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Genius Hour Experiment: My Thoughts

7/27/2014

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It's funny how a chance encounter on Twitter can have such a profound effect on how you teach, but with Genius Hour that is what has happened. I have only been in teaching for 2 years and was a TA for many more before that, I am open to all ideas if they are to the benefit of my children and I feel that 'Genius Hour' can be of benefit to all children regardless of ability or age. During my 6 weeks with 34 Year 2 children the children have been focussed, receptive, driven, enthusiastic, enquiring, creative, risk takers, presenters, teachers, learners and above all else in charge of their learning. Through Genius Hour children have covered handwriting, design tech., ICT, music, art, craft, maths, research skills, speaking and listening, PSHE, time management, resource management and various strands of each area. What other opportunity in the class would you get to cover such a wide variety of curriculum areas by so many children at once with so little input from the teacher?
Of the 34 children, all produced a project, most had an idea in week 1 and stuck with it, adapting it along the way. Some started with one idea and totally changed it to suit their learning - this is fine as long as they do not constantly change their mind. Very few struggled to think of anything and if they did I asked them to talk to others, find out what they were doing, watch them, ask questions then think again about their own project - this worked, the other children's enthusiasm and thoughts inspired those around them.
One of the standout things for me as a teacher was how little I actually had to do after the initial input, children were independently learning. If they needed some advice they would ask, but that was very rare, the only stumbling block was their own inhibitions e.g. Jimmy wanted to make his own superhero costume but was unsure if it was possible, did we have the materials he needed? I promised him and others that if we didn't have them in class we would get them, I wanted children to feel their were no barriers to their projects, they could design and create whatever they wanted. 
During Genius Hour I would walk around asking children about their projects, they were so enthusiastic to share, during this time the children became the educators, I learnt:

How to make Loom bands.

The names of the Mario characters and what year each game was made.
The name of the new Batman video game.
The words to 'Let it Go' (several times)
How to make a daisy chain.
How to make a milkshake.


My Year 2 colleague took Genius Hour for one week, she had her reservations but afterwards said what a brilliant hour she had, the children were on task, creating and so willing to share their projects with her.


This for me says it all, the only negative thing about Genius Hour will be if the teacher is not fully behind it, take it, enjoy it and your students will benefit in so many ways.


As a last note, the children presented their projects finished and unfinished at the end of the term. One young lady, Chloe created dresses for Elsa from Frozen (see previous posts for pictures) I loved the process that Chloe had gone through, her designs were detailed and beautiful and when she recreated them to fit on a paper model of Elsa she copied them exactly, every small detail was included. I sent Chloe to present her project to her previous teacher, who now works in reception. I spoke to Mrs Simpson at the end of the day and asked about Chloe, "I couldn't believe it" she said " Chloe would hardly speak to me last year, let alone get up in front of a class of younger children and show her ideas, she was so enthusiastic about her creations and it really shone through."
That to me is Genius Hour in a nutshell, if it can have that effect on just one of your students over the six weeks then it is surely worth giving it a go.


My next blog entry will be about the future of Genius Hour for me and the possibility of a Genius curriculum.
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Genius Hour Presentations: Part 2

7/25/2014

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Lorelai: My Skills Book.

Lorelai didn't want to create a book about one subject so chose to do one about the things she is good at. In her book we have songs, instructions for making daisy chains (you may see the detailed black diagrams in the photo) and a collage of a story that she has started to write about a monster that blocks the light from the sun and the moon.

Brogan: Loom Band Instruction Book.

Loom bands are huge at the moment, and Brogan taught me how to make a fishtail loom. Her passion for Loom Bands led to her creating an extremely detailed instruction book on making them. 

Bradley: Red Funnel Ferry Collage and Ticket Office.

Bradley has a keen interest in our local ferry firm as his Dad works for them, so his project started as a collage of the ferries. Bradley then developed this by making the ticket office using a cardboard box and various craft items.

Leana: Frozen Song Book.

Leana loves Frozen and chose to write a song book, during her presentation she sung each song that she had written to us.

Damien : Drawing Book.

Damien wanted to get better at drawing, so decided to make a book and practise his drawings. He included all of the things he liked such as Star Wars, zombies, Super Heroes and Minecraft.

Declan: World Cup Book.

Declan wanted to make a book explaining about the World Cup, unfortunately these photos do not do credit to his extremely detailed drawings.

Ashton: Yummy Milkshake Blog.

Ashton had a secret talent for milkshake making and wanted to share this with us. Ashton created his homepage on paper first before transferring his ideas to the computer. What I loved about Ashtons blog was that he had thought about the possibility of advertising and had Mcdonalds featured on his home page :-)

Tyron: Croc and Hotel

Tyron started his project wanting to make a crocodile out of an egg box, after making it he realised the croc needed somewhere to stay so he made a hotel. The hotel has two floors and includes a pull out bed and curtains.
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Genius Hour Presentations  - Part 1

7/21/2014

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Apologies for a lack of updates, life has been very busy but the children have continued to do their Genius Hour projects. One of my colleagues took a session for me as I was working in another class, she said that she was worried about how with 34 Year 2 children Genius Hour would work, but she loved it. She was amazed at how on task each child was, keen to share their projects and immersed in their learning. This was music to my ears as Genius Hour will be part of the curriculum throughout the school next year.

So here we are, the last week and the presentations of Genius Hour projects, some have been finished but others are going home as a summer project.

Dolcie Dance Studio

Dolcie started off with a drawn plan of her dance studio and it evolved into a fully working made with junk dance studio. Dolcie showed great attention to detail even including coat hangers for visitors.

Leo: Mario Animation

Leo has ADHD and is on the autistic spectrum, he loves Mario at the moment and will talk for hours about the different games, consoles they were for and the year released. Leo made the characters at home with his sister using Hama beads. Leo brought them in to school to create several animations, this is just one of them.

Steven: Batman Blog

Steven started with a simple design on a3 paper, but when he got on to the computer his imagination and knowledge ran riot. During his presentation he talked about the new Batmobile and a sinister new villain for the new Batman movie.

Emma - Song Book.

Emma's beautifully decorated text book contains songs that she has written herself. Emma has the titles in the contents and has written three songs so far. Unfortunately for poor Emma I chose to sing one to the class.

Kieron: Web Shooters

Kieron was determined to perfect his webshooters, he made several prototypes and during this it is demonstrated them during this presentation. Kieron would ask most days if "is it Genius Hour today".

Jimmy: Superhero Costume.

Jimmy had one of the more adventurous ideas, he wanted to create a superhero costume. He designed it on paper first, then used an old t-shirt to make the logo. Jimmy's costume was finished off with a black cloak, great eh.

Chloe: Dresses for Elsa

I am sure we have a future fashion designer in Chloe. She designed her dresses on a3 paper to start then made larger version which could be worn by a paper Elsa. I love the attention to detail Chloe has put into each dress, they fit Elsa perfectly.

Part 2 to Follow.

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Genius Hour Week 3

6/21/2014

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In this weeks blog I would like to share some of my children's very creative ideas and ways of presenting their projects. More good news this week, I met with Mike Fleetham at school (@miketweetham) to plan a staff training session on 'Genius Hour' in the new term. I will let you know how it develops.
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Tuliann: Ballet Instructions.
These started last week as just the triangle diagram on squared paper. Tuliann has really let her creative side run riot this week. The foam wotsits are ballerinas in the hall, the elastic bands show the movements the ballerinas must take, the top left is a seating area and the top right is a drinking fountain.
Bryson: Minecraft Inca Village
Bryson has been inspired by our topic to create an Inca village using Minecraft. I love the detail in this, the sense of scale, the use of a hill and water.
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Bonnie: Frozen 3 Storyboard
Bonnie has really gone to town with her storyboard, last week we had a few sketches and notes, this week we have a 3D title and characters in place. I look forward to seeing the story next week.
Chloe: Dresses for Elsa
Chloe created some beautiful designs on a3 paper last week (See Genius hour Week 2). This week she has printed out Elsa so that she can create dresses which she can blue tac to her. I love the way that she has carefully measured and cut the dresses to fit the picture.
Harvey: Book About Famous Youtubers.
I love the artistic style Harvey has given this, he is drawing the Youtubers in a Mincraft style and has also included hashtags.
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Dolcie: Dance Studio
Last week Dolcie designed her dance Studio on paper, this week she has recreated it using junk modelling material. She plans next week to open the back of the box so that we can see inside the dance studio.
This is just a handful of the projects being worked upon, what I love about them is the way the ideas have evolved, children have taken their original ideas and used resources around the classroom to improve upon their ideas. I also love that I have had little to no input with any of these ideas...surely that epitomises child lead learning?
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Genius Hour - Week 2

6/12/2014

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Well, this week saw our class doing Genius Hour in the class that they will be going into next year. In new surroundings and crammed into a smaller class I didn't think the children would be so keen this week....... How wrong was I, we shared the ideas that pupils had last week, but many had been thinking about their projects and wanted to change them, "fine" I said.
"Who would like to change their project?"
Several hands shot up and we shared new ideas, there was a real buzz about starting the projects. My input was very minimal, I reminded the children that we would be doing this at this time every week, and showed them the resources they had at their disposal. Away they went, I wandered the classroom talking to children about their projects, their ideas, their aims, how they were going to go about the final product. all children regardless of ability had a clear idea of what they wanted to do and how they wanted to go about it. I noticed several things this week, children used very little in the way of resources, A3 and A4 paper, some lined paper and for those creating books they used old exercise books. Research was done using an ipad and another ipad was being used for stop frame animation. Children also started making small groups, those working on Frozen 2 or clothes for Elsa started sharing ideas, the boys making superhero projects looked at each others work....this was not something I had suggested but the children chose to do it, and I was not going to stop it.

So in my two weeks of 'Genius Hour' we have so far had:

Children working collaboratively.
Literacy.
Handwriting.
Creativity.
ICT.
Design.
Maths.
Music.
Art.
Critical Skills.

Not too bad in two sessions, and it would be hard to imagine such a range of skills covered in any other lesson.

Unfortunately 2.30 and time to clear up came too soon, but as we went back to our own class, a young lad who struggles a little with his application to work said to me "Mr Andre' can I take my project home to carry on". 

Roll on next week !!!!
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Genius Hour Week 1

6/5/2014

9 Comments

 
During a chat on #aussieED two weeks ago, several teaching colleagues were talking about an initiative called 'Genius Hour' and the amazing work that students had produced. Intrigued I went to the website www.geniushour.com and started to watch the videos, I was hooked. this was learning as it should be. Children choose a topic that they are interested in and work on a weekly project linked with that topic. I emailed my head with the link and spoke to Mike Fleetham @miketweetham on Twitter about it as I felt it was right up his street ( as they say in laymans terms). Mike loved it, my head loved it, so it was with great enthusiasm I started my first session with my children this week. I have a class of 33 Year two children of very mixed abilities and a majority of boys. Here is a very brief report on how the first session went.


I started the session by showing Dr. Seuss ‘The Places We’ll Go’ and asked the children what story or message the film was telling us. Through questioning and prompts the children said 'that it was about having dreams and overcoming problems'. I linked this to 'Genius Hour' and said this may happen to some of you over the next few weeks, but like in the video we must persevere. I then showed them this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-gQLqv9f4o


Kid President (please watch it)

To help inspire the children (they loved it) then they looked at projects other children had done during Genius Hour, through a powerpoint, videos and blogs.

Children then went off and wrote down three things they were experts / interested in and ideas for projects linked to those (I have worksheet blanks and powerpoints if anybody is interested). 



Here are a few that we have.

Leo - I Want to create a book with the history of Mario

Connor – I am going to make a lion pop up book

Bryson – Make a Batman cartoon film

Ashton – A website to teach you how to make the perfect milkshake.

Declan – A video showing people how to play video games

Harvey – Make a book about famous Youtubers

Emma – To make my own make-up using natural things

Jimmy – To make a football mini game

Steven – Invent a new Batman suit

Toby – A video game called ‘Dancing Dinosaurs’ !!!!!!

Bradley – A website about Red funnel ferries

Dolcie – Make a model of a dancer

Toby – Making a robot that does housework

Ewan – To make a fishing blog

Gracie – A guide to beating your brother or sister in a running race

Bonnie – Make a ‘Frozen 2’ movie



What surprised me was despite being the last hour on a Thursday afternoon, all children were engaged, there was not a child that couldn't think of an idea. The enthusiasm was great, while children were thinking of ideas and bringing them to me I was sharing them through mini plenaries. We finished by looking at our ideas and each child had to star the one project they would like to work on over the coming weeks. 


Next week, I will be providing a bank of resources for the children to use but I am going to let them choose the best way to use the resources and begin to create their projects. Roll on next Thursday!!

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    Graham Andre' Editor of The Numeracy Shed and Year 2 teacher at Lanesend Primary School on the Isle of Wight

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