@mrsdkrebs @joykirr @coolcatteacher @hughtheteacher @robynthiessen What do u find the hardest aspect of #geniushour?

— Antonella albini (@antos_twitt) May 6, 2013

I answered with this:

@antos_twitt @joykirr @coolcatteacher @hughtheteacher @robynthiessen I hope Ss would dig deeper into learning before jumping into a project.

— Denise Krebs (@mrsdkrebs) May 6, 2013

She asked me for further clarification:

@mrsdkrebs @joykirr @coolcatteacher @hughtheteacher @robynthiessen apologies. not sure i understand r u saying ur high expectations?

— Antonella albini (@antos_twitt) May 6, 2013

I’m  sure I can’t explain my convoluted thinking in a tweet, Antonella, so I thought I would try to expound here. This is not the first time I’ve been confused about genius hour.

When I began doing genius hour, I told students they could learn, create, or master a skill.  I was inspired by Dan Pink’s three things that motivate — autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

It’s hard for us as teachers to let go and let students learn. I seem to go through these lapses in genius to try to control the learning environment, even during genius hour.

I really did mean it when I said they could “Do the Stuff.” Then a few months later when someone asked about doing something like physical education for genius hour, I said no. After further inspiration by Sir Ken Robinson and the encouragement of my PLN, I changed my mind and told J he could practice his physical intelligence.

So, today when Antonella asked about what the hardest aspect of genius hour is, I attempted to comment in a few short characters that I want them to research and learn more. (I guess that’s why I have been experimenting with researcher’s workshop in social studies and science classes. When we do researcher’s workshop, I explain it’s like genius hour within the confines of the content standards.)

During regular genius hour, sometimes students choose to create a video, or learn to edit photos, or bake, or create art or music. What I tried to tell Antonella this morning was I wanted them to learn, for instance, about an event in history and then make a video to show their learning. I guess I was again looking at the ideas of creating and producing for the learning of those skills as second-class genius hour.

Another example is that I’ve been trying all year to inspire students to take action in solving heart-breaking problems. I don’t want to try to force them to do that for genius hour, though. They have to choose to take action. Sometimes it happens when we least expect it.

I want to let them be productive and creative, but I forget. Like this morning when answering Antonella’s tweet without thinking.

Do I really trust that I can give up 20% of my control? Many people share this adage about Google Time: In 20% of the time Google gives them to work on projects of their choice, Google’s engineers have created 50% of the most popular Google products.

One thing I do know, students will someday look back and remember lessons learned during genius hour. I know it.

I’m not so sure they will remember much about the other 80% of their work in my classes.

This week the topic has been “Why Do I Teach?” As I attempted to answer that question, I realized that on any given day it depended on the conversations I had been having most recently. On Monday my answer would have been that I teach to leave a legacy (thanks to Gallit). On Tuesday, my answer would be to make myself and the world a better place (thanks to Ben). On Wednesday my answer would be because I was compelled to teach (thanks to Sheri) or because relationships with growing students are so rich and important (thanks to Erin). On Thursday, my answer would have been because teaching is a positive profession and we can be successful in important life-changing ways (thanks to Jas).

Well, finally it was Friday, and my turn. My top ten list is heavily influenced by the vlogs and conversations of my fellow Open Spokes.

In the spirit of learning to vlog, I’m going to refrain from writing the commentary that I meant to say in the video. I’m just going to leave you with the outline and the vlog itself. Thanks!

Top Ten Reasons I Teach

10. Learning perks.

9. Rubbing elbows with our role models.

8. Where else is a chief learner to go?

7. Waiting for education reinvention.

6. I want to seek forgiveness for my mistakes.

5. I want to be better.

4. I want to help students, colleagues and the world be better.

3. I want to leave a legacy.

2. I am compelled to teach.

1. I want to give students a safe place to be.

Image tweeted by Angela Maiers

Last night during our Genius Hour Twitter chat and book study of Angela Maiers and Amy Sanvold‘s The Passion-Driven Classroom, I was inspired by passionate educators who inspire passion in their students. I wondered how to help young teens harness their energetic spirit and begin to use it to make the world a better place.

How do I inspire them to act? Could they ever be ready for Angela’s Quest2Matter?

Well, little did I know that I would come to school today, and they would be thinking the same thing I was. How did that happen?

I do have an idea about what inspired them, and it’s very simple. And unrelated to my pep talks.

In science, they were working on a researcher’s workshop project on something related to genetics, DNA or heredity. After watching a recent video interview with Paul Solarz, I had decided to try the KWHLAQ he had learned about from Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano on her Langwitches.com site. (Awesome resources coming from these great connections!)

Well, when they got to the “A” column – “What action will I take?” – they took the chart seriously. That’s when they started brainstorming. Five of them had chosen to study some aspect of Down syndrome, and they were working on the same Google Document. I started hearing things like, “Let’s go on a Buddy Walk.” “Let’s have a car wash and raise money for GiGi’s Playhouse.” “Let’s play games with the residents at Hope Haven.”

They didn’t stop with Down syndrome. They continued their conversation the next period in study hall and came up with this list. (They said we can do some of the list next year. Thank goodness! Since school is out for summer in three weeks!)

Screenshot of their Google Doc with their “ACTION” ideas.

When I met up with them again, they had shared the above Google Doc with me, talked to our principal, emailed a principal at a sister school to see if their 7th graders could join in, emailed the manager at a grocery store to see if we can have a car wash, contacted GiGi’s Playhouse, and…who knows what else!

I loved the conversation I heard: “Can we keep working on this sixth period?” “How about tomorrow? We can work on it in Genius Hour, right?”

Here, I would have thought I was trying to inspire this kind of action all year. If I would have known, I would have tried the upgraded KWL chart months ago!

I love my genius students! And my genius PLN! And, yes, I think they will be ready!

easel.ly

Learning is not about rote memorization–for students or teachers. It has to be about something more. I worry we don’t give students time to LEARN!

It constantly remains a source of disappointment to me that my drawings are not yet what I want them to be. The difficulties are indeed numerous and great, and cannot be overcome at once. To make progress is a kind of miner’s work; it doesn’t advance as quickly as one would like, and as others also expect, but as one stands before such a task, the basic necessities are patience and faithfulness. In fact, I do not think much about the difficulties, because if one thought of them too much one would get stunned or disturbed.

Mr. Vincent Van Gogh, one of the world’s most famous artists, wrote these words in a letter to his brother.

He speaks of perseverance, grit and stick-to-it-iveness — qualities that I hope and believe my students and I learn during genius hour.

]]> http://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/2013/04/22/vincent-van-gogh-persevering/feed/ 4 http://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/2013/04/20/why-school-the-movie/ http://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/2013/04/20/why-school-the-movie/#comments Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:43:12 +0000 Denise Krebs http://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/?p=3184 Continue reading →]]>

Quotes from Will Richardson’s blog post about Why School? The Movie

Thanks to a tweet from Nancy Carroll, I learned about Will Richardson’s huge project.

#geniushour @joykirr @mrsdkrebs Interested? #whyschoolbook via @plnaugle: Have you seen this willrichardson.com/post/482920831…. I just signed up.”

— Nancy Carroll (@ncarroll24) April 20, 2013

It will be a movie inspired by his TED book Why School?

He wrote about the project on Friday here: “‘Why School?’ The Movie (?)”

Regarding the movie and the students and educators Will is hoping to recruit to help, he writes:

…we want it to be “our” project as in the global community of connected educators that care deeply about what schools must become for our kids to flourish in their futures. Those who believe in some semblance of that third narrative I wrote about recently and that we need desperately to bring to scale a new conversation about schools and classrooms and learning in the modern world.

I am all in for that third narrative he wrote about earlier this month in the post “The Three Narratives.”

The way forward is to change the emphasis on student learning from “what” to learn to, instead, “how” to learn.

I’m attempting this in my classroom. I lean every day on my PLN to help me find the way. And now, I’m excited to help make this movie happen!

Do you want to be part of this ground-breaking movie? I signed up to do “grunt work,” maybe you’ll want to join me.

Read Will’s post to find out how you can be involved.

A lot has changed in five years. Here are some of the things I’m looking forward to in five more years.

See more videos from the Fellowship of Open Spokes.

I never thought I’d say I was a vlogger. And I won’t say it just yet, but I did join the Fellowship of Open Spokes. The Fellowship “meets” in a connected YouTube channel where educators are sharing and discussing their reflections, questions, and learnings in video format.

You can subscribe to the channel and join in the conversation, even if you don’t want to vlog.

Should you be interested in trying your hand at vlogging, check out this Google Doc with more information. You can also learn more on the Google+ Community called “Reflective Practice Vlogging.”

These two pictures tell the story of my small group of seventh graders. I tease them sometimes and tell them they are one organism. They are a collaborative, learn-together group. And when an “organism” is studying the Holocaust, sometimes it’s better to do it together.

Being in a connected world of collaborative learning together is a good thing.