Preparing Yourself

Preparing Yourself Checklist for Sanity During Genius Hour: • Research to share with colleagues and administration • Parent letter to share with parents/guardians • Timeline/Calendar (how many lessons and when Genius Hour will take place) • Handouts for Students (or Genius Hour Journal) • Action Plan Template • Student Tracking System Drink Coffee (or Tea, or anything With caffeine ) Talk With Friends and Colleagues Focus On Building Relationships

Goals And Objectives

What Are Your Goals for Genius Hour Teacher Goals Learning Goals Research Goals Technology Goals Reflection Goals Launch/Authentic Goals

Reasons for Genius Hour (Share with Parents/Students/Colleagues/Administration) Builds Creative Toolbox/Capacity Hitting All Kinds of Standards Allows Students To Go Into Depth (instead of Breadth) You Learn By Doing Positive Peer Pressure Models Life-Long Learning Join Great Community of Learners Add Your Reason Here!

Formula For Genius Hour Success Time & Support Learning & Sharing Making & Doing It’s all about learning! Students are diving into a subject/topic they want to learn more about and should share this with peers and the world. Students can share in class blogs, class social accounts, and live broadcasts of their project. We learn by doing! Students need to make, tinker, play, build, and create a product during Genius Hour. This “action” will set them up to share successes, failures, and what they did to create for an authentic audience. Share with parents, colleagues, and administration that time is needed for inquiry-based learning. The other key is support during that time when teachers can conference with students and guide the learning/making.

When To Do Genius Hour? 20% of the Week To Support Literacy For Research/Design With all the focus on non-fiction reading and literacy across all levels and subjects – Genius Hour is the perfect time to use student-choice to boost literacy. Students will always be looking at non-fiction resources and analyzing research along the way. Genius Hour is the perfect way to frame a research, PBL, or design challenge. Students are researching in various ways, looking at different types of information, and talking with mentors. At the end they are designing their solution or product. Much like Google, you can have your students dive into Genius Hour during 10%-20% of your class time. This works when you don’t have a scripted step-by-step curriculum and have some freedom of when to do creative projects in your classroom.

Preparing Your Students The Three Step Process to Genius Hour BELIEF Students must first believe they can learn and create what they are interested in. Sometimes this belief does not exist because of their perception of themselves as a student and learner. Reflecting on their process and progress allows students to look at growth and what they are failing at so they can fail forward. This also helps fuel belief that they can get to the next level of learning/making/doing. After they believe they have to take action. They have to research, learn, document, share and create. Without these actions they can’t see results that lead to growth. GROWTH ACTION

The Research Go to Ajjuliani.com/research Motivation Innovation Experiences PBL Personality Ownership Good Ideas Education Passions Inquiry Purpose Choice

SWOT Analysis After your shark-tank pitch, reflect on your SWOT for Genius Hour Project. S Strengths W Weakness O Opportunities T Threats

Genius Hour Planner Editable Calendar

Ways to Support Your students need YOUR Guidance! Conference The Benefits of Support Digital Check-in • Supported students are excited to ask for help • Supported students accept failure as an option • Supported students talk more with other students • Supported students take bigger risks • Supported students are more engaged • Supported students follow through Partner Up Comments Project Review Informal Check

THANKS! FOR COMING

Preparing Yourself