What is Genius Hour?

Hello World! 

     I'm sure that many of you have heard this term "Genius Hour" being tossed around recently. Well there is nothing to be scared about, rather this is something we should be celebrating because this allows for everyone (including students and adults) to set aside an hour of their day to research something they are passionate about! This encourages self-directed, passion based learning - it allows for us to disconnect from our everyday lives and research topics that we are interested in and want to learn more about. Who wouldn't want to join in on these kinds of activities - not only are we being driven by our passions, but this is a fulfilling activity as well!

If you are still unsure as to what Genius Hour is, check out this video that I have attached below! I made this video to provide you with more information about Genius Hour. 🙂

     I hope this video provided you with more information on Genius hour, but most importantly, I hope this encourages you to engage in your own genius hour research, whether it is inside or outside of the classroom, to further look into topics and areas of focus that you are interested in! This benefits everyone, trust me. This is my second time taking part in a genius hour activity and it only makes me want to do this more often - but most importantly, as an educator, this makes me want to integrate this into my own class to inspire student learning through emphasizing their own interests and passions!

I hope you continue to follow me during my genius hour journey! 🙂

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     As you saw I created this video using PowToon, which is an online resource that allows for your creativity to come alive when creating any form of visual presentation. It is extremely easy to use and provides you with so many opportunities to create detailed and engaging presentations. After working with this I can definitely see myself using this within my own classroom - whether it is for making fun summary videos to help with student learning to encouraging my students to create their own videos to share with their peers, this could even be used by my students to share their findings for their own Genius Hour! The possibilities are endless for integrating this into the classroom as it can be used in so many different ways - but each of these ways benefit student learning as it not only presents information in visible and easy to follow ways, but it also provides students with a creative outlet when it comes to their own presentations.

Giphy. (N.D.). Brain Studying. Retrieved from https://giphy.com/gifs/imadeit-qKltgF7Aw515K 

Logging off for now!

-Miss. Wighton