At 3:05, a colleague appeared at my door asking, “I’ve got kids from Genius Hour in my classroom. Is it alright to send them over early? They really want to come over here so I said I’d ask first.” Surprised, I said to go ahead and send them.
A few kids with shoe boxes showed up moments later and ten minutes later, the final bell heralded the arrival of a twenty-some wave of students, pouring into my room. Twenty five kids flying into Genius Hour. Staying late on a Friday afternoon to plan, collaborate, learn and help others to learn. It was a beautiful Fall day, I had expected them all to go outside and play. But I was also thrilled that they wanted to learn.
Genius Hour Wrap Up
The group moved from my classroom to the computer lab because there weren’t enough computers and we needed more seats. Here’s a shot of the kids blogging at the end of Genius Hour. I wasn’t able to get the first row of kids into the picture due to my vantage point so I hope they don’t feel left out 😦 Every seat was filled in the Harris Room lab !
A couple of students worked on starting up artistic websites featuring steps for instructing others on how to draw. They didn’t create accounts, but they started gathering information and setting things up. They knew a lot about drawing! Impressive!
Storm continues to work on his new sport. He worked hard on setting up the right format for his scoring page. It was fantastic to watch him navigate the settings and page designs!
These are just some of the projects that the kids are working on. Some kids are planning their future projects already.
One of the things I am noticing about Genius Hour is that it gets very noisy and wild. This is ok… the sounds of kids having fun and learning.
Successes
The kids returned with their catapults. Their creations were amazing. They truly did work on their projects outside of Genius Hour. Other kids were working on their own projects, such as the Bengal Cats site, coding projects, and cookbook ideas.
More kids than ever showed up for Genius Hour and they learned by observing the work of other kids. Several new kids immediately started work on their own catapult projects and experimented with different designs.
Needs Work
Most kids show up at Genius Hour and they maximize their time. I have one student who has difficulty behaving and not turning Genius Hour into his personal free-for-all. As much as I like having all of the students, one student who cannot behave can derail everyone’s concentration. I am going to start by contacting his parents first to see if I can get their support.
The kids don’t understand why blogging is important. They also don’t like to blog because it lacks relevance. I need to showcase their blogs and find a way to make their writing the focus of positive attention. I posted the following Tweet:
https://twitter.com/Teacher_Jill/status/523873513883447300
Any #geniushour Ts running #gaggle blogs w/Ss?
Looking for feedback/reciprocal feedback from ss
to read & comment on my ss’ blogs Plz RT TY
I also had one girl who wanted to use the time to do her homework instead of anything related to Genius Hour. I had to reiterate that she could study at home, and that this time is precious, only a short time to collaborate and work with her Genius Hour peers.
Inner Thoughts
The reviewers from Schools to Watch toured our building on Thursday. My interviewer had never heard of or seen a Genius Hour group before. He seemed to be very interested in it and really liked the idea that the ultimate end of the year goal is for the students to tie their projects into the CCSS and to assess themselves. I really wish he could have stayed to see Genius Hour in action. My best descriptions did not do the program justice.
Creating a Genius News Bulletin Board was almost instantly made use of by several kids posting help wanted ads and checking the schedule and agenda. I used an old beat-up bulletin board and spray painted it hot pink. Then I painted the trim silver. I used bubble letter cut outs for the title.
Life on Planet Genius 
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