The Teacherly Me

Tag: eng2h

• Published by Sergio Yanes January 14th, 2014

  

  20% Project Brainstorm: The Idea Factory

  Monday, the sophomores took part in an Idea Factory, borrowed (yet again) from Kevin Brookhouser. I decided to change the name and drop the word “Bad” because at this stage, no ideas are bad ideas. They are just ideas. This has to be easiest lesson in my class to date, and I got some amazing ideas! Check out these samples:

  
  

  

  3rd Period’s Idea Wall

  
  

  
  

  6th Period’s Idea Wall

  
  

  The plan was simple: Students worked with their tablemates to create as many possibilities for 20% Projects. Good ideas, bad ideas, ugly ideas. Write them down. I gave them 20 minutes to get all this out, and as an added incentive, I offered the group with the most ideas a little prize. That’s it.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  They immediately got to work and raced to get ideas down. Sure they came up with some ridiculous ideas, such as build a time travel machine, but they also had some great ideas, like start a girls’ lacrosse team. When their time was up, I told them that in order to get the full effect of the Idea Factory, they had to mimc what the big companies do. In these situations, people get together in a room to brainstorm and put their ideas up for everyone to see. That is how they can start narrowing down and selecting which ideas work, which don’t, and which need some tweaking. And often, it’s the ideas that need tweaking that end up being the most rewarding.

  
  

  That’s where the Idea Wall came in. The students had 10 minutes to fill up the whiteboard with ideas. No white space allowed.

  
  

  
  

  They had fun crowding up against the wall and racing to claim space. They didn’t know they were claiming a reason to be heard.

  
  

  After the board was filled, I gave them some time to take it all in. Some students took pictures of the board; some pondered ideas. All in all, lots of laughs and lots of learning.

  
  

  This is a lesson I definitely plan on replicating. Because of time and curriculum constraints, I didn’t have the luxury of working this into the AP classes, which I really regret. Next year, when I take this on for the entire school year, I’ll be sure to do it with all of my classes (maybe even yearbook!).

  Tags

  geniushour 20time 20project eng2h brainstorming
• Published by Sergio Yanes January 11th, 2014

  20% Project Day 1: Introduction

  Yesterday, I introduced the 20% Project to both my English 2 Honors and AP Lang classes. I was so nervous despite having the Keynote made, marked up with notes, and looking good. Part of the nervousness came from tech worries-nobody had a mini-DVI-to-VGA adapter and AirServer tends to lag with videos on our WiFi-but I was particularly nervous about the unknown human element: What if they weren’t receptive?

  
  

  My students are from a generation and a part of town that is notorious for its sense of entitlement. I have wonderful and caring students (I really love them. They are the dream classes), but they still have a huge aversion to individual thought. If I don’t provide step-by-step instructions for completion (without any room for deviation), they freak. How would they react to an experience that is entirely up to them? I was dreading heads exploding and a mutiny stirring.

  
  

  I have never been so happy to be wrong! Every single class got to work looking up more information and sample projects or brainstorming their own project ideas after the 10-minute presentation (which I managed to get down to 7-minutes after I actually wrote a script (a key lesson I learned for creating flipped class videos). Every. Single. Student. They were sharing. They were encouraging. They were asking questions. The vagueness I thought was going to be a stumbling block was actually liberating for them.

  
  

  Taking Kevin Brookhouser’s advice, I started class with 60 seconds of silence to give the students a chance to clear their mind and prepare for the new information that was about to assault their current notion of education. I also followed Chris Kesler’s suggestion and played the “Pep Talk” video from Kid President. I’ve included it in the video of my Keynote below:

  
  

  
  

  After this whole spiel, I let them loose and gave them the rest of the period to brainstorm project ideas. Those neurons were sparking like crazy! I’m not kidding, the ambient temperature of the classroom actually rose by a couple of degrees!

  
  

  Next Friday, they’ll be turning in proposals and giving an Elevator Pitch either to my intern or to me. This will start preparing them to eventually create and deliver an engaging presentation (à la TED Talk). After all their wonderful ideas (ranging from building an amphibious car to helping a parent’s struggling business), I can’t wait for these proposals!

  
  

  NOTE: There is a wealth of information available online on the 20% Project (also search for "Genius Hour" and "Passion Project"). Twitter also proved to be a very valuable resource (#pbl, #20time and #geniushour are the best hashtags, and be sure to follow Joy Kirr for ideas and personal motivation!).

  Tags

  aplang geniushour 20time 20project eng2h
• Published by Sergio Yanes January 8th, 2014

  Diving In...Carefully

  So, it’s decided. I’m doing the 20% Project with my classes. All of them. English 2 Honors and AP English Lang. I couldn’t decide on which class would enjoy or benefit from it more, so they both win out!

  
  

  After months of reading with secret excitement and speculation, I’ve realized that the only way I’m going to pull this off is by actually throwing myself into this experience entirely. Otherwise, I would be planning and nitpicking and strategizing for many more months. That’s not what this project is about. There is only so much structure I can provide, but this is about their motivations, their passions, and their structures.

  
  

  Friday, we’ll start by following Chris Kesler’s lead and playing the viral Kid President Pep Talk video. Although I’m sure several students will have seen it, I feel it’ll be a good taste of what I want from them. The expectation that they throw themselves into these projects because they care about them. In case you haven’t seen it, here it is:

  
  

  
  

  This is my passion project. When I first started reading about it. I learned about Genius Hour from Chris Kesler. As I kept reading, I kept wondering how I can bring this into an English classroom, especially in a state and county that focuses on the teacher’s responsibility for keeping students occupied for the entire class period each day. Then, I found Kevin Brookhouser. After reading practically his entire blog, I still didn’t feel ready.

  
  

  My hesitation makes sense. How can I possibly do this when all my students are focused on doing exactly what the teacher tells them to do? How can I justify this in a county where Marzano rules, and I need data to back everything up? How can I accomplish this when there are state and national assessments coming up and I still have to cover two novels with my AP students and a Shakespeare play with my sophomores?

  
  

  Thankfully, I was paired up with an intern this semester who was not only willing to tackle the challenge with me, but who also was as excited about it as I was! Moreover, she had some experience in her coursework in developing flipped lessons, so she’ll definitely help me make time for it. She’s done her fair amount of research as well, so we’re as prepared as we’re going to be.

  
  

  Excuses are gone. The only way I’ll do this is by doing it. Besides, if I don’t, what kind of example will I be setting for my students?

  Tags

  aplang geniushour 20project eng2h