Teach Boldly or Go Do All The Things!

Two years ago, I heard a low rumble among my students about this cool thing that they were doing in their English class. Everything that I knew about the projects, I had learned from the students. They were allowed to choose something that was interesting to them and spend the semester researching it. They would be given one English period each week to work on their research (hence, the 20% name, as they would be given 20% of the week for research). And of course, the English teachers had accountability measures in place to make sure that they were actually working on their research, and not just using the time as a study hall. 

 Honesty time. I was floored. How was it okay to give up 20% of instructional time to let kids work on "stuff that interests them?" And how in the world would they teach all of the standards that had to be met if they were giving up 20% of their time? Surely I had misunderstood something. I started investigating. Sure enough, students could research and work on anything that they wanted. It did not have to be tied to current learning, but it could be. Students had certain requirements to meet and benchmarks to reach over the course of the term. But other than that, it could be anything that they wanted to learn. 

Over the course of the nine weeks, I spent time talking with the students about their research. There were students that were learning to cook, to quilt and to sew clothing. Students were interested in space travel and math. Students were learning to do independent research, and think critically. They were learning how to set goals and achieve them by formulating independent plans, and carrying them out to fruition. I was rapidly moving from skeptic to convert. 

Last year,  I decided to give the 20% projects a try in my Discrete Mathematics course. Of the three courses that I taught, Discrete Math has the fewest standards, and more "wiggle room" to do things that might be considered unconventional for a math class. What I didn't know at the time, was that I was loosely following the Google Genius Hour framework. 

Interestingly, it was not until I was in the fourth semester of my graduate school program that I learned about these projects in any official capacity. I learned the origin of the 20% project in our 529/629 book study, Teach Boldly: Using EdTech for Social Good by Jennifer Williams.  This text is rich in ways that I did not expect. When I chose the book to read, I did so purely based on the title - Teach Boldly. I thought to myself, "I try to do that. Maybe this will give me some great ideas". Not only did it give me good ideas, it reaffirmed that there are things that already exist in my practice that are good things!

In my opinion, the book is a call to arms for educators to not be limited by the boxes that we have inherited from those that came before us. According to Williams (2019) "This book is an invitation to go fearlessly into the future" (p. 166). It challenges us to think, and think big! This book challenges us to take big ideas, and make them reality. It insists on collaboration and reflection as part of the process. It looks at how time, space and resources can all be used to achieve the ultimate goal. And that goal is teaching students about social good. Simply put, "Social good refers to services or products that promote well-being on a large scale" (Williams, 2019, p. 5). 

But how can I get my students interested in Social Good? Well, I started this post by talking about 20% projects. Through these passion projects, my students worked on things that were their interests, like drawing and painting. But I also had a student that did a photo-journalism presentation on the state of disrepair in downtown Birmingham. Another student who loves fishing, did their project on the ways in which the rivers were not producing fish, and the reasons that he thought it was happening. By allowing students to have a voice in their projects, I let their passion come out. 

The best thing that I can do as a teacher is to have the supports in place to help them realize their passion! First, you have to know what you want the students to do. You can find excellent information  of the Google Genius Hour here. Next, while this is not a necessity, if you plan on starting small, and having the work tie into your curriculum, you need to make sure that you have the right curricular pieces in place. Simply put, "Instructional materials matter for student success" (Hirsch and Allison, 2020, p. 28). Also, as most of the research your students may be doing could be technology-based, make sure that the technology that you are using fits the work. According to Hirsch and Allison (2020), Technology is an important factor in supporting teachers and students...but if [the attributes of a product] don't reflect the specific needs of your students, then what's the point" (p. 30). 

As a teacher, my next question was, where would students go from here? So, as education is my passion, I did some research, and I found out about this foundation that does this work on a bigger scale: Please watch!

So, what will you do? How will you let your passion drive you? How will you let passion drive your classroom? And how will the world be changed because we were BOLD? 

References

Books + Writing. (2020, November 30). Dr. Jennifer Williams.  https://www.jenwilliamsedu.com/books--writing.html

Hirsch, E., & Allison, C. (2020). Do your materials measure up? Remote learning underscores the need for quality curriculum. The Learning Professional: The Learning Forward Journal, 41(4), 28-31. https://learningforward.org/journal/turning-to-technology/do-your-materials-measure-up/

Home Page (2020, November 30). Dr. Jennifer Williams.  https://www.jenwilliamsedu.com/

Kesler Science. (2013, September 6). What is Genius Hour - An Introduction to Genius Hour in the Classroom [video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/NMFQUtHsWhc

The Alan Turing Institute. (2020, January 13). What is Data Science for Social Good? [video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/kOEBEEaurHg

What Is Genius Hour? (2020, November 28). Genius Hour - Engineering Solutions.  https://sites.google.com/a/sduhsd.net/genius-hour/what-is-genius-hour

Williams, J. (2019). Teach Boldly: Using EdTech for Social Good. ISTE.