What’s New with You?!

I’m starting a short mini-series on some things I want to try during this school year. Join me on this journey by following along – I’d love to hear what new things you are trying this year!

The basic premise is student led projects that are decided by them. Teaching students how to design and present research but on what they want to learn about — I’m thrilled with this concept. I feel students lose so much creativity as they step up each grade level and putting the engagement back in learning in a big way is crucial!

The binder houses the handouts and some creative thinking exercises that I also purchased to introduce this into my classroom!

This video is AMAZING and I think implementing this type of project can really help our students if not make school a little more relevant for a small part of the week.

My plan:

1. I plan to do Genius Hour once a week for about 45 min. (Integrating lots of new technology, blending lessons with curriculum, would be points I would bring up to administration if/when asked about time away from state mandated curriculum) Read more suggestions about approaching administration – here.

2. I plan to start out with lots of modeling first and doing some creative thinking exercises and activities in those first week to really stretch our brains out and show what expectations I expect. I have purchased some products on TPT and plan to go over the rubric specifically so students will not have any surprises.

3. Have students complete 1 a semester (at least!) that may not seem lofty but 2 a year for my first year trying this I think is attainable. I want to make sure all students are supported and do quality research based on questions.

I created this to mimic the ones found on Runde’s Room blog but matching my color scheme for this year. This will be the base of the bulletin board.

Another great resource is the pin below! It talks about how to start and publish under various platforms to share your results.

Embrace change in your classroom. Implement the Genius Hour with students. Watch the video.

Jen (Runde’s Room) blogs about Passion projects and has some great ideas to get started! You can read her posts here and here. She even has some great FREE printables to help you get started!

Their is a whole Genius Hour website that has tons of great ideas and links to get you started as well!

I’m excited to try this in my room this year…what’s new with you?!

Posted in 4th grade, back to school, planning, technology

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meghan on August 3, 2014 at 4:22 am

This is something I plan on trying this year with my accelerated third grade students. I'm excited to get started, but also overwhelmed with everything there is to know! =)

Meg
Third Grade in the First State

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