In this second day focused upon the Genius Hour semester project, the students had the opportunity to walk with me through my process of turning my prospective topic ideas into one solid topic. Then, I showed them how I would turn that topic into a up to five driving questions. From those questions, the students will then focus their research on one driving question as they write their research proposals and begin delving into their Genius Hour Projects.
In education, it is seen as a best practice to do a lot of your writing work alongside the students so that you can have more meaningful conversations about the process since you would be in the same boat with them. This typically isn’t that feasible in a real-world classroom because there is so much that we teachers must address and juggle. Even with that in mind, I told the students that I would pledge to do Genius Hour alongside them as well. For my project I will write and work to publish a book as a part of the NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month taking place this November. A handful of students also expressed interest in signing up with the official site to embark upon the novel writing experience with me. All-in-all, Genius Hour will surely be a lot of fun for all of us.
Genius Hour Semester Project Guidelines
Homework:
- Read for 30 minutes.
- Complete up to 5 Driving Questions for Genius Hour Project.
- Begin work on the rough draft of the Genius Hour Proposal.
PowerPoint:
