This site has a lot of good information and is just right for Middle School students. Grade 5 students can also use it but would need a little more guidance.
he Tekiah Gedolah --the last long blast of the shofar - strikes a more cheerful note, however, for it reminds us of That Great Day when the Great Shofar will be sounded to gather all the exiles of our people Israel, like a shepherd gathering in his flocks, and when with our Righteous Messiah at our head, we will return to the Land of Israel…
Just as students are no longer tethered to textbooks (in most formal education settings), apps that are strictly didactic-designed to promote academic proficiency and foundational fluency-are often the first that parents and teachers reach for when looking for something "constructive."
We provided a proposal template in the form of a Google Doc and asked that each student submit their idea and plan to their teacher. As the proposals star rolling in, we are giving students feedback by leaving a comment on their document and suggesting changes or tweaks where necessary.
These are science-based ideas, but students could make LA connections as well. (i.e. Is it true that the only theme in all of literature is "Who am I?"; Yahweh means "I AM" - how does that impact our understanding of human identity?). Any topic will be applicable to LA and technology skills: research, writing, collaborating, sharing, presenting, etc.
Google’s 80/20 time, where engineers are encouraged to take 20% of their weekly load to work towards personal projects of their choice.
The question we both had was, what if students were offered the same opportunity?
They would be given roughly 1 hour during the week to work towards their projects. I also made this sweet banner as our Genius Hour poster, and explained that photoshop was something that no-body taught me, because I was never given the opportunity to learn it. But I decided to find out if I could teach myself. The result is that I now have a basic knowledge of photoshop! This was the idea that we communicated to them about Genius Hour, that they were to be the ones to decide what to learn, how to do it, and then what to do with it.
10 Principles of Genius Hour
firming up their essential question to set up their projects.
Based on the Epstein School's student badge learning program, research is published showing a correlation between student motivation, digital badges and a strong alternative assessment tool