Chapters 4-6

Chapter 4: One of my biggest take-aways from this chapter included making "Genius Hour" a consistent and structured time every day/week. Even though Genius House is a time in which students will be able to choose what they want to learn, I need to still be prepped and prepared for this hour. As the heading states "structure unstructured time." I need to be prepared for all the different kinds of behaviors and reactions students will have with this time.

Another important note in this chapter included not grading the final project. I do see this is as important because Genius Hour should be a time when students are intrinsically motivated. I also think peer accountability will be a big factor in student achievement.

Chapter 5: This was definitely one of my favorite chapters! There was so much valuable "how to" information! I really like the advice on how to introduce Genius Hour to your class by having them make a list of what they'd rather be doing, a list of what they are interested in the world, and what they like doing. I also like the idea of the "list of 10." 10 things they are good at, 10 things they would love to learn, and 10 things they wonder about. I can see the biggest struggle with this activity would be helping the students who have no idea what they want to learn about. Especially at the beginning of the year when you don't know enough about them to know what they want to learn! ;) In this situation, I could see having them relate their interests to what they like to read about or what their favorite school subject is. I could see peers helping each other with finding interests too.

I have been searching Pinterest for Genius Hour ideas and found some great videos that introduce the concept of Genius Hour.

Chapter 6: This chapter really made me think about the difference between passion and purpose. I really want to bring the idea of passion vs. purpose to my students in connection to what they choose to research during Genius Hour.