Genius Hour

Brace yourselves…

What if? You could spend CLASS TIME creating something that you were interested in?

Welcome to… GENIUS HOUR!

What is Genius Hour? Let’s have Kid President give us a little “pep talk” before we discuss… https://youtu.be/l-gQLqv9f4o

What is Genius Hour? Genius Hour is a time for you to learn about what interests YOU! How will you inspire others?? How will you share your PASSION with your classmates and the world?

Ask Yourself… What do I want to learn more about? What am I passionate about? What makes me wonder? What do I want to see changed? How can I share my learning with others?

How Does it Work? You can learn about anything you want! Any topic, any subject, any area. You choose! You will select something you are passionate about or what you want to learn about Formulate a question. How to throw a football like a NFL quarterback. How does coding work? How can I create my own website? How can I learn to sing a song in sign language? The possibilities are endless! Your projects cannot be something that can be answered by a quick Google search. Needs to involve research, experiments, effort!

How Does it Work? You will have one period each week to work on your Genius Hour project. To keep me and your peers informed on your progress, you will also be tasked with writing a detailed blog post on your progress every week. You will also comment on one post per week. We will spend 7 weeks on the project You will present your projects to the class as well as the community!

Okay, Sounds Gr...Wait, I Have to SHARE? Yes, you have to share. You will share your project with others because you will be so proud of your project

What will my Sharing Look Like? AT the end of this project you will be tasked with creating a short 5 minute “ted Talk” explaining what you learned and how you became a genius on your topic! We will be sharing these “Ted Talks” with other students who have also been participating in Genius Hour this year. Let’s watch a Ted Talk.. https://youtu.be/V-bjOJzB7LY

How Much Time Do I Have? You will be starting your project this week and will have one class period each week to work on it. You may choose to work on your project out of class as well, which is awesome. We will be shooting for an early May end date for this project.

How Will I Be Graded? On GUTS, CREATIVITY, AND the class blog (You will have a rubric on Friday) This Friday 3/10) you will have the entire period to create a four slide power point presentation. The four slides you will create are: What (is your project?) Learn to code / program a video game for Elementary students How – 1. Online tutorial 2. Mentor 3. Prototype a game using Scratch 4. Publish the game so others can play Why – I’m passionate about gaming and I want to learn the process of creating a game Success – 25 people will play my game

Let’s watch a Shark Tank episode Shark Tank Panel You will “pitch” your idea to a Shark Tank panel. The panel will consist of me, an administrator and someone from the community. We will ask you questions about your project and make sure you are ready to move forward with your idea. The class will also participate by asking you questions and encouraging you in your endeavor Let’s watch a Shark Tank episode

So Really…There’s Only One Question Left… What will YOU do to make the world AWESOME??