Genius Hour Agenda Overview

In my Spanish classes, Genius Hour starts off as a weekly exploration of individual student interests in the target language, where I guide students through different resources and strategies for resource analysis. The purpose is still discovery and exploration, pursuing individual student passions, but I’ve found that if I simply say, “Go wild! Just do it in Spanish and write something by the end!” their little gears screech to a halt. So I spend each Friday showing them ways to explore something they already love, just in Spanish. I mean, honestly, if they knew where to start and how to proceed, I’d be obsolete.

After the first discussion, though, the project morphs into a more independent, daily endeavor, in preparation for sharing a lesson on their topic with the class. Having established basic vocabulary for students’ respective topics through a variety of authentic input contexts, we will shift to a more interpersonal and presentational output-based focus. Students will still select and interpret relevant resources, but instead of JUST collecting information, they will start discussing and writing about what they know.

The tasks I have planned are broken up on our Trello board (pictured above) by purpose, but below is the actual chronological order I anticipate following through the end of the semester. Each item on the list should take no more than one class period, and some should take less, especially after repeated practice, as with reflection, discussion, and vocabulary updates. 

For each task, students are adding something to the class blog and labeling it with their names (actually tagging the post with their first names), meaning they–and I–can get to previous work any time they need. In the beginning, actual “blog posts” are pretty rare, because we’re too busy embedding Pinterest boards, Storify stories of tweets, and Diigo lists to reflect some simple interpretation.

The idea is to get them familiar with certain curation tools and building semantic, contextual connections–including visuals–with vocabulary for their individual themes through interpretation. Then they can start applying what they find to interpersonal exchanges and presentational writing and speaking.

So here’s how I envision it going down:

Advanced or motivated students can cruise through this and repeat activities that they found helpful or enjoyable. Struggling students can take it at their own pace and still have a thorough project by the end.

So far, it’s been pretty easy to track individual students’ progress this way and keep them moving forward. Several are frustrated by the number of sites that get thrown at them week after week, but I can also see them becoming more comfortable with them, too, and seeing how they could use them for other purposes.

It’s a process I’ll continue to hone (I especially feel like there’s something missing in the presentation planning stage), but the more I break it down, the more personalized–and personal–the experience becomes!