Genius Hour Project
To Students and Parents:
We are introducing a new Genius Hour project in
Communications this year. The search-engine giant, Google,
allows its engineers to spend 20% of their time to work on any
pet project that they want. The idea is very simple. Allow people to work on
something that interests them, and productivity will go up. Google’s policy has
worked so well that it has been said that 50% of Google’s projects have been created
during this creative time period. Ever heard of Gmail or Google News? These projects
are creations by passionate developers that blossomed from their 20-time projects.
Another origin of genius hour projects came from the book Drive by best-selling
author, Daniel Pink. In a blog post he writes about how the Google-time projects are
also used in other corporations.
Goals of this project:
*to promote, support, and model creative, innovative thinking and inventiveness
*to allow students an opportunity to discover/investigate one of their passions and
reflect on/share their learning with others
*provide students and teachers an opportunity to develop skill sets that are valuable in
any learning situation (research, experimentation, collaboration, creativity, problem
solving and critical thinking)
*to provide an opportunity for classes to share their Genius and Passion Projects with
others
Brainstorming
At the beginning of the Communications course, students will begin brainstorming
ideas for a project proposal. Students may work alone, but I encourage them to work in
small teams, no larger than four students. While brainstorming, I will encourage
students to make the project ―Product Focused.‖ At the end of the course I want them
to have made something that is a completed product. It could be an event or service
to help others in the school or community. It could also be a digital project like a short
film or video game.
Proposal
Once the team has an idea of what project they want to pursue, they begin writing the
proposal. This is how the team will ―pitch‖ the project to me and the rest of the class.
In this proposal, students will answer the following questions.
What is your project?
Who will work with you on this project?
Who is the audience / user base / client base for this project?
Why is this project worthwhile?
What do you expect to learn from this project?
What PRODUCT will you have to show at the end of the course?
What sort of expenses will be involved in your project and how will you cover
them?
What sort of equipment will you need and where will you get it?
What is your timeline for completing (or launching) your project?
The Blog
Each week each student is required to write a blog post to discuss their progress. They
will write about the week, what they worked on, what they learned, what challenges
they faced, and what they anticipate in the future. Each blog post must be at least 150
words and contain a related image that is posted without infringing on anyone's
copyright.
Genius Hour Days
Throughout the course, students will have one day a week to work on their projects. If
students need to be off-campus to work on their projects, they are welcome to do that
on their own time during weekends or afternoons and use the scheduled class time as
a productive tutorial period, meeting period, or writing period.
The following days have been designated as Genius Hour days:
Friday, August 30th – Introduction/Brainstorming
Friday, September 6th –Brainstorming/Proposals
Friday, September 13—Proposals Due
Friday, September 20—Class time to work
Friday, September 27-- Class time to work
Friday, October 4th-- Class time to work
Friday, October 11th -- Class time to work
Friday, October 18th -- Class time to work
Thursday, October 24th -- Flex day –shortened class periods -- Class time to work
Thursday, October 31st -- Class time to work
Friday, November 1st – Presentation day
The Final Presentation
At the end of the course, each team or individual will give a presentation to students,
teachers, and community members where they will show off their work. This will be
carefully written, choreographed, and rehearsed to produce the best presentation
they’ve ever given. These TED-style presentations will be delivered and recorded in
the auditorium. Presentations will be 15 slides x 15 seconds each for 3.75 minutes
total. Presentations will occur Friday, November 1st in the auditorium. Parents and
public will be invited.
Assessment
I am going to assess students on the various elements of the project. A significant
portion of their grade will be dependent on the following elements with rubrics.
The Proposal (Is the proposal on-time, and does it address the required questions
appropriately?) 25pts
The Blog (Do the blog posts meet the required length, address the required topic?)
Rubric -- 100pts
The Product (Did you successfully move from idea phase to production phase, and do
you have something to show at the end of the course) 25pts Self-assessment rubric
Productivity (Are you spending your Genius hour time by actively and passionately
working on your project? If not, we need to quickly adjust the project so you are
working on something that is intrinsically motivating. This is less objective, but if I see
students not being productive, I will intervene.) 50pts – 5pts for each class work day
Final Presentation (Does your presentation meet all of the required elements?) Rubric
125pts
What if my project is a failure?
The only truly failed project is the one that doesn’t get done. I want students to strive
to show off a successful product at the end of the course, but I don’t want the quest for
perfection to lead to an incomplete project.
If you feel that your project is a failure, I want to hear about it. What did you learn
about it? Think about a science fair project. If your hypothesis was wrong, was your
project a failure? If you worked productively and your project did not turn out as you
hoped you need to share your learning in your presentation.
Don’t strive for failure, but don’t be afraid of it either!
If you have any questions or concerns please let me know. I look forward to sharing
our learning. Contact me at [email protected] or call the Middle School 375-8770.
Mrs. Nicole Hill