Emma Russell- Teachers in the english department have begun a new project in their classrooms called “Genius Hour.” This is a time where once a week the students will get the opportunity to work on a personal project to help make a difference in the community and pursue their own interests.
“We wanted to give students an opportunity to spend some time in school exploring their passions and collaborating with their peers, to create a unique educational opportunity that would emphasize the value and importance of intrinsic motivation and creativity and to give students some real-world research opportunities…something they could take with them after this school year,” english teacher Lauren Glasco said.
Genius hour is based off of another project similar to Googles 20% time, where Google employees will get 20% of their time given back to them to research and create something based on their passions. Many of Googles products were created during this time, such as Gmail, AdSense, Google News and Google Chrome.
“I think it’s a valuable opportunity for students to use in-class time to hone 21st century skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. It allows students to pose questions and seek complex and creative answers,” Glasco said.
The teachers working on this project with their english students are Bridgit Goss, Hedy McGrath, Haley Englert, Renee Vanlandingham and Kyle Goodwin.
“Some of my students are writing short stories, screenplays, dramas, advice, inventing portable self-sustaining energy source, serving food drives, donating to food pantries, humane society, visiting nursing homes and/or hospitals or creating blogs, videos to promote a cause, new apps, reviews for books,” Glasco said.