genius Hour has encouraged responsive teaching. Some students are able to ask outright for what they need; other students aren't able to communicate exactly and I must listen for their cues. Each group has different needs and I must accommodate them all. I play many roles during Genius Hour: cheerleader, facilitator, counselor, and, even, prop master. 

This Friday, I surveyed my students to see what they thought about the process. Here are some of their unedited remarks:


   I  would rather have you give us a project. It's too hard to create one on our own. I would rather sit and do guided notes everyday. That is easier.

I like the openness of the project. The structure is good at the beginning when we are generating ideas, but needed less as we work on the project.

I have learned that I am not use to having unstructured learning in school. I kind of like it. 

It's been awesome to take the wheel of my learning for once. I think it promotes creativity.

Genius Hour allows you to express yourself. The best part is being creative and working with friends.

It's a good way to show our creativity and allows us to do what we want rather than what the teacher wants.

It's hard to keep up with the project and other schoolwork because I want to work on my GH project all the time.

It's a fun and creative process that helps our ideas come to life.

It gives us access to materials we wouldn't normally have at home.



Genius Hour has been a journey for both  my students and me.  I know my students are learning skills they can use beyond my writing class. I am learning as much as they are. I look forward to their final projects. 

Genius Hour: The Beginning

During this summer I began researching ways to increase my students’ learning and engagement in my classroom. My research began because of the success I had while adding a project-based learning component to my sophomore English class the last couple of years. Students were motivated and highly productive at a time of year when students are typically exhausted from multiple rounds of testing. I knew I was on to something, but I wanted to figure out how this might work throughout the year.

My research led me to discover 20% time or Genius Hour. Read more here. The more I read about genius hour and exchanged tweets with my PLN, the more excited I became. This way of teaching was very different from what I had been doing the first 13 years of my career, but I was ready for the challenge. Also, I knew my students were ready, too. Thankfully, there are some great online resources and people willing to help newbies like me.

 I decided to try genius hour with my Writing 101 class, an elective course open to 9^th through 12^th graders. One class felt very manageable. If all goes well then I will expand to my other classes in the spring. When I looked at my school’s schedule, it made sense to choose Fridays as our genius hour days. I see my students every other day, so we would have genius hour about twice a month.  So, last Friday, August 30^th I kicked off genius hour. The first Friday was an introduction. I explained the concept to my students. We viewed several videos about creativity. The students formed groups and then brainstormed possible topics and products.

At first, they struggled with the brainstorming, only suggesting minimal, surface level questions and projects that could be completed in one sitting. I kept encouraging them to think deeper and to work on something they felt passionate about. All the while, I withheld the urge to offer suggestions. I wanted the students to do the work—not me. I told them to think outside the bounds of school assignments. Quietly, I was worried. Could my students do this? Were they too grade-conscious to explore a topic on their own? Had they been conditioned to only try to figure out what the teacher wanted them to do? We ended the class with nothing definitively set. No solid groups. No project ideas.

I left that first Friday a little frustrated and unsure of what to do next. Over the weekend, students began messaging me through our school Edmodo account with project ideas and research questions. They were thinking about this on a long, holiday weekend AND they were getting excited about it. The ideas they were pitching were incredible. Many of them were still looking for my approval, but I reminded them that the class needed to approve their project—not me. 

This Friday, September 6^th, our class met again for Genius Hour.  I told the students they needed to finalize their project ideas and pitch them to the class. Students quickly formed their groups and began working through the project proposal handout I gave them. Then the magic began to happen.

One student came up and said she wanted to get published this semester. Did I think that was possible? Another student came up and said she had always wanted to write a novel. One group came up and said they wanted to see if they could make bent-glass ornaments in the school. Could I give them permission to talk to an art and science teacher to see if the project was possible?  Another group came up and asked if they could go ask the FACON teacher to be their mentor on their sewing project idea.  Yet another group said they were going to write, direct, and film their own superhero movie.

My room was chaotic. Students were grouped around tables. Some were sprawled out on the floor. Some were out in the hallway working on their proposal pitch. One student brought in pop tabs to begin working on her project since she had already created her proposal the night before. All students, and I mean ALL, were engaged. It was messy, but productive.

The last 20 minutes of class, I asked the students to post their project ideas up using giant post-it paper. Then I asked the students to provide feedback for each of the proposals. I gave them small post-its and told them to use these three sentence starters for their feedback: “I wonder”, “I think”, and “have you considered”. I wasn’t sure if students would give useful feedback, but they really surprised me. They encouraged my super-shy novelist. They called out the class clown who pitched a project that would only take a few hours. They gave honest, fair feedback.

The bell rung and I stood in the hall to look at their work. I was stunned, pumped and crazy giddy. I felt a goofy smile spreading over my face. Then I called over several of my colleagues and asked them to look at what my students were doing. I even bothered my janitor. It’s going to be a great year. 

Summer Reading

During summer I often encounter friends and family that I haven't seen in awhile. As we catch up on one another's lives, they inevitably ask me one question: What have you been doing this summer? The simple answer is that I have been doing "lots".

Like most teachers, I spend time catching up on all the things I can't get to during the school year. This includes doctor appointments, household projects, and reading the newspaper while sipping tea on my front porch. And, like most teachers, I spend a good chunk of my summer working on my craft--reading books, attending conferences and PD sessions, planning lessons and engaging with my Professional Learning Network (PLN). As July wanes and my school's August 14 start date draws closer, I have been reflecting on my summer experiences and trying to capture the significance of each. This will be the first of a series of posts where I reflect on my summer experiences. My first reflection involves my summer reading.

Most of my summer has been spent reading.  I have read books that I can recommend to my students in the upcoming year and professional books that I believe will help me be a better teacher. I have always been a reader. Reading feeds my need for learning, while providing a relaxing break from the stresses of my day. During the summer I am able to read 2-3 books a week. I try to strike a balance between reading for fun and reading to grow professionally. Below are my top three picks in each category.

Reading for fun:
These books are a departure from my usual sci-fi choices. I read a lot of fiction so I can help students pick books during the school year. Former students will often visit me to see what I am reading and to recommend new books to me.

The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin
          --historical fiction based on Anne Lindbergh's life

Where Did You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
         --fiction centered around a comically dysfunctional family

You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin
         --fiction centered around a high school clique-entrenched murder mystery

Reading for professional growth: 
These books reflect my professional growth goals for the upcoming school. Once the school year begins, I have little time for this type of reading, so I try to read as much as possible during the summer. 

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath
               --discusses practical ways to work through change

Everyone at the Table: Engaging Teachers in Evaluation Reform
by Ellen Behrstock-Sherrat, Allison Rizzolo, Sabrina Laine, & Will Friedman
           --focuses on getting teachers involved in conversations and decisions around teacher evaluations

Classroom Discussion by Dixie Lee Spiegel  
           --offers detailed examples, rubrics, and tips around conducting classroom discussions

So, reader, I am curious. What are reading this summer? What books get you ready to enter your buildings recharged and renewed? I am always looking for a good book.

Refections on Teaching the Common Core

I realize that the phrase Common Core State Standards brings about strong reactions for many people. Numerous blogs, tweets, and articles have been written about the pros and cons of these standards. In the meantime, teachers across Kentucky have been teaching using these standards for the past two years. I thought it was important to reflect on what I have learned these past two years and why I am a supporter of the Common Core State Standards.  

 The common core has created a universal language for teachers. This is powerful and has  generated opportunities for teachers to collaborate across districts and the nation.   When teachers meet at national and state conferences, our conversations center around helping our students master those standards and not the differences in our standards.  I rarely hear the refrain: "well that works for your state, but our state standards require _________". This universal language has begun to drive the professional development for teachers. Teachers are speaking up about what we need and speaking against the "one size fits all" PD sessions of the past. As a result, PD is becoming more individualized and relevant to what teachers need to teach the standards. 

 

The common core is encouraging thinking among our students. Students are asked to not only understand concepts, but also to think about those concepts in multiple ways. This is very important, especially for a generation that can find the answer to most any knowledge-based question with the tap of a finger. As a result, the products students are creating are stronger, more complicated than in previous years. The conversations we have in class are richer and less scripted and teacher-driven than ever before. Students are learning that there are multiple ways to answer a question.These skills will help our students as they leave our classrooms for the next stage in their lives. 

 

The common core is changing my teaching for the better. The skills in the common core are high level and require more from me as a teacher. At first, this was intimidating. I had taught successfully for ten years. Would I be asked to toss out everything and begin again?  The answer is no. I haven't tossed everything out. I have revised, and, in some cases, totally overhauled lessons in order to teach the common core. Contrary to some critics' opinions, I still use literature in my English classroom. I also use non-fiction, informational, print, and non-print texts. Along the way, I have added some new tools to my teaching kit.  The literacy design collaborative has been instrumental in helping my students bridge the skills in the common core. A week ago I attended a Paideia training and look forward to using seminars to help my students with the speaking and listening skills in the common core.

To me, the conversations with my colleagues, the changes in my students' learning, and the improvement of my teaching are what makes the common core so valuable and why I am glad my state has made a commitment to the common core.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Policy Makers, Let's Talk

I'm back! I have been away from the blog dealing with a wrist injury and subsequent surgery.  Since I am finally able to type/write consistently, it is time to update my blog.

This week is spring break and I have been catching up on the blogs, journals, and articles that have been gathering dust the past few weeks. One topic keeps popping up: teacher evaluations. You can believe this teacher has an opinion. After all, I will be evaluated using the new system. I want to be evaluated. I also want to be a part of the conversations with policy makers creating an effective evaluation system. A fair, consistent, and supported evaluation system is needed for teachers and students.

One concern my colleagues and I have is that the system will only use test scores to determine student growth and, in turn, teacher effectiveness. This brings up a few questions. How are teachers who teach in a non-tested area evaluated? How can teachers show student growth when students are tested at the end of the year? 

Some have suggested that we create tests for the other content areas that are not tested.  I think this is a huge mistake. I don't believe a paper/pencil test is appropriate for every content area. In fact, to suggest it for performance classes like music, art, and welding is ridiculous. Instead, add a performance component to the evaluation system. Allow teachers to upload work samples, photos, and videos of performances, artwork, and writing, etc.

This performance component allows teachers to demonstrate growth across all ability levels. How else can I demonstrate growth in my gifted students who walk into my class able to earn a high score on the test before I have even begun teaching? It would be more effective to upload that student's work at the beginning of the year and end of the year for comparison. This would ensure that I am helping students of high ability grow in skill/content.

Likewise, growth could be documented for students who struggle, and would not perform well on the end of the year testing. For example, my daughter walked into third grade behind in math and reading. Her third grade teacher has worked tirelessly to help my daughter overcome these "gaps" in her learning. While my daughter has made huge gains, her teacher and I know she will not meet benchmark on THE test. Nonetheless, this teacher has helped my child tremendously and should be recognized. If we only use test scores to determine a teacher's effectiveness, we will penalize this third grade teacher.

This teacher isn't afraid to be evaluated. In fact, I welcome it, especially if the system is designed to help me improve my craft. That is why the development of this system needs teacher and student input. After all, we will be the ones most directly impacted by a teacher evaluation overhaul. So, policy makers, please talk to us. Come to our rooms. Sit among our students. Ask us what we think about the evaluation system you are creating. Don't make decisions without our input. This is too important.