Genius Hour Passions
As part of the 21st Century Cohort 4.0 that I am participating in through BVSD Ed Tech, I received 5 iPad minis, 3 Spheros, and 2 Ollies. Students are enjoying using the iPads in all of my classes (more on that in another post). In addition to the 21st Century Cohort, I've written several Donor's Choose grants and an Impact on Education grant this year. My classroom now has some great microphones, a green screen, tripods, several Pencil 53 styluses, Dash and Dot, in addition to the amazing tools from BVSD Ed Tech. All of the equipment is getting a mighty work out in fifth grade.
Eighty fifth graders have been working on their genius hour passion projects for three weeks now. It's been exciting to see them select topics to learn about and narrow or broaden their focus as they refine their topic. It's interesting to see how different the three homeroom classes are. My Monday class has several groups of students researching topics related to sports safety, several students learning about and creating a website on the Apollo missions, and many students learning about global warming and fracking and creating a website on this topic, and students learning Scratch and coding with Sphero and Ollie. The Tuesday class is filled with digital artists, fashion designers, digital musicians, movie makers, coders, and animators. The Friday class has students working with GarageBand, developing an Alexa skill, coding Sphero, learning about 3D design and working with our makerspace 3D printer, and researching many science topics. It's amazing to see the breadth of their interests and see them engaged in authentic inquiry.
I love meeting with small groups each week to check in on their progress, help them to refine their questions and find resources for their inquiry and to guide them to next steps. The opportunity to be a coach and mentor is a treasured experience. This week I shared with the artists some ideas on design thinking. I recently purchased The Extraordinaires Design Studio and challenged the fashion designers to take on a challenge of designing something for an Extraordinaires. They rose to the challenge and enjoyed the process of empathizing, defining, and drawing. They need a couple of class periods to iterate their designs before they are ready to present anything to the class. It's a great addition to our Genius Hour. I love being able to give students the freedom to explore and inquire and the time to meet in small groups or individually to scaffold their learning.
Each week we close with some ah hah moments. These have ranged from conversations about developing privacy policies in order to create Alexa skills, discussions of copyright and live loops in Garageband, sharing of movie trailers, feedback sessions on student creative design, and more. Digital citizenship is embedded in each and every class through student questions and discussions. Writing is embedded in each class as students complete the required reflection posts. Students are authentically engaged and are begging to come in during recess and study hall to keep working on their projects.
