Genius Hour in junior grades

Whoever thought Genius would be a huge hit within a classroom full of grade 6's? For those of you who may not know what Genius hour is, it's an hour of student directed independent projects that is based on google's 80/20 work . It provides students a chance to explore their interests and develop research and presentation skills that are creative and outside the box. As an Early Childhood Educator I knew the importance of inquiry based learning, but had a difficult time bringing it into the classroom with older students. I read many sites, books, and other educator's blogs about Genius hour and how they incorporated it within the classroom. Then I went for it! I introduced Genius hour to the grade 6's by informing the students that they were able to find a topic of interest and research more into it. This was a first attempt and I learned as I went. Most of the time I felt not prepared, did not know what to except, and I felt the class was chaos. Let me explain it was well worth the feelings in the end! Here are a few things I learned as I went along. 

Introducing Genius Hour to the students

As a class we created a success criteria that allowed the students to understand what their task was and how they can become successful. I provided each student a copy after it was created and a copied was always visual in the classroom. This allowed students to always refer to it throughout the process. Next I had students brainstorm on the topics that they were curious about. Before introducing this I would have students begin the brainstorm a week or two before where they can write it on a sticky note (similar to a wonder wall) and place it on the board. This will allow students to have an idea at the start and begin their research. 

Reflection

I had students verbally inform what their topic was going to be but I did not have them write it down and submit it.  When I do it again, I would have students fill out the form below and submit it that way it provides them more thinking it through before getting started. It also allows me to be a little more organized with who is doing what. As educator's we understand the importance of reflection, but getting students involved in self-reflection could be hard.

It took a few classes (longer then I thought) to get the process started. At first I did not have the students record what they were doing during the hour. About half way through I thought they should be recording what they are doing within the hour that is provided to them (similar to a self assessment) so they can document their learning as it occurs. This would be something that they would hand into me as part of the written portion.

Presentation

Students knew at the beginning that their projects were going to be shared with the class. I left it open for them to create ways to share it. As we moved forward students wanted to share with other students and parents. In the end we did a Genius hour night (attached to the school's Christmas concert night) where those students who wanted to share were able to set up within different class rooms and share with people who came by their exhibit. Below is the rubric that I used for the students presentation and in class work. This can be altered for any grade.

I may have jumped two feet into taking this on, but it was well worth it! The presentations, student growth, and ideas that I would have never thought of were shared. Students were asking to continue this type of project because they had some many things they wanted to research and share with one another. As educators we tell students to try something new and go outside their comfort zone, why can't we?

Have you ever done Genius hour before? Please share your thoughts, or best tips below!