Revamping our Essential Questions

As I posted in my most recent blog post, my students gave their very first genius hour presentations and they were just ho-hum.  After watching each others and providing feedback as audience members, the students were able to reflect on their own presentations and most of them were very disappointed in what they had produced.  I told them they would have an opportunity to edit/revise their presentations and give them again in about a month, but they still weren't satisfied.  We talked together as a group and a majority of the students were able to articulate that they were unhappy with the topics and essential questions that they chose.  They felt like they didn't have a very deep understanding about what they were going to do with those topics and asked if they could switch and research something different.  I was pleased with their own assessments, so we began talking about new ideas.

Brainstorming New Ideas:

I took a little time over the weekend to think about my own ideas.  Coming up with something you are truly passionate about is challenging, so I decided to utilize my social media to help me come up with some ideas that may be engaging for the students as well.  Based on some of the topics that I noticed on my feeds, I was able to begin creating some questions.

After watching a digital "conversation" regarding the number of students with phones in the classroom:

• How much time do students at Harmon spend on their cell phones?
• What are some of the negative impacts for people who are addicted to their phones?
• What are some of the withdrawals that a person may go through when they forget their phone?

After seeing a friend post that she experienced the McDonald's McLovin' free meal:

• Which fast food restaurant do most Harmon students frequent?
• What are some of the healthy choices you can pick at a fast food restaurant?
• What are some of the biggest health concerns for people who frequent fast food restaurants?

Miscellaneous questions instigated by tweets:

• What are the educational benefits of playing minecraft?
•  How much sugar do students eat/drink each day and how does that impact their health?
• What is the average amount of sleep for a high schooler and how does this impact their education?
• What is color?
• Why do some say black people "talk white" when they use formal language?

With this last question, I shared an incredible spoken word piece around this topic: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tN4Zulagb8#t=49

The Results:

Students spent some time going through their social media feeds and began coming up with some great ideas.  About 95% of the students chose a different topic, something they felt more passionate about.  Some examples included:

• What is Isis and how are their actions impacting our generation?
• How are the decisions made in the Kansas state government impacting our high school education?
• What would students say are the top 10 restaurants in the Kansas City metro area?
• Which is better an android or an apple iPhone and why?
• What steps can our generation take to be healthier and live longer?
• What makes poetry beautiful?

These examples are deeper than the surface level questions students were asking before.  My class created their first ever blog and began working on their first blog post.  They were all engaged and focused on sharing their thoughts with others.  Their energy was contagious and I'm very excited to see their final products.  

First Presentations = Mediocre Presentations

After many interruptions in our schedule, we were finally able to give our very first Genius Hour presentations.  Students had the entire semester to identify their passion, research the topic, and

prepare for their presentation.  As this was the first time I have been through this process, I did not put too many stipulations on what I expected.  As a result, there were things that they did very well and there are things that I have learned from and will do differently next time.

Some of the topics that students presented included:

• Why do women grow facial hair?  A young man in the class chose this as his essential question after a humorous conversation with his table partners.  He interviewed several people asking them why they thought women had facial hair and how they reacted when they saw this.
• What happens to people when they get caught abusing animals?  I have a young lady who is very passionate about animals and wanted to learn more about this.  She was able to interview a lady who works at an animal shelter and get some information.  She put together an iMovie which included facts about animal abuse and the interview itself.
• How can I learn to draw anime?  A young lady wanted to become a better artist and specifically wanted to teach herself how to draw anime.  The presentation was fun because she learned how to use iMovie and fast forward her making the drawing.  

My learning from the student presentations:

1. Very few of the students actually answered their essential question.  They are still in a place where they want to google the information and simply present that instead of teaching themselves and their audience something new based on a synthesis of their information.  
2. Everyone found a way to utilize technology for their presentations.  Several power points or google slides were used, but there were also students who created prezis and iMovies.  Next time around, I will "ban" power points and google slides to force them to think beyond those resources.  
3. I teach English and it is very important that students go through the entire writing process in my class, which often includes MANY rewrites in order to get the grade they want on the paper.  After reflecting on these presentations, I realized that I need to look at these presentations in the same way.  Students need to learn what it takes to get up and give a quality presentation and usually that takes lots and lots of practice.

Audience Participation

As students were giving their presentations, it was very important to me that the audience members remain engaged in the process.  Everyone was given a set of post it notes to write on.  They were asked to do two things during the presentations.  First, they needed to write down anything that they learned from the presentation.  I felt like this was very important because it would help the presenter gauge whether they were able to share the information the way they meant for it to be heard.  Second, they wrote down all the suggestions they could think of to help the presenter improve their overall presentation.  These notes were given to the presenter to use as they reflected on what they were going to do different next time.

Next Steps:

• Students will review the notes given to them by the audience members, including notes that I wrote down for them.
• They will use this information to identify what else they need to research and add to their presentations.
• Students will work on their overall presentations, considering the use of technology and which method is best for the audience.  ( I already have one young man, who gave us lots of data about domestic abuse through a power point, who has decided to create an infograph to share that information next time.)
• EVERYONE will give their presentations a second time.

I'm excited to watch the students edit and revise their work over the next few weeks as they prepare to improve their presentations.  I hope to tape some of them so that I can share them on the next post.