I had to pick a Genius Hour topic, which was very hard. I decided to discuss helping students reengage with literacy. I am hoping to test this out with the grade 7/8 in my practicum, and also the grade 2/3’s a volunteer with. I have been trying to get some of the girls in the class I worked with last year to read more, but they are always hesitant. I am going to talk to them again this week and try and suggest a book club, where they can come stay in for one recess a day and I will talk to them about books. I don't know if I will get many volunteers, perhaps I will have to entice them with some good snacks.
I learned so many cool new resources this week. I loved all the links in the PBL badge, and am starting to save them so I can revisit them later on. I love all them mind map websites that make creating mind maps very simple. I also really enjoyed powtoon, and learning how to make cool videos. Google Slides was a very useful slideshow maker. I am seeing the true power of Google recently, I love how it is so reliable and saves everything always and is basically accessible no matter what computer you use.
I am also really hoping that I get to try to do a Genius hour with some of my students. I don't know if it would work well if I am not there all the time, because we are only in the classroom once a week right now, so I will have to wait and see what will work best. I think Genius Hour is a really great activity that encourages creativity. Tracking their progress through something like Google Slides would also be a really good idea. I look forward to working with that tool more. To do my own Genius Hour with the grades 7/8 I would have to get to know them all better, have the time to allow them to research, and consider what kind of students they are. I do not yet know how independent they are as students, so I cannot judge yet. I would consider doing a classroom project that was similar with the grade 2/3 but I think they are still too young. Perhaps on a smaller scale.
One of the resources I really want to use is the Trading Cards from Read Think Write, because it would be a very good way to check in after each chapter of any book. By asking the students to create new cards for each new character that was introduced, they would then have a whole stack by the end of the book, and could hand them in as a whole. I think the questions on thing are simple enough and easy enough to respond in that it would not be too much work to continuously do it on a weekly basis, and that way the students would have to keep on top of their readings.
Overall, very excited about all the tools used this week in tech class, cannot wait to try some of them out !
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