Genius Hour Goals: Puedo & Quiero

Puedo is for permission; quiero is for YOUR mission.

Earlier in the semester, it became apparent that I needed a way for students to get what they needed, so I whipped up an interactive notebook page on Piktochart, and we ran through some gestures. (While I was at it, I included some tasks that I wanted to ask them to do.)

usar inglés, usar el baño, imprimir, tomar agua, trabajar en el pasillo compartir, tirar la basura, grabar, cerrar/abrir la puerta, borrar la pizarra

And man, if the last IPA conversations were any indication (and that’s kind of the purpose of IPA conversations–indication), then they have got puedo down PAT.

Which is good. Now they can tell me what they are able to do. Now they’re ready to do more.

It was a little after introducing can, though, that the first six-week grading period was winding down, and I wanted them to just start forming the idea of where their passion projects would end up. Of course I could have had them recycle what they “CAN” do, but I needed something with a little more drive to it.

Confession time: I’ve only had ONE half-hearted attempt to touch on Genius Hour at all since September, and none since the end of October. Unless you count interpreting their passion Pinterest pins for portfolios.

So my students started this page almost 2 months ago, and we are just now returning to it the final week before exams. I think I can play it off as an intentional maneuver, but really it was just a time thing. This way, though, they at least got the idea of where they might want to head early enough that it may have taken root there in the deep, dark topsoil of their little brains

What we got the firs time around, though, was a good brainstorm about what they might WANT to create for their final passion project presentation:

The quiero gesture is stretching your hand out and folding it rapidly, like”gimme gimme”

• póster
• lista musical
• video
• cuento
• arte
• infografía
• sitio web
• libro
• modelos
• diorama
• comida
• obra de teatro
• disfraz
• baile
• canción
• presentación

What we need to do now is fill in the gaps with what they want to look for, what’s still missing so they CAN do what they WANTED to do.

And what they NEED to do, based on the presentational and interpersonal AAPPL rubrics. The interpretation part of their personalized final IPAs (including the new, more comprehensible listening spin) will be taken care of this week, so all they NEED is to demonstrate their language production skills in writing and speaking–and get their classmates to take part. (Asking and answering questions factor in if they’re going to break out of Novice Mid, after all!)

So now they need to demonstrate what they CAN do by

1. creating something that represents their passion (something from our brainstorm),
2. writing a description, an explanation of their passion and/or creation,
3. teaching the class 10 vocabulary words necessary for interactionm for the purpose of
4. engaging the class in conversation about their passion.

After looking at the elements of the final project (I still recommend a 10-word visual vocabulary session to prep their audience, too) we’ll brainstorm what they want to do next, reinforcing at least the yo form repeatedly: “Quiero buscar materiales”; “Quiero buscar canciones relevantes.” Then for reflection, it’s paired work:

Record a conversation with a partner about what you WANT to do to prepare for your presentation. Be sure to ASK your partner AT LEAST 3 questions about their presentation as well. 

Include what you need for -the vocabulary visual-the writing-your creation-the class conversation on presentation day.

Then they can begin the work on what they want to use to show what they can do.