Thursday, February 26, 2015

Why I'm Starting An Ohio #GeniusHour Group

Two weeks ago at this time I was nervously anticipating presenting Genius Hour at Ohio Ed Tech Conference in Columbus.  To be honest, I was surprised I was selected to present this session. Surely, I wasn't the most experienced Genius Hour teacher in all of Ohio.  Certainly someone else knew more than I did, but I gave it the old college try. 

That session showed me three things.  One, there is a lot of interest in Genius Hour in Ohio.  About fifty us sat through the prime lunch hour to talk about this hot topic in education.  Two, not many of us are using Genius Hour. Only five us had actually used Genius Hour.  While this didn't represent ALL the Genius Hour teachers in Ohio, it did show me that the idea had yet to take root in actual practice. Three, the enthusiasm for Genius Hour is overflowing.  Before, during, and after the session I had some great conversations about starting the process right.  There are people who want to dive in but have questions, lots of questions.

So, I started a little Edmodo group of Ohio teachers who want to use Genius Hour.  Why? I wanted to create a safe place for teachers to collaborate, celebrate, and commiserate as they take the plunge.  Here are the rules so far...
  • It's for Ohio teachers.  (I'll explain more later.)
  • It's for any teacher of any grade level in any content area.
  • It's for newbies and grizzled veterans.
  • It's a place to discuss what's happening or ask questions about what to do next.
  • It's not just for people who attended OETC.
My session was billed as round table session.  Generally, round table assumes conversation, conversation among people who have experience and knowledge.  What really happened was I talked for 95% of the time.  I want to change that for next year.  I want to bring my own panel discussion to OETC16, and the best way to do that is to have a group of Ohio teachers who already have a report and community together.

If this interests you, please contact me.  I'd be happy to add you to the group. 

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