Summarize the purpose of your Genius Hour project in 140 characters.
The purpose of my genius hour was to teach other people the importance of sign language, learn the language, and teach it to others as well. Explain the process of your Genius Hour project. Be reflective. Be contemplative. Explain and describe your journey. (No Less Than Three FULL Paragraphs.) There were several planning stages that went along with my genius hour project. The first was choosing a topic, and at first it was a very difficult decision. I debated between several topics including cooking, sewing and sports but then I finally decided to do a sign language project. I thought that this would be perfect for me because I know a little of the language so far and how to do the alphabet and other simple signs. The next stage however would be a little more challenging than the first. The next step was to research and learn about the language. I found a few sites that helped me along one was called Signing Savvy and the other one is called Life print. The sites were very easy to use and were also helpful to my learning. I practiced a lot and worked hard to memorize the signs. Once I started I caught on very quickly and learned the signs with ease. The final step would be the most challenging one and that was picking an audience. Now I had a few suggestions from my teacher, but she wanted me to give the presentation in front of my 12th grade English class which was something that was definitely out of my comfort zone. I searched and searched until finally my teacher suggested a 1st grade class that her daughter is in. They had already learned some sign language and knew what it was. So I contacted the teacher and asked her if she was ok with me coming in and teaching her class. When she responded with a yes my project was put into motion. The intention For Genius Hour is NOT only to learn, but ALSO to share your knowledge with others who can and will benefit from your learning. How did you share your learning? What do you hope the result might be? (No Less Than Two Full Paragraphs.) When I finally found my audience the next step was what to teach them. Their teacher suggested that I teach them their vocab words for the week which seemed like a great idea until I got them. They did not relate to one another at all and it would be very hard to make a game out of them. Then I realized that colors was the way to go so I worked hard to prepare a fun game for the children to play and a lesson on colors. When I arrived on Wednesday afternoon their teacher was there to meet me at the door. She introduced me to the class and then we went over a quick color lesson. The children were so excited when I told them about the game, and I told them that it would involve all of the colors we learned. The colors I taught them in ALS were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, brown, black, and gray. They caught on very quickly and I was very impressed with how well behaved they all were. If you could do anything different with your Genius Hour project what would you do differently and why? (No less than two full paragraphs.) If I could have done anything different with my genius hour project it would have been one of two things. First I wish I would have chosen sign language as my first topic to begin with. My original topic was to discover the truth about historical events, and I switched it to sign language halfway through. If I would have started with sign language I could have learned a lot more than I did and presented it to others in a unique way. Next I wish I would have taken more time to focus on my genius hour project. We were given some time in class to work on it and I definitely made use of it, but I did not work on the project on my own time. If I would have I feel as though I could have had a better product in the end. Also I wish I would have made better use of my class time, because I used it to work on homework at times that were put aside for Genius Hour. Reflect on what you did well during this Genius Hour process? Note your successes and accomplishments. (No less than two full paragraphs.) I feel as though I accomplished a lot during the course of my genius hour. I discovered the truth about historic events, and also used my time to learn a new language. I did my best with the time I was given and really enjoyed this process. I was able to teach our class new things along with a first grade class as well. I feel as though the knowledge I gave them will be with them forever, and it was a joy and a pleasure to teach them. The biggest success I feel I experienced in the whole process was not from teaching the older kids, but the younger ones. When I told them that we were learning sign language they were so excited and their faces were so bright. They enjoyed every minute of learning, and inspired me to keep doing so also. Regardless of what I did for my Genius Hour project it is obvious they are the reason that my project was a success. I am so thankful I was able to do this project, and hope to continue my education of history and sign language in the near future. Include any videos, pictures, presentations, or artifacts that will document your journey. Well my step by step plan for the next week is to do the following
1. Gather information about certain signs to show the kids. 2. Prepare a game to play with the children to help learning. 3. Go to Mrs. Allen's Classroom and teach information to the children. 4. Report and video what I have done. Basically I will be going to Mrs. Allen's class room on Wednesday to teach the children a little sign language lesson, and then come up with a creative game to show them. I am very excited to share this information with the children, and Mrs. Allen said that she is to. I have made some progress in the last month on my genius hour project. I have learned several new signs and am learning more about ALS and the history of it. I love learning this new language and feel very accomplished with what I have done so far. I think that learning this new language will definitely help me in the future
I have made some progress so far with my project. I have found several websites that deal with sign language and there are dictionaries that you can search a word you do not know. I have posted a few sites on my website, and am going to continue to search more.I feel as though the most challenging aspect of my project so far is who my audience is going to be. I think that it would be a good idea to present something to the class, but I feel like that is not enough. So I am trying to think of other ways to present it to others. I was thinking of maybe teaching it to a class of a younger age at woodland or something along those lines, but I am not sure yet.
I chose to change my Genius hour project because I feel as though I had done all of the research I could do on my other topic. I wanted to start fresh in this new semester with a brand new topic that I am truly excited about. I have decided to chose learning ASL or sign language for my new project and am eager to begin. I want to be able to communicate in a way that I never could before, and be able to teach this new language to others. By the end of this project I hope to successfully have learned as much sign-language as I can and hopefully have a creative new way to share what i learn with others.
From looking at other peoples blog posts I have learned a few things. First I was surprised to learn that many students did not like the genius hour time. There are some homework assignments that are not always finished during class time, and one of the things that I like about genius hour is that you don't have to do any work at home. If you don't finish an assignment one week you can just pick up where you left on the next week. Another thing that amazed me was the wide range of topics that people chose to write about I really liked some of their ideas and may start doing them on my own time.
I also feel like I have come up with some new ideas to make my site a little diverse. One way is by adding movies to the site to give a clearer image of how hints happened. Another idea is to make blog posts more relatable to the topic and not just write what the question says but go into more detail. I feel as though there are so many more ideas that can be taken from their site and I will definitely be using it in the future. I have gotten a lot of information for my project, but now I need to start focusing on my ted talk and final product. I need to outline a rough idea of what I want them to look like and make sure they contain all of the necessary information I have gathered. I am also planning on making a movie/ PowerPoint film for my final product but I am not sure if that is the direction I want to go. I need to focus on what way will make presenting the information to others the most successful, and do the best that I can to make sure everyone understands the topic. I want to be successful in my genius hour project and am going to try to do my best to make the goal I have for the information known to all. In his presentation Sir Ken Robinson used several presentation skills that improved and enhanced his presentation. One of the things he used was he told a few jokes at the beginning and throughout his presentation, it kept the audience involved and interested. Another tool he used was he asked rhetorical questions that left people thinking, and actual questions to show examples and comparisons. He showed me a lot of things I am planning on using in my presentation, and has inspired new ideas as well. I feel as though the biggest thing he showed was that he was calm and casual and that is key for a presentation.
I completely agreed with everything Ken Robinson said. When he talked about how no two children are the same and everything is all about conformity and after having time to think, it is so true. He also showed the irony of “No child left behind’ because in fact there are many that are. I believe Genius Hour would support his ideas because it is something he is truly passion about. When we watched the video at the beginning of the year the website said it had to be something that you were truly interested in and wanted to make happen. If he teamed up with Genius Hour I feel as though we would see a change in our education systems, and no child would ever be left behind. I have used several resources when it comes to my genius hour project, but the one I found most a valuable is the one from history.com. It gave me so much information about slavery, how it originated, where it was the most common, and what type of people owned slaves. It gave me the generic story that we are told in history class, but it also added some new information that I have never heard before, which was quite surprising. Now I know that the whole purpose was to expand and find the truth behind the common stories in history, but this website is one of the ones that will be the most important in making my Genius Hour project successful.
The reason this website is so important is because it provides me with a basis on which to expand. I need to know the entire story before I can add to what we learned in school. Another reason this site is so helpful is because now I fully understand the history books point of view on the topics, and am able to add in information that people have never heard in school before. I am the type of person who likes to get my story straight before I tell it to others, and this website helps me do just that. The website from history.com has proved to be the most helpful so far, and when my project is complete you will be able to see why by what is relieved in my final product. If I honestly think about it there are a few things that I could do to use my Genius hour time more effectively. The first is that when it is Genius hour time I should be completely focused on Genius hour. I do not remember which week it was but I was finishing an assignment from the hour prior to this one, and took about thirty minutes to do that when I should have been working on my project. I am the type of person that likes to get an assignment done all at once because I feel like I will forget it later, but I know I should have been working on this classes assignment and saved my other work for home. The next thing I could do to use my Genius hour time more effectively is save my work often. On the second research day I got so much work done I found about nine sites and had them all posted on my webpage. I forgot that unlike Google Docs, Weebly does not save automatically and I exited without publishing. So the next time we had a research day I had to find the sites all over again, and could not find them all. So I lost about a days worth of work because I forgot to save my work, and am going to work hard to make sure that does happen again. That is what I would do to use my Genius hour time more effectively, and I am planning on doing so in the future. If I had an unlimited amount of time and funds to make my Genius hour project all it could be, it would be world wide. I would travel the world educating other about the truths of the past, and sharing all of the information I have learned with them. The whole world would know what really happened during some of the most important events in history. The worlds view of slavery would change forever, and Columbus day would be looked at in a whole new light. I would make a movie about all that I have learned and would cross the continent spreading the word.
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