#Geniushour update

I know it is premature to start celebrating, but I tried some things and found a little success. No, no one said they wanted to convince the school board that we should have electric busses or turn our schools into living buildings that produce more energy than they consume but, from what I have screen, so far, nobody's passion is really dolphins.

One mistake I saw that I had made in my first day of our genius project was thant i did not help guide  my students in how to think about this project. These kids have probably never had a teacher tell them that they could learn about whatever they want. So, they went to their default mode of, what animal or person can I do a book report or trifold science fair board about. To help them brainstorm their interests i had them creat a Heartmap at the suggestion of @_mrs_bmw_69. I first had my students list out as many issues that mattered to them, issues they wish they could change, and problems they concern them. Basically, issues that were close to their hearts. Next, I had them rank these from least to most important. Finally, I passed out a paper with a heart on it and had them decorate put their topics in the heart, allowing more space for the most important and less space for the less important.  

The next activity I did was based on questions from the genius hour live binder authored by @joykirr. I took several questions from this site and plugged them into an "interest survey" I created on My Big Campus.  After the students filled them out I went back and read through their answers and was much happier with what I saw. I had one girl who talked about how she loves fashion and upcycling. Another girl was very interested in hair and makeup while one boy wants to be a marine biologist and feels very strongly about how pollution is harming wildlife in the Pacific Ocean. 

As I read through their surveys I commented on each one drawing out some major themes in their answer and tried to help suggest topics they could consider for their project.  This started a diogue with my students about their projects and the possibilities of what they could do. I could tell, from some of their responses that they were surprised that I would let them learn what they wanted. One kid was very excited at the prospect of learning how to build his own website. Another, who had mentioned cooking, liked the suggestion of learning some new resipies.

I still have a few students who have no clues out what they want to do or have a broad general topic in mind, by now that I have the majority of my class on the right track, I can focus more of my time on these kids and help them find their passion. I am very excited about the possibilities and am looking forward to what my students do and create (especially the kid who will be cooking!)