It's Not Perfect

Elisa Waingort left a comment recently on one of my blog posts...

Recently I have been feeling disheartened at what I see during Genius Hour with my students. I feel that all they want to do is to use their Genius Hour time to socialize with their friends at the same time that they pretend to be doing something important. I have been trying out different tools to help them reflect on their projects and to get them to elevate their purposes for what they're doing. I'm not looking for a cure for cancer. I am looking for some thought and genuine interest in what they're doing.   

~comment abstract from Elisa Waingort

I've been there.

I'll bet LOTS of us trying Genius Hour have been there. We don't see much of it on the Twitter hashtag, but that may be because most of us don't share our failures (yes, I see us not being able to motivate kids as OUR failures even though there are so many influences...). Most of us share our successes and celebrations.

This "apathy" towards projects happens with an average of one-two students in each of my classes. What factors might contribute to this?
          - Never been asked to do anything like this in prior school years
          - Driven by grades, and this is not graded
          - No authentic audience to share their work with (yet)
          - Parents are not very involved
          - Can't find that one thing that he/she really wants to pursue
          - Isn't really in to any type of activity at home outside of school
          - Laziness / Would rather sleep

A few of us had this discussion just last June due to this reflection by one of my students in January of last school year.

Published with Student Permission

In fact, I created a new tab on the LiveBinder just because we DO have students who struggle (or should be struggling instead of what I think of as "wasting precious time"). #20time guru Kevin Brookhouser says "mixed success" during 20% Time is "pretty typical" in this impromptu Google Hangout. A.J. Juliani suggests we help students find a new purpose in this blog post about when Genius Hour fails. Karl Lindgren-Streicher writes about those "do nothings" and "The Suck" during your Genius Hour / 20% time. We've been there. I have strong doubts when I hear a teacher say that EVERY single student is engaged during this time.

I have a tendency to think of this type of student as a "slacker." I try not to label my students in any way ("He is ACTING like a slacker right now"), but this word keeps popping up for students who are not motivated to choose something to do/study and stick with it. My brain shouts, "This is supposed to be what YOU WANT TO DO! YOU are the reason we are trying this in class! It's for KIDS LIKE YOU!"

How I often feel... Photo by Joy Kirr.

Frustration mounts, and I try various tactics...
          - Have the student fill in these sheets to see what you like, and we'll conference afterwards
          - Have the student try out these websites, and we'll conference after they've tried a few
          - Have the student document what everyone else in class is doing and create a movie/advertisement to share
          - Have the student read through other student ideas and choose from there
          - Ask the student - what can we do about this?
          - Have the student reflect/document each week on what they did during this hour - if this still doesn't work, I attach a GRADE to it (against everything I've learned)
          - Have the student research "Why Genius Hour-type learning does NOT work for me"
          - When we get to fourth quarter, the threat of presenting in front of peers, teachers, and parents usually spurs on SOME type of project.

I feel that, although I am very calm with these one to two students in each class, they should be able to see the smoke coming out of my ears. I am THAT frustrated.

I agree with Elisa...

I'm having lots of second thoughts about Genius Hour. Phew! There! I said it.

I question what I'm doing EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Change which comes from some serious reflection helps make our classes better.

That being said, we've all got some students with great projects. Maybe our students aren't curing cancer, but many - no, I believe MOST - are doing what they LOVE to do, or trying many different projects to see what they think they might like to do. They are using this time to explore, plan, collaborate, create, make decisions, write, read, fail, and share.

Compare your students to adults you know. Some are very motivated self-starters. Others... are not. Some know what they want to do in life, and some are still struggling - big time. Some have the "go get 'em" attitude, and others don't mind sitting on their fannies and letting life come to them.

I will NOT give up on students who, during Genius Hour, act apathetic. These are often students who act the same way in "regular" lessons, but sometimes not. Sometimes these students just don't know what to do, and have a difficult time making decisions. I will not give up, because I believe it is our role to keep encouraging, keep challenging, keep modeling what perseverance looks like, if nothing else. If they learn one lesson from this struggle, it is that when I believe in something, I believe in in whole-heartedly. I believe if young people become self-directed learners and know HOW to learn, they can have the world in the palm of their hands.

There will also be people who cannot stand the happy mascot, and others who LOVE him (her)!

Genius Hour? How about Genius Curriculum?

Guest post by A.J. Juliani

It was only a few years ago that I started doing a 20% time project with my students. As I began to share the work I was doing online, I met a group of teachers so passionate about this type of learning...that I could not help to be drawn in to what they were doing as well. Joy Kirr, Hugh McDonald, Denise Krebs, and Gallit Zvi are rockstar teachers in my book. Not because of necessarily what they've done with Genius Hour...but because they share what they've done with Genius Hour. I've learned so much from them and the large group of teachers out there giving students choice in the classroom. 

Flash forward to today. It's a few years later. The Genius Hour wikispace, Joy's Livebinder, Angela Maiers's Choose2Matter movement, Robin Theissen's Global Genius Hour Project, and Paul Solarz's site of resources are consistently being used by teachers around the world to give students choice. I sit back and watch the #geniushour feed and #20time feed on Twitter and I'm blown away. I see the community on Google+ sharing...teachers like Nick Provenzano, Erin Klein, and Vicki Davis all getting involved (and many, many more). And yet...

It's just the start. 

I wrote my book about 20% time and Genius Hour primarily because I wanted to reach a new audience of teachers and educators. I hope this text is used at the University level and in Graduate classes, as well as by school leaders, to introduce the power of choice in learning. As I see this idea spreading like wildfire I'm reminded of the three problems that led me to start the 20% project with my students:

- There are many adults who are unhappy with the work they do on a day-to-day basis.

- When students go into the work force they often have no idea what they are passionate about...

- School tends to force students to walk a straight line rather than give them a choice in their learning.

These reasons are all interconnected, and why student choice is so important in the "big picture". However, let's think bigger about Genius Hour or 20% Time. I'm not proposing the entire school day is filled with student choice and every class is like a Genius Hour...nope, that's not how it works. But, it can look different. 

Here's a simple way to think about the possibility of a "Genius Curriculum":

1. Most students already have a set of skills that they need to master and demonstrate in each grade level...and drilled further down into each unit. The Common Core and other standards-based curriculum have focused on the skills (not necessarily the content) and that is great for student choice. 

2. Right now, it is very easy to tie one particular piece of content to a whole bunch of standards... Think about how we use a textbook, or how we use certain texts for Language Arts class etc. But that is the easy way out... and is an antiquated way to think about curriculum. We have millions of resources today at our fingertips that can help teach the same skills...why only use one?

3. If we are focusing on skills, then there are many ways to assess that skill or skill set. Let's not limit our students to one form of assessment at the end of a unit, but instead give them choices as to how they demonstrate knowledge and mastery.

A Genius Curriculum, then, has these specific features to it:

     -common set of skills students need to learn and then demonstrate mastery

     -a litany of resources that teachers can provide to students to learn/master those skills

     -a wide variety of assessment choices

     -student choice opportunities for learning resources, assessments, and pacing

Are there still going to be times where students should read a text as a communal activity? Yes! Are there still going to be times where students all demonstrate mastery through a shared assessment? Yes! However, there will also be "student choice" infused into the daily learning activities and assessments when possible.

A Genius Curriculum is no different than how we learn outside of school. Here's a final example:

A few years ago I wanted to learn how to use Wordpress to design and make websites. I searched online for articles and watched some videos. Then I tried my best at getting a site up and failed a few times before asking another person online for help. They helped me get started, and then I used more articles and videos to get better and better at Wordpress design and now I help many teachers who are just starting with Wordpress. 

I did not get a degree in any type of "computer/programming" area... yet, I can build and design my own websites using Wordpress. I did not take a formal class, although I could have. I used resources that helped me, while someone else learning Wordpress might have used different resources, or some of the same resources. I asked one person for help and they pushed me past my pain point. Now I continue to learn through informational text when I need it.

That is learning. That is how we all learn each day and week. Multiple learning sources that we can sift though, multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge and skills, and multiple ways to reach out for extra help. 

Do you think a Genius Curriculum is a possibility? How do you learn today? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Guest post by A.J. Juliani

Genius Hour Manifesto

This month, Denise Krebs, Gallit Zvi, Hugh McDonald and I co-wrote the post Genius Hour Manifesto, which A.J. Juliani posted here: Education Is My Life

Please stop by and read our collective thoughts about Genius Hour!

Afterwards, take a look at the LiveBinder that has resources on it for Genius Hour and 20% Time. Of course, it has the Genius Hour wiki on it to help educators begin. (Soon to include Innovation Days, too!)

Genius Hour