1. Genius Hour Answering Your Questions

2. Goals/Intentions of Genius Hour To learn something or achieve something Make a change in your life or in the world It might be a minor change or a major change To let you learn about what YOU want to learn about, not what the teacher tells you to learn about.

3. What are we supposed to find out? Information about your topic. What you research and how much you produce will depend on the topic you choose. I will work with you to help you figure out what and how much you need to research. How much we should write and how much we really need to research? It depends on what your topic is.

4. Where do I start? Questions to consider: What do you like to spend your time doing outside of school? Have you ever wanted to learn about something but never had the time or opportunity? Is there anything you want to improve in your life? Do you currently use a product you know could be better? How could you improve it?

5. Start thinking Come up with a goal or objective for your project Think about what you want your end goal to be, what do you want to accomplish? Could be informational. (Learn about Chinese culture) Could be achievement based (Donate x amount of food to a local shelter) Ask yourself: What do I want to learn? What do I want to change?

6. What do I start with? See what’s out there related to your topic I don’t have a “one size fits all” answer for this. It really does depend on your interests

7. How long will this last? The topic you pick now you will stick with for the first trimester At second trimester, you will pick a new topic to research or learn about

8. Mentors They can be: People you already know Someone new More than one person (you can have more than 1 mentor) They should not be: Another student-we are looking for an adult mentor You can communicate face to face, over the phone, through email. Really whatever will work best for you and your topic. How to find a mentor? Start researching your topic and see who might be an expert on it that is in the area I can help out too if you get stuck.

9. Grading I have a question about how many points will everything be worth. (Final project, blogs, etc.) I don’t know. I will decide as we go. Here is what I’m thinking right now: Blog-between 10-20 pts Final project/presentation between 50 and 100pts?

10. Will we learn about other people’s projects? Absolutely!! I put a link on my website called: Links to your Classmates’ Blogs You can check out how their project is going anytime you like Also, we will have the final project presentation and probably one other informal sharing “assignment”

11. Final Project/Presentation What will it look like? That is up to you I am still figuring out specific requirements, but you will present using whatever form works for YOU PowerPoint, video, poster, etc I think I will require some sort of technology element be incorporated As of now, you will NOT be writing an essay. We are just looking for a presentation.

12. Final project/presentation Remember, your final project/presentation is you sharing what your project is about, the process you went through and most importantly WHAT DID YOU LEARN? Are we supposed to be working on the final project the whole time or just toward the end of the trimester? Sort of?? All of what you do has a possibility of showing up in your final presentation.

13. Misc. Does our topic have to specifically be based about an invention or an idea to make our world better? No Does the topic have to be interesting to most people? No, it just has to interest YOU This project, at least for this trimester, is done individually. No group work or partners. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk to your classmates about what you’re doing or ask them for advice. I’d LOVE IT if you did that Are we going to have quizzes? No, because there isn’t really anything to test you on.

14. More Misc Can we actually do things such as raise money or make a website? Absolutely! Are there specific things due on a specific day? As of now, not yet. I am thinking we may begin presenting or sharing our projects around the end of November. I will give you plenty of notice about due dates as soon as I/we figure them out Another thing is how are we supposed to have the research to change the world? It can be a minor change. It might only change you or it might change one other person. Don’t stress about “changing the world” I just wanted you to think about how you can impact others.

15. My Plan I will create a document that outlines your project Some items I will include: Goal or objective-what do you want to accomplish What steps do you need to take to meet this goal Where is the research? How will research play a role in this project for you? Who is your mentor and how do you know them? How do you think your mentor will be able to help you? I hope to have this document by next Friday but you can start thinking about the ideas and outlining your responses now on your own Google doc or notebook paper.

16. Timeline?? We have about 8 weeks left to research and work Have your topic chosen by Tuesday Oct 6 th (tentative date) That will leave you with around 6 Fridays to work on your project Presentations will start around Nov 18-20 (this is not set in stone)

17. Recommended Create a Genius Hour folder in your Google drive Keep track of any resources you think might be useful to you Create a RESOURCES document Copy and paste the link and maybe a brief description of any websites you find You can go back later and delete ones that aren’t helpful to you That’s what I did for researching Genius Hour