What it is: Your Genius Hour (Module 5)
For the genius hour assignment, we got to conduct our own research! Normally, I don’t enjoy researching a topic that I am not truly interested in (like most of my students when I force them to research something). But this assignment was fun because I got to choose what to learn about! I chose to learn about how I could start a professional organizing business in Illinois. I told you I was a Type A personality. ;) Why it stuck with me: This assignment stuck with me just as I hope it would for my students. Because I was able to choose a topic that I am interested in, I put forth more effort and truly retained the information I gathered. This is exactly what I want for my students! This assignment also stuck with me because I tried making sketchnotes for the first time, too. It was a double-whammy of new learning! How I can use it in my classroom: My students would absolutely LOVE to choose their own research topics! In our current literacy unit about real-life superheroes, students will be completing a genius hour project of sorts. We are learning about and researching a handful of historical figures that have changed the world for the better. Towards the end of the unit, students will be asked to research a historical real-life superhero of their own choosing and create a project of some kind to share what they learned. While I normally just assign a specific type of writing or project for them to do, I am considering allowing them to choose their own delivery method. I know this is not truly a genius hour style project since I am supplying them with the overall topic. I think, though, that this would be a great midway-point between teacher-led and student-led to allow them some freedom to learn about someone that they truly care about. Final Thoughts: I want my students to have fun in my class while they learn. I think genius hour is a fantastic way to encourage them to create their own learning fun! My concern about allowing time for true genius hour projects is just that - the time. In order for students to have a truly magical experience with their own learning, time is required. As always, teachers wish they could create more time in the day but that is just not possible. Challenge accepted.
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What it is: Digital Pathway and Original Digital Badge (Module 4)
This assignment had us creating a digital pathway for students to follow. We chose the topic(s) and how to award each level of achievement. We then designed a digital badge is Google Draw to use when students reach a new level. Why it stuck with me: I really enjoyed the graphic design aspect of this assignment! I had a good time being my-Type-A-self and choosing just the right combination of colors, shapes, and font to create a badge that was visually appealing to me. The actual assignment (you know, the part I was actually supposed to learn something from) was helpful because, even though I am a part of several badge-earning schemes myself, I had never considered using it with my own students! They would love earning badges and would be really motivated by working through the achievement levels I put in place. How I can use it in my classroom: I created my digital badges with several topics/chapters/units in mind. I could use a badge pathway in math easily due to the structure of extending a new skill with each lesson. Many times in math, you learn a basic thing first and then add a new element to it each time. This is a perfect set-up for badges! I also created a set of badges to use in my writing units. Generally, we learn about and practice one part of a writing assignment at a time. For example, when learning about personal narratives, students plan their story with a graphic organizer of some kind. Then, they write a first draft of their story. Then, we work on adding sensory details, then dialogue, then suspense/climax. Each of these “steps” could be its own badge! Final Thoughts: I am very excited to introduce digital badges to my students! It doesn’t take up any precious instructional time, is fun for me to dream up and create, and will motivate my students to own their learning. What’s not to love?! This course has been helpful in allowing me to think deeper about student assessment, and specifically, how I can adapt my classroom to make the most of technology-based assessment. One of my favorite assignments was creating digital badges to use throughout my instructional units or chapters. I think that is a very easy way to add an exciting and motivating aspect to encourage my students and acknowledge their progress. I truly enjoyed designing the actual badges, as well!
My classmates have encouraged meaningful conversation and I have learned something from each one. The topics we discussed varied, but they all have been a way for me to hear about others’ experiences and learn vicariously through those experiences. I cannot think of a specific conversation that stuck out more than others, but I am so grateful to feel supported, encouraged, and challenged by all of my classmates. I will continue my learning in educational technology with more courses here at USF. I will also incorporate some of the concepts and ideas I learned into my classroom. I’m excited to introduce learning badges and passion projects in the near future! Well, I just finished my very first genius hour project and it was as fun as I expected! I may have convinced myself to finally take the plunge and start a new career (which sounds pretty silly considering I did this as an assignment to become a better teacher). Our assignment was to take one hour and learn about anything we wanted to. At first, my mind spun with all of the possibilities - I’m interested in too many things to narrow it down to just one! I started thinking about something that I’d like to know more about that has the potential to make my life better. (I know...it’s a selfish thing.) That quickly narrowed down my options until I landed on the perfect one: how to start my own professional organizing business. I have already taken a class on how to start a small business in Illinois, so I knew a little bit of something about it but I knew there is SO. MUCH. MORE. to learn! In fact, that was one of the struggles I came across - there is just too much information out there to find. One source would always lead to five more, which would lead to five more. With free reign, I had a hard time staying focused on the truly important and helpful information. While it was hard to stay focused sometimes, I loved doing this research and learning about something that I am truly passionate about. (I love the name Passion Projects instead of Genius Hour, by the way.) My energy and engagement were 100% the whole time; I was not handed a topic to research, which is a sure-fire way to lose at least a handful of students. My wins from this project include gathering free and inexpensive marketing ideas for my future business endeavor and solidifying the idea that I could actually make this happen. I wonder if teachers would pay to have a professional organizer help with their classrooms and schools... I would love to include Passion Projects in my classroom! With all of our curricula being digital and ultra-structured, my students would benefit from having a bit of freedom to explore their own interests. As always, the struggle to make it happen would be having enough time. I am successfully pulling off daily read-aloud time “just for fun” (AKA not curriculum-based), though; if you want to make something happen, you’ll find a way. My struggle to stay focused in this assignment really made it clear that I would need to provide a rubric as some sort of guide for my students. I have no doubt that my students would love to do a Passion Project and I have no doubt that I can make the time for something as important as getting to know more about my students. We had to create a final "project" and I chose to try out sketch notes! Double-whammy of new learning. It's light on the actual sketches but it'll do.
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AuthorI'm Stacy! 5th grade teacher. Wife. Mom. Coach. Flipgrid enthusiast. RAKtivist. Potterhead. Whovian. |