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.

Finding our Topics

The students really enjoyed watching the videos during Session Two and we had lots of lively conversations about what types of projects each activity fit into (solving a problem or following a passion).  However, it was now time for them to start finding their own topics to research.  For Session Three, we decided to have the students create concept maps around one area of interest created during their previous brainstorming.  This was a very engaging activity for them, but it was really, really tough.  We had to fall back on the internet and each other for lots of assistance.  Students discussed in small teams different ideas to add to their concept maps and then we used sites such as Pinterest, Twitter (#yourtopic), and blogs on Feedly to find additional information.  Each student was able to break their topic into 4 categories and then to give specific details inside each of those categories.

Once students were finished with their concept maps, they highlighted the one specific detail that they were most interested in and wrote "I Wonder" statements on the back.  We had an "Essential Question" mini-lesson, and then they used their "I Wonder" statements to write their own for the project.  Some examples:

Additional examples can be found here.

My Reflection:

It took 3 different class periods to work through all of these steps.  I had to be actively moving from group to group to assist students in finding ideas.  Although they were engaged in the conversation, it was easy for them to get frustrated and stop coming up with ideas for their concept map.  Most of them chose topics that they want to learn more about making it challenging to fill in the concept map without help.  However, once they worked through these issues and completed their maps, it was much easier to help them come up with essential questions.  I think most of the students fill pretty good about their ideas and are ready to start their research.

Link to lesson outline for Session Three

Engaged and Confused (Session Two of GH)

***Note: The pronoun "we" will be used throughout this post because it includes the thoughts/reflections of six different teachers who are working together to provide Genius Hour to their 9th grade students.

Quick Review:
Last week we opened Genius Hour by choosing not to share specifics.  Instead we held a brainstorming session with the goal of creating a list of potential topics.  For session two this week, we decided to give our students a bit more information.  We shared with the students that they would choose a topic to research and that they would present their learnings and products to the class at the end of the semester in a formal presentation.  The idea of presenting in front of their peers caused some anxiety, but they still appeared interested in the overall project.  We will provide more specific details about Genius Hour during next week's session.

Session Two:
For session two, we decided to discuss Genius Hour in terms of two different types of projects: "following a passion" or "solving a problem."  We then watched several videos that weren't necessarily Genius Hour projects, but presented the idea of following an individual's passion or solving a problem.  (See the link for Session Two below for clips that we chose to use.)  Students really enjoyed the videos and we had great conversations about what they saw.  We then did a Gradual Release of Responsibility lesson.  We took a look at their brainstormings from Session One and chose some topics to discuss.  First, the teacher took a topic and shared ideas about some projects that (s)he could do, we then discussed a different topic together as a class, we then gave each small group a different topic which they discussed and then shared out to the entire class.  Finally, we asked each individual student to create their own personal list of 5 topics with potential projects to go with each one.  (The Session Two link below will provide more specific information about how we walked through this lesson.)

Our Reflections:
Students have remained actively engaged during both sessions.  The graffiti activity from Session One went extremely well and the students loved discussing the videos.  Our biggest concern at this point is how to help students identify a topic that they will engage in independently.  Students seem to choose topics that they know they should care about (bullying, suicide, etc.) rather than pick something that they are truly passionate about.  Several seem confused with this sudden autonomy.  They appear to be waiting on the teacher to "tell" them the correct answer.  The big question is how do we get the students to really care about this and not simply feel like it is just another school project.

Next Steps:
We are considering two steps for our next session.

1.  We will have students choose a single topic and create a mind map showing the different components that make up that idea.  For example, if the topic is music, the components could be: types of music, production of music, creating own music, music business, etc.  Hopefully, this will help them to also generate some project ideas to go along with the topic.
2.  We will give a mini lesson on essential questions.  Students will practice writing some essential questions using ideas created on their concept map.

Question:
What are some ways that you have been able to successfully have students "buy in" to the educational ideas that go beyond the traditional classroom?

Link to Session Two

Genius Hour Undercover (Session One of GH)

I have been in education for 21 years, but this past summer was the first time I ever heard of Genius Hour.  I happened to come across a twitter feed and my curiosity caused me to start exploring.

"Genius hour is a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom.  It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school." -Chris Kesler

I was instantly hooked and gathered as many resources as I could.  I teach 9th grade English, but I decided to implement Genius Hour in my Family Advocacy (FA).  FA creates an opportunity for teachers to build a strong relationship with a small group of students (18-20 students usually).  We are their academic advocate and an immediate point of contact for their parents.  Our FAs meet twice a week, every Monday and Friday, for 90 minutes each.  The first 30 minutes is spent in MIRP (monitored independent reading program) and the last hour is pretty open to teachers.  I have instituted character building curriculum, college/career readiness activities, and some study hall time.  I have never really been pleased with the outcome, so I decided this would be the perfect place to do some independent learning through Genius Hour.  Luckily, there are 8 other 9th grade teachers who are interested and have decided to step up with me.  We have already had lots of conversations and have agreed to share ideas as we move through this process.

This past Friday was our first session with Genius Hour.  We decided to go incognito.  We did not want students to be so worried about what their project was going to be about that they would limit themselves during the brainstorming. To avoid this tunnel vision, we decided to keep it all quiet for now.

I started the discussion in my classroom with the question "What is one adjective that you would use to describe school?"  The overwhelming answer was "boring".  I then asked why they felt school was boring.  For my students, very obvious answers began to pop up.  "It starts too early!"  "Teachers talk too much!"  "Too much homework."  Then, one young lady raised her hand and said, "Everything is decided by the teachers.  What we read, what we study, what we write about.  Why can't we talk about things that matter to us."  What a perfect answer.  We then watched "Pep Talk from Kid President" and discussed things that people have invented that make our world awesome.  (Cell phones, toilets, cars, etc.)

Finally, it was time to get the students up and moving.  We participated in a Graffiti Activity.  Six pieces of chart paper were placed around the room with a different question on each:

• What types of jobs are you interested in?
• What is something that really bothers you that you would like to see changed? (i.e.

  

  Posters with student responses

  homelessness in KCK)
• What is something you would like to try, but have been too afraid to attempt?  (i.e. parasailing)
• What is something others enjoy, but you despise?  (i.e. mushrooms, snow skiing)
•  What do you enjoy doing during your free time?
• What are some things you are really good at?

In small groups, students spent three minutes at each poster paper writing down as many ideas as they could. We will use these posters as we start to narrow down our ideas.

My reflection: students were very engaged in the entire process. They were most excited about participating in the graffiti activity. There were tons of very interesting answers (love playing the flute, enjoy writing my own music, create my own puppets, really disturbed by human trafficking, want to help teens who are suffering with depression). I learned so much about my students and it is only the first week of school.

Next steps: students will now work independently to write down their passions and the things that break their heart. I will give them the outline of each and the students will be creative about filling them in. I'm very excited to see each individual finished product and to have an authentic, one-on-one conversation with the students about their passions.

Link to lesson outline for session one.