How Genius Hour is Learning by Robert Quezada Echegoyen

With genius hour I have learned how to use Google Docs and Google  slides. I also learned how to use the special research tools and much much more. I have learned a lot more things about the things I like. Genius hour it is learning, not a waste of time!                                                                                   

New Beginnings: Welcome back to Genius Hour!

It's a new year, with a new group of grade 5 students at Millwood Junior School in the Toronto District School Board.  This year's graduating class has already had Genius Hour for a year and has hit the ground running.  They are in touch with their passions and remember how to formulate a "thick" Guiding Question.  They already know how to make Google Slide Presentations with links in them, full of exciting images and videos!  They know how to use Google Voice typing in Google Docs to get their ideas into print quickly.  They know how to use Google Voice Typing in Google Docs to get their ideas into print quickly.  They are experts at finding information using the Research Tool in Google Docs/Slides/Drawings to find the facts!  They remember that they must always be critical when choosing their sources.  They also understand the ethics behind the need to cite their sources.  It's a new year and they are ready to begin new projects in Genius Hour and comment on the process in this blog. So keep an eye on this space. Here's to new beginnings!  The journey has just begun and the best is yet to come! 

Genius Hour by Alexandria

Today is one of our last days at Millwood. We have learned so much had so much fun. Genius hour is much fun; because you get explore and learn new things about your and other people's passions. I have learned tons about swimming and a lot about wakeboarding,dogs, dance e.t.c from people who have presented their passion.  Genius Hour is not only good for pursuing your  passion it's also great  for learning about technology I have learned millions about google slides google docs e.t.c.

Nathan's Blog

Hi guys ! Today i’m gonna write about  genius hour.

Genius hour was an amazing experence that has insipired me to create my own blog :http://creativcat.weebly.com/. One of the cool things about genius hour is the freedom to choose your topic. I love  genius hour and never will forget it.

My Grade 5 Year by Callie Z

Year:2015-2016

Some people think that all there is to a grade five year is: school.   There is a lot more to a full year than that.   Sure,  in the summer, we’re not in school but it’s still part of your year until grade six.  At the beginning of the year, I was super excited about grade five because, I mean who wouldn't?  After all you're the queen or the king of the whole school.  

GENIUS HOUR:

Genius Hour is to research and express your passion.   This year, we started to do a lot more work on the computers.  Why? Because, every week we had more than an hour to research our passions.   My passion this year was wakeboarding.   I did lots of research on female wakeboarders, and a little bit of  research on male wakeboarders.   Throughout the summer,   I will continue to do research on male wakeboarders.   (I might even do a few interviews with some of the male wakeboarders that I’ll meet) I love researching about my passion so much that next year, even when I’m not in the school, I’ll choose to do more research about another one of my passions.  

Now,  let's talk about the school part of grade five.   “My school year was pretty much the same as every year”is what you’re supposed to think when you go into grade five,  and, I did.   But it turned out my grade five year was way different.   I had all different teachers for different subjects.   And, every teacher was different.   My subjects were pretty different topics.  (Ex:in science other than doing all research on plant we did research on the human body. ) And we did more fractions this year than last year.   Most of our subjects were completely different topics than what we learned last year.  

The best parts of my whole Genius Hour Class by Adam

Intro

Hello my name is Adam I had an awesome subject in school this year and it was Genius Hour.  It wasn’t my favourite but it was still a fun experience and the are some reasons why it’s a fun experience and what do you do in it. Genius hour was the first technology project I got and probably the first for other people too and it was actually very fun. Genius hour made us do our own thing we didn’t have to do the subject the teacher did  No we get to do our own subject. Also Genius hour has a lot of steps to be completed and our teacher gives us lots and lots of time so there's no way we don’t finish on time. So I think Genius Hour is an awesome subject for everyone.

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My first technology project

Genius Hour was my first technology project, when I heard that we were doing the genius hour project and I was excited because I never in my life ever did a technology project. Genius Hour is new thing because you get to research yourself like when in a normal class sometimes they’ll show you an example and you have to do the same topic but we don’t get enough Ideas because the teacher took them but this happens only sometimes. Unlike other project Genius Hour is fun (all projects are fun) but some people think that Genius Hour is the most fun because people get to do something they love and something that is new. During our first Genius Hour was very fun we got to work and everybody liked doing this subject and won’t forget. My first technology project was a wonderful experience and it shouldn’t be forgotten.

Genius Hour gave us a chance to do our own stuff

During Genius Hour Mrs.Glinos one of the best teachers allowed us to do our own topic unlike other teachers who like to stick on the topic. Genius Hour was the first time the teacher didn’t have to chose the topic like when you do a film for school you had to do something about school but in Genius Hour let us do whatever topic that is a passion for us. The topics we chose could be about a videogame or about an hobby it just has to be something you are inspired by or something you are passionate about. Since Genius Hour lets us research about what we want, n we learn more more about what we like. So Genius Hour helps you learn more about what you are very interested in learning.

The steps and process to complete Genius hour

During Genius a took quite a few steps to complete the project and in the few steps there was a process. The first step was the Guiding Question it is supposed to be the Question in  your Genius Hour, after you do your Guiding Question you start writing about your topic and when you write it it has to answer your Guiding Question and finally to not do any plagiarism you source everything you copied or learned from. You know that the steps take a long time well the process is a little longer actually there is a small difference the process is the same thing but in the beginning we write down our whole plan. During Genius Hour there is no way you can’t finish on time because you want to know how much time we get we actually get the whole year to finish our Genius Hour project.

Conclusion

Genius Hour was an awesome and new experience for me and maybe others because it was our choice of topic. Genius Hour was the first technology project and I never did a project with using so much technology and at the end was fun. Genius Hour is like a kind of like a free project because it lets us be free by choosing any and I mean any topic of our choice! Genius Hour has a bunch of steps to finish and in the steps there is a process and Genius Hour has to completed before the end of the year and so we get a bunch of time. Genius Hour should be one of the projects that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Why start a Classroom Blog?

That's a good question!  Mrs Glinos already has her "Teaching with Tech Blog."  Why make another one?  Well the answer to that question is really a grade 4/5 media literacy lesson in and of itself!  In grade 4 and 5 you are expected to think about the audience that will be consuming a media text.  By audience I mean the readers listeners, or viewers.  By consuming I mean viewing, listening to or reading.  By media text I could mean many things:  a poster, a commercial, a comic strip, a video, a slide show or a BLOG.  The audience of Mrs. Glinos' first blog is other educators.  The audience of this blog will be Millwood Students and their families who want to know more about Genius Hour.

But Mrs. Glinos has a Twitter account we can follow to see what is going on in the Genius Hour lab. Why have a blog also?  

Well a tweet can only be 148 characters long so there isn't enough space in a tweet to really express major ideas.  Twitter is still a great way to get glimpses of our learning but if you want to know more detail, and go into more depth a classroom blog is the way to go.  A blog is a place for reflection.  It's public, and at first it feels a bit weird to reflect in a public place, but the idea of having a wider audience makes us reflect more deeply.  The idea that our thoughts will be preserved makes us think and write with greater care.

Why is Mrs. Glinos calling it a class blog?

Well, our class blog won't be written by Mrs. Glinos, in fact, after this first post, it will be a place where students in the class can share their thoughts.  Don't worry, it will be a safe space, because Mrs. Glinos will be looking over your blog posts before they are posted publicly.  So get writing, because from now on this is YOUR blog!

But we have Google Classroom, why don't we just post our blogs in that?

We will use Google Classroom to help us with our blogs but Google Classroom isn't really the best place to share a blog.  We will be using Google Classroom to send Mrs. Glinos our blog submissions but once Mrs. Glinos has checked that they are OK for the public to see she will post them in Blogger.  Blogging is supposed to be a web 2.0 activity.The idea is to create rather than just consume content on the web.  We will use Blogger to host our blog because it is made for blogging.  It's public so when we post on it we can share our thoughts with anyone in the whole world who wants to read them!  

Advantages and Disadvantages

Here's a good article about advantages and disadvantages.  http://kidslearntoblog.com/blogging-for-kids-under-13-advantages-disadvantages/  .  Blogging will improve your writing skills.  You will see how the idea of a worldwide audience will make you raise your standards for your own writing.  You will want to feel proud of what you have written.  It will also increase communication between our class and your homes.  Parents will be much more interested in reading about Genius Hour from a student perspective.  The downside of blogging has to do with online safety.  It is important to remember your  audience when you blog and follow safety precautions by never posting personal information or inappropriate content.  That's why Mrs. G will look them over before they're posted.  

Still not convinced?  Check out these blogs by kids to see how cool blogging can be!

I found this list of 10 best blogs by kids on a site called kidsblogclub.com .  It's a blog post about blog posts.  Now there's some irony for you!  Here's the link if you want to read the whole post:  http://kidsblogclub.com/spring-fresh-10-of-the-best-new-kid-blogs/

• Sisterville – This is the first blog we’ve seen written by 3 sisters. Lilli, Hermione and Pippi are aged 5 to 8 and love writing about life in a gang of three.
• Danny: My Life With Half a Heart – Danny tells us what it’s like when you’ve got half a heart and a very full life. Go for it Danny!
• Alex Know it All – The life and musings of seven year old big sister Alex. Can’t wait to see more of your posts Alex!
• Rabbit and the Womp – This stylish and fun blog from a 13 year old has been running since January. Some really cool pictures and posts so far.
• Art Splotch! – You’ll find some great creative craft ideas on this arty-themed blog from a seven year old
• The Branch of Spotted Owl – Stories as shared by an owl. Except he’s not really an owl, he’s really a 12 year old boy. You didn’t fool us (OK you did but only for a minute. Do owls have wifi?)
• Sky’s Cars – Nine year old Sky is crazy about cars, so he’s dedicated his blog to them. A great example of how to build your blog around a theme.
• Diary of a Sugarmonster – Fourteen year old Nkechi blogs about life, the universe and everything from a teenager’s point of view
• Marabird – 8 year old Mara from the USA is very interested in food and American history, so plenty to blog about there. Mara serves up a a great slice of American culture as seen through the eyes of a child.
• Psychedelic Daisy – Fourteen year old feminist blogging about all things vintage, poetry and films. This is the most well-established of all the blogs on our list but we wanted to include it as an example of where you can go with your site. Plus we really aspire to be as cool as this. Maybe one day…

Ready?  Set...  Go!

Are you a grade 5 student who is graduating from Millwood and would you like to leave your mark before you go?  Well get writing!  Upload your draft blog post in the Google Classroom you've been using all year.  The assignment is called "Millwood Genius Hour Blog."  Make sure you're experience during your first year of Genius Hour is remembered!

Are you a grade 4 student returning to Genius Hour in the fall?  All the more reason to want to be heard!  What did you like about this year, and what direction would you like to see our Genius Hour program take in the future?  You'll be happy to know that a new Google Classroom has been set up for Grade 4 Genius Hour so you can also upload your draft blog posts.