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After eight years of engaging our students with a Personal Passion Project during Term Four we shifted to a 'Genius Hour' model for 2015. In the end the results from the students were impressive but along the way some lessons were learned and we are looking forward to making some minor tweaks for 2016 that should further enhance the learning opportunities.

"I've had many failures this year (which I will be outlining in some near future posts, I promise), but one message I definitely seemed to get across to my students was that I am done with ho-hum slide presentations that make everyone yawn. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the awesome presentation that some of my 4th graders did recently. This past week, we had some great ones from my 5th graders. My consistent theme this year, when it comes to Genius Hour presentations, has been The Golden Rule. If you wouldn't want people standing in front of you for 20 minutes reading slides to you in a monotone, then why on earth would you subject your classmates to the same torture? I haven't outlawed slide shows, but I've shown the students that they are ineffective unless you are a passionate speaker with engaging slides. After I gave them a peek at 101 Ways to Show What You Know, things got a lot more interesting."

"As I mentioned in my article, "The Research Behind 20% Time", there is a lot of support for this type of inquiry-based learning in schools. However, I want to point out a few important pieces of information in this post on why many of the folks talking about the demise of Google's 20% time and whether or not Genius Hour is enough…are simply missing the point."

"In an ongoing effort towards polishing the edges, over the years we have continued to refine the processes we apply to the Personal Passion Project. We have gained insights into the sorts of projects that work well and which will cause difficulties. We have added a degree of structure while maintaining the required degree of freedom necessary for a personalised project. The results of this learning are presented (in the model above and the text) below."

"One of the biggest learning trends you should know about is project-based learning. Basically, students are given a task and allowed to work in groups to deliver solutions to a problem. This is an applicable methodology in science, technology, math, arts, etc. You name it, project-based learning could likely be used. But how do you get started with a new way to teach? That's a major question that often stops teachers right in their tracks. It's hard to switch up what's been working in the past. It's impossible to figure out how to integrate a new classroom structure in the small amount of time available to educators around the world. In an effort to help solve this issue, our friends at EdTechTeacher have created what's essentially a crash course in project-based learning. The video is about an hour long and is by Suzy Brooks, a third-grade teacher in Massachusetts."

For students engaging in creative personalised learning projects such as a 'Genius Hour' or 'Personal Passion project it can often be difficult for them to uncover the right project. Students have become so reliant upon their teachers to pose them problems that when they are given the option to explore one of their own design they don't know where to start. This is indeed a significant challenge as we know that our students will enter a workforce and world of learning beyond school where they must be active problem finders. How then might we provide the support they require without removing the opportunity for truly personalised exploration.  

"Are you looking for the most impactful, the most inspiring, the most beneficial books that will help you succeed in the classroom? Perhaps you need ways to improve the way in which you motivate students. Perhaps you want to build a better classroom culture. Need new ways to teach reading and writing across the curriculum? Or, you might be curious about trends like Genius Hour and project-based learning. Boy, do I have a list for you."