This week was the beginning of our Genius Hour projects in ART 7. I can not tell you how often I wanted to start this but didn't. I don't know what it was- fear in this day and age of evaluations and student growth, fear that I wasn't sure I could guide them, or just using the lazy excuse of "there is not enough time". After attending MACUL 2014 and listening to @theneardyteacher (Nicholas Provenzano) share his Genius Hour experience with his HS students, I was inspired and renewed in my determination to give my kids a say in their education. That is exactly was Genius Hour (or 20 Time ) is- giving the students a piece of their education back.
This got me wondering- what would happen if we let students have a say-all the time? Of course there are things they should learn but, what if we gave them a say to explore their interests, a voice to express their talents and a means to showcase their learning that is all their own? Would we still be a country playing "catch up" to the Eastern world? Would we be lacking engineers, artists, critical thinkers? Would our kids be hesitant to read or write? Would they be afraid to express their interests if they were outside the "cool" realm of hobbies? Would kids be afraid to be proud of themselves?
I don't have the answers. I just don't know. But this one small hour of my day makes me think that our kids would do nothing but benefit from having a say in their education. I have to believe that if we gave them a chance- we would be blown away.
Taking a line from Kid President here and giving it my own twist:
The kids need to know that we believe in them enough to give them a chance, a real chance to become something great, to live up to their potential, to explore who they are - a real chance to LOVE their education. When they leave us they should believe they got the best chance to become a great contributor to the world.
This got me wondering- what would happen if we let students have a say-all the time? Of course there are things they should learn but, what if we gave them a say to explore their interests, a voice to express their talents and a means to showcase their learning that is all their own? Would we still be a country playing "catch up" to the Eastern world? Would we be lacking engineers, artists, critical thinkers? Would our kids be hesitant to read or write? Would they be afraid to express their interests if they were outside the "cool" realm of hobbies? Would kids be afraid to be proud of themselves?
I don't have the answers. I just don't know. But this one small hour of my day makes me think that our kids would do nothing but benefit from having a say in their education. I have to believe that if we gave them a chance- we would be blown away.
Taking a line from Kid President here and giving it my own twist:
The kids need to know that we believe in them enough to give them a chance, a real chance to become something great, to live up to their potential, to explore who they are - a real chance to LOVE their education. When they leave us they should believe they got the best chance to become a great contributor to the world.