Genius hour is an exciting movement that might actually help children develop meaningful job skills that I discussed yesterday. It’s based on Google’s 20% policy which allows engineers to spend 20% of their time on any project they are interested in. It’s estimated that half of Google’s projects (such as Gmail) have been created during this time period. Other corporations are discovering that giving employees one hour a week really does increase creativity.
I know that many of you are frustrated by cookie cutter curriculums and time schedules, but this might be a way to help your administration support a little creativity and exploration in your classroom. Can't we give kids at least one hour a week to find some joy in learning what they WANT to learn?
A.J. Juliani wrote this book that explains the goals and success of INQUIRY AND INNOVATION IN THE CLASSROOM. The three pillars of genius hour are:
1. You have to research something.
2. You have to create something.
3. You have to present something.
Here's what Kid President says:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-gQLqv9f4o
Here’s another video introduction to genius hour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMFQUtHsWhc
You might also want to check out this website:
geniushour.com
My idea of genius hour in kindergarten would be an hour of open-ended learning centers every Friday afternoon. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to just let kids play and explore for one hour a week? That one hour could truly make a difference in a child’s learning, sense of self worth, attitude about school, and their life!!!!