Passion Projects, Genius Hour, 20 Time - Whatever You Call It - Part 2

Update: I have had NUMEROUS request for my rubric and information on the inspiration stations. I very nervously took a step outside my comfort zone and placed these items on Teachers Pay Teachers. Thank you all for your support and interest in my work. You have definitely put spring in my step and a bit more confidence in my soul. You can find the items here by clicking here. Thank you!

Genius Hour is in full swing! A fellow 8th grade ELA teacher and I are working through this unit together. It's refreshing to have someone with which to plan, bounce ideas, fail, and SUCCEED! Collaboration makes teaching much more fun. If you are looking to do this unit (or any other unit), please feel free to contact me! I'm always looking for other teachers with which to chat or pair our students for a project. (In fact, we've got some BIG ideas for this Fall involving Coastal Cleanup. If you live in a coastal community, I need you!)

We've got great projects going, and I am beyond excited to see how the progress. I have never been this excited about my classroom at the end of the school year (19 school days left, but who's counting), but this project has renewed by energy and drive to finish out the year STRONG! 

Last week our wonderful ITS* came in and taught my students about Essential Questions. These things are difficult for most teachers! I was really worried about trying to get eighth graders to write their own, but Katie did an ah-mazing job as always. She broke down the difference between essential and non-essential questions with great examples and activities that had the students up and moving. The students left on Friday saying they had a pretty good idea of how to write their own Essential Questions.

*We are a 1:1 county. Each student has a MacBook Air. Part of our Digital Renaissance is having ITSs. They help teachers with collaboration, teaching ideas, tech ideas, and so much more. They will even come in and teach your class (like she did here). It's a wonderful resource!

The truth came out today, and they really did understand! I was so proud. Several needed tweaking, but overall they did better than I do with essential questions. Here are a few I remember off the top of my head (I'll get full list to upload later this week):

• How do dreams define our emotions? 
• How are human brains tricked by optical illusions? 
• How are resources and knowledge used to create music? 
• How do I use my knowledge of art skills to create art? 
• How can a fishing pole be designed to make fishing easier for the elderly and disabled? 
• How do yoga poses affect the human brain? 
• How does what is considered “good art” vary from culture to culture?

For some reason my brain seems to remember the "how" questions, but I'll post a better variety later this week. 

Their final products/presentations vary from tricking the class with optical illusions to creating their own natural make up to painting a mural as long as my classroom wall. These next few weeks are going to be a serious buzz!

After I approved their essential questions and final product ideas, they created a 60-second pitch. I got this wonderful activity from Laura Randazzo on one of her 20 Time Updates! I highly recommending checking out all her ideas and posts about 20 Time before attempting this unit. She is pure genius and a ton of amazing. 

This activity gave students a quick opportunity to practice speaking to the class and see how the class perceives their project idea. It also turned into a great brainstorming session where the class gave the speaker more ideas and questions to consider as they go forward. More times for the students to take control of their learning and the teacher to smile at what they've accomplished this year!

"Don't forget your paperwork Wazowski."

There are four key paperwork items I feel were definitely required for this project:

• Parent Letter - Letting students complete a project on make up or fishing can sound a bit ridiculous to parents (especially when students start asking for supplies!). Thankfully, Laura Randazzo is pretty incredible, and her parent letter is spot on! I used her letter as a template for mine. 

• Rubric - I'm a big advocate for giving out the rubric before I even introduce the project. Students should know what is expected of them from the get go, plus it makes life easier when the project is due - there are no excuses for "I didn't know what I was getting graded on." It's all in the rubric!

• Contract - This contract made sure each student laid out exactly what the student intends to do. This contract is actually tomorrow's class activity. I will conference with each student, and we will compete the contract together. We are a 1:1 school, so they will keep a copy of the contract in their Google Drive folder (that I have access to as well), and I will keep a signed copy in my Genius Hour folder. 
• Timeline/Checklist - On the back of each contract, I have a chart set up with deadlines. During the conference, I plan to work with each student to set manageable goals. It's really hard to give class wide deadlines when the projects are so different! The checklist helps break it down by student.

Well! That's a bunch! Check back for my next blog post on what students are doing when they miss deadlines for Genius Hour or aren't staying on task.