8/30/2013 August 30, 2013Our first eighth grade tech class of the year was August 27. The time goes by very quickly and we need to cover the distance from one end of the building to the other, so time in the lab will be very busy. It is difficult when students miss a class that they only have once a week, but it is important that they take responsibility for checking this blog and also the class webmix to be sure they are current with assignments. The image at the left was painted on the desk of Mrs. Denise Krebs, one of the co-founders of the Genius Hour wiki. I have been reading a lot about Genius Hour/Passion Projects and the work of teachers like Mrs. Krebs and educational leaders like Angela Maiers. Students come to technology class to learn tech literacy but...technology does not stand alone. Technology is the set of tools that help us to learn more, and learn in new ways, and develop and share new ideas. And so I have presented the idea of a Genius Hour project, or Passion Project, to this year's eighth grade class. The concept is loosely based on Google's 20% Time. (which after a number of years it seems is now being phased out at Google!) The idea is to allow students to learn about something they really want to learn about and then share that knowledge and/or finished project with their classmates, and the world. We can make use of many technology skills and tools in this endeavor, and presentation and communication skills are vital in today's world. There are many opportunities to target our technology curriculum guidelines which are based on the National Technology Standards. We will also develop skills with spreadsheets and formulas for calculating the growth of our "stock portfolios" in the coming weeks as well as using technology to enhance learning across the curriculum.
Since we only meet once a week we will take approximately 2 class periods per quarter for the independent project work, with a presentation at the end of the first semester. Brainstorming and idea development begins on Sept. 3. Let the genius flow! Comments are closed.
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