Genius Hour in Latin: A Four-Quarter Approach

I was recently asked on Twitter how I did Genius Hour in my Latin classes... here is my process, and I am always tweaking and shifting things around. There is also a link to a Google Folder full of resources.

RESOURCES

Quarter One: Essential Questions and Research

GENIUS HOUR EVERY FRIDAY

Technology Readily Available

Day One: Introduce Genius Hour

I give the same talk about making education relevant, making use of what you are learning in school, tying everything together from different classes. I use the PPT presentation in the Resources Folder. 

Basically, this is my script: http://thisworkaholicwantstogotorehab.blogspot.com/2013/08/sweet-genius-hour.html

Then, I give the students a week to think. What are they passionate about? What is a societal problem they want to fix? They need to come in with brainstorms for the next session.

Day Two/Three: Essential Questions/SubQuestions

So now the students have had a chance to think, they should turn their topic into an essential question that will guide their research.

For example, I have a student who is super interested in mythology, but doesnt want to come across as ripping off Percy Jackson. So… his essential question was “How can things be explained differently?”

On day two, the students create and have approved their Essential Question. Their final project will be an answer to this question. Then, they write their possibilities on a piece of paper, and we tape them to the wall to be an inspiration to others.

When they have an essential question approved, they create sub questions (template is in the folder) that will help them to answer their essential question. I meet with each group/student the following week and help them to format these questions to make a good project.

Day 4: Introduction to Research

This part many media specialists are happy to help with, if you are not familiar with databases, etc! I usually go over the following:

• Where to look for information
• Letting research guide you to an answer vs. finding the answer in your research
• Researching vs. copying and pasting
• Good and bad sources
• What to do when you get stuck

The students then begin researching their sub questions. They should have a list of possible google searches that could help them from the last GH, so they have a good place to start. I help as needed.

Day 5 - End of Q1: Research

Then the students start their research, and use the Research Templates to store their information. They turn their research templates in on their individual due dates via Google Folders. Examples attached. I also included my spreadsheet that helps me track which students are on time with their submissions and which are not… green means on time, yellow means late, white is missing (and I just included examples, not the final spreadhseet!)

Quarter Two: The Project Proposal

GENIUS HOUR EVERY OTHER FRIDAY

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The first thing that I have the students do is self assess using the rubric where they are with their research. If there is anything left that they have to research, they write “To Do Lists” with due dates, and submit that during the first meeting.

Then, the students start work on their proposals:

Days One - Four: Part I

Part One of the Project Proposal is having the students use their research to answer their sub questions. From there, students then use their answers to then answer their Essential Question. This takes the form of a formal paper, and we discuss argumentation (claim, warrant, backing, impact), citation, and introductions/conclusions. This typically takes students the longest, so they get a month to finish.

Day Five - Six: Part II/III

Part two of the proposal is where students create a product that will showcase their learning in a creative and innovative way. We discuss the difference between a report and a project, and here I do the most guiding. Many students just want to build a model, which is something that they have been taught is creative in the past, but it does nothing to apply the information that they have earned. Part Three gets down to the nitty gritty of this, asking students why their project is valuable… why is it not just a report? This is usually the shortest section, but also the most meaningful for the students.

Day Six: Parts IV and V

This is the planning section, where students take their concept and map out how to make it a reality in specific steps, with due dates. This is put into the semester two spreadsheet for tracking. Part Five is a simple question - is there anything else you need to research before you begin? Its a last minute deep breath before things become crazy!

Day Seven - End of Q2: Researching/Tweaking

If I need to meet with a student/group, I do it on these extra days. Otherwise, the students are researching, or planning, or even creating!

Last Meeting: Genius Week!

The students turn their project proposals into PPT presentations, and present their findings to the class. They ask for specific feedback from the class about where to take their project. Do not skip this step - it is by far one of my favorite parts of Genius Hour!

Semester Two: Creation

GENIUS HOUR EVERY WEEK TO BI WEEKLY

Students bring own materials

In January, when the students come back from break, I check in with them and have them re-map their due dates and to do list for the project. In addition, at the beginning of both Q3 and Q4, I ask the students the following questions (they write down the answers):

1. How is your project progressing?
2. What have you been most excited about?
3. Where is one area that you are having trouble with?
4. What is one thing you are doing well?
5. What is one thing you can improve upon?

How you structure semester two is up to you - I try to meet with students at least once during the quarter to check in, and then the students who need more structure meet with me more frequently to discuss their project and to keep them on track. The self-assessment forms are super helpful during meetings because it allows me to ask more targeted questions.

At the beginning of Q4, I set the final “Genius Day” for the students. On this day, we do a Gallery Walk in class and in the Evening. Students bring in their products, and a poster describing their project and process. During the day, we ask questions about each other’s projects to try to extend learning. At night, we invite students from other classes, administration, and community members to come and see what the students have done and celebrate their Genius. The event lasts about an hour in the evening.

The last step is one last self-assessment, using the rubric, and having the students answer the follow up questions they received on Genius Day… our Genius Day this year is May 7th, and I will post pictures then!

Zombies are how I roll...

A pretty awesome Spanish teacher and I have been talking this year about teaching, and he reintroduced me to TPRS (if you need a short introduction its here).

Quite frankly, I had heard about TPRS before - even attended a conference. It was fantastic, and I learned a lot, but I struggled with that most ancient struggle...

... but wait, I teach Latin. And that's not how we roll.

I do teach Latin, and for years, that wasn't how we rolled. We read stories about Cornelia and Flavia sitting underneath the tree (and some of us made up hilarious and shockingly violent stories about the tree coming to life and exacting its revenge for having to deal with girls doing nothing but sitting under him for 50 some odd chapters...), we did grammar exercises, and try to come up with something wacky and crazy because otherwise violent images emerged in our heads concerning the fates of the rather banal and unimpressive (and sometimes, downright whiny) characters... well, you get the picture. 18 years later, it wasn't pretty.

So, rewind back to the part where I was talking to the Spanish teacher about TPRS. And then he showed me this and this blog. And I started to think - I wasn't sold yet, but I have heard such great things. So, I tried it. It was the 3rd day of school. Why not?

I had no idea what to expect. I had NO idea what I was doing.

But, about 5 minutes into it, I realized I was having fun. Like, serious, awesome fun. One hour later, I realized that I had screamed, bounced around, and joked my way through an entire hour without stopping, and using very little English.

You know runner's high? Yep, teachers get it too.

So, after introducing and circling (check out this site for instructions - it is almost permanently up on my  Internet browser, and its AWESOME. I'm such a fan.) through some basic phrases and basic sentence structure (S+V+DO quote+IO), we put it together and started a story as a class. When the kids could, they answered in Latin, where they needed to, they answered in English.

Here's why I love my job the most. The story below was created by the kids. So, naturally, it's violent. But, because my kids are good people, no one dies. They just become a zombie (after bursting out of the stomachs of others after being eaten of course). And I get to pantomime this story, and talk about it for a week. And the kids are learning.

Zombies. Latin. #yolo
______

In fabula, est puer. In fabula, quoque est puella. Puero nomen est Frank. Puellae nomen est Susie. Puella dicit “Salve” puero. Puer respondit “Salve. Quid agis?” Puella respondet, “nec bene nec male” puero. Puer et puella inveniunt leonem. Puella agit leonem. Weee! Deinde puer agit leonem. Puella cadit de leone ad terram. Unicornus venit, et salvat puellam. Eugapae! Omnes volant ad terram unicornorum, et salutant reginam unicornorum. Omnes simul contant et saltant. Omnes eunt ad KFC. Ecce! Est tigris venit et cenat unicornum. Miser unicorum! Deinde Batvir venit et tigrem necat. Tamen, tigris non est mortuus, est un-mortuus! Unicornus surgit e tigre un-mortuo. It ad kansas. Sed non vult habitare in Kansas, et it ad Hawaii. Est frigidus in Kansas! Navigat in nave ad Hawaii, et ferit icebergem, et cadit in mare. Unicornus in mare habitat solus semper.

Translation:
In the story, there is a boy. In the story, there is also a girl. The name of the boy is Frank. The name of the girl is Susie. The girl says "Hello," to the boy. The boy responds, "Hello! How are you?" The girl responds, "neither good nor bad," to the boy. The boy and the girl find a lion. The girl rides the lion. Weee! Then the boy rides the lion. The girl falls from the lion to the ground. A unicorn comes, and saves the girl. Hooray! Everybody flies to the land of the unicorns, and greets the queen of the unicorns. Everyone sings at the same time and dances. Everyone goes to KFC. Look! A tiger comes and eats the unicorn! Poor unicorn! Then Batman comes and kills the tiger. However, the tiger is not dead, he is undead! The unicorn rises from the undead tiger. He goes to Kansas. But he does not wish to live in Kansas, and he goes to Hawaii. It is cold in Kansas! He sails in his ship to Hawaii, and he hits an iceberg, and he falls into the sea. The unicorn always lives in the sea alone. 

Latin... Isn't that, like, a dead language?!?!?

I spend a lot of time around people who don't teach Latin. I can't help it... there are not very many of us out there (and I am the only one in my district), so I am forced to associate with people who teach crazy things, like Spanish, and English, and History.

But I sure do learn a lot from them.

At the end of last year, I spent a lot of time thinking about putting my own stamp on the curriculum that I taught. I had finished my first year at a new school, and I was itching to make some changes - to apply what I had learned from teaching in Illinois, and what I had learned from the students last year. So, I decided to do something drastic. I decided to get rid of my textbooks.

Ball and chain gone. I'm free!
(and quite literally... I had been using the same textbook for 19 years, both as a teacher and as a student)

Um...


Um...


But wait. So how do I know what to teach?

I started to think about what my end goal was. After years of high school Latin, what will my students have to show for it?

I fell in love with Latin because, let's face it, its a perfect blend of art and technicality on paper. You read it like a language, but you can also analyze all of the different components and really understand writing on a much deeper level when you discuss things like word order, and case, and word choice. And, well, the Romans are pretty violent. Which makes it kind of interesting.

I want my students to have a similar experience with the language I have dedicated my entire life to teaching. But, increasingly, I have started to become frustrated with traditional textbook decoding methods - even those that I have designed myself. The kids still make the SAME mistakes, over and over again. After 3 years of Latin, no one knows what a predicate nominative is. They can't produce the language in any meaningful way, and, let's face it half of them get super frustrated because translating takes too long. And they cut corners and give up.

Besides, no one takes a language to learn to translate. It's like taking a computer class to learn to hunt and peck on a keyboard. You get the right answer eventually, but its neither efficient, productive, or fun. Hunting and pecking makes Latin into the horrid monster "dead language," the one that "...once killed the Romans, and now is killing me."

So, there's that problem.

Also, why do we wait until the 3rd or even 4th year of Latin to actually read Latin???

Also... why isn't this not required for Latin teachers to read?

All questions that were going through my mind all summer as I put together a set of readings. Nothing felt right... until I had a conversation with my friend. And then my life changed.

But that's a story for tomorrow.