Genius Hour Project

To Students and Parent(s)/Guardian(s): We are introducing a new project called Genius Hour at UPS this spring. The search-engine giant, Google, allows its engineers to spend 20% of their time to work on any pet project that they want. The idea is very simple. Allow people to work on something that interests them, and productivity will go up. We are following a similar model. We will give the students 80 minutes a week to pursue a topic they are passionate about. They will be presenting their learning in June. Goals of this project: *to promote, support, and model creative, innovative thinking and inventiveness *to allow students an opportunity to discover/investigate one of their passions and reflect on/share their learning with others *provide students and teachers an opportunity to develop skill sets that are valuable in any learning situation (research, experimentation, collaboration, creativity, problem solving and critical thinking) *to provide an opportunity for classes to share their Genius and Passion Projects with others Brainstorming At the beginning of the project, students will begin brainstorming ideas for a project proposal. Students may work alone, or in a group with similar interests. While brainstorming, I will encourage students to make the project ―Product Focused.‖ At the end of the course I want them to have made something that is a completed product. It could be an event or service to help others in the school or community. It could also be a digital project like a short film or video game. Proposal Once the team has an idea of what project they want to pursue, they begin writing the proposal. This is how the team will ―pitch‖ the project to me and the rest of the class. In this proposal, students will answer the following questions. What is your project? Who will work with you on this project? Who is the audience / user base / client base for this project? Why is this project worthwhile? What do you expect to learn from this project? What PRODUCT will you have to show at the end of the course? What sort of expenses will be involved in your project and how will you cover them? What sort of equipment will you need and where will you get it? What is your timeline for completing (or launching) your project? The Blog or Journal Each week each student is required to write a blog post or journal entry to discuss their progress. They will write about the week, what they worked on, what they learned, what challenges they faced, and what they anticipate in the future. Genius Hour Days Students will have one day a week to work on their projects. If students need to be off-campus to work on their projects, they are welcome to do that on their own time during weekends or afternoons and use the scheduled class time as a productive tutorial period, meeting period, or writing period. The following days have been designated as Genius Hour days: Monday, March 3rd– Introduction/Brainstorming Week of March Break –Brainstorming ideas Week of March 17th—Proposals completed Week of March 24th to the Week of May 26th - Class time to work Week of June 2nd – Presentations begin

The Final Presentation At the end of the course, each team or individual will give a presentation to students, teachers, and community members where they will show off their work. This will be carefully written, choreographed, and rehearsed to produce the best presentation they’ve ever given. Presentations will occur in the gymnasium. Parents and public will be invited. Assessment I am going to assess students on the various elements of the project. A significant portion of their grade will be dependent on the following elements with rubrics. The Proposal Is the proposal on-time, and does it address the required questions appropriately? The Blog or Journal Do the blog posts meet the required length, address the required topic? The Product Did you successfully move from idea phase to production phase, and do you have something to show at the end of the course? Self-assessment rubric Productivity Are you spending your Genius hour time by actively and passionately working on your project? If not, we need to quickly adjust the project so you are working on something that is intrinsically motivating. This is less objective, but if I see students not being productive, I will intervene. Final Presentation Does your presentation meet all of the required elements? What if my project is a failure? The only truly failed project is the one that doesn’t get done. I want students to strive to show off a successful product at the end of the course, but I don’t want the quest for perfection to lead to an incomplete project. If you feel that your project is a failure, I want to hear about it. What did you learn about it? Think about a science fair project. If your hypothesis was wrong, was your project a failure? If you worked productively and your project did not turn out as you hoped you need to share your learning in your presentation. Don’t strive for failure, but don’t be afraid of it either! If you have any questions or concerns please let me know. I look forward to sharing our learning. Mme Stokes