Hugh McDonald and I were having a conversation the other day.  After two school years of doing Genius Hour with our students, we realized that the positive affects of this type of learning reached far beyond that one hour each week that we devoted to it.  So, I brought it up during our last #GeniusHour chat to see if others were feeling the same way.  Check it out:

So many of us agreed that by giving students that time to persue their wonders and passions, students began to wonder about everything!  They became curious learners that asked meaningful questions!  

On Genius Hour days, and even on other days, students began to be more excited about coming to school!  We had students start coming in early to get a head start on their projects, and many would work right through recess or lunch because they were so excited about what they were doing. Kids excited about learning! It really doesn’t get any better than that!

I love the above comment by Joel Pardalis.  Students taking risks and thinking outside of the box.  Perfect.
More great tweets:

And finally, teachers talked about how Genius Hour changed them as teachers too!  This is powerful stuff!

And then the conversation even turned to how Genius Hour does indeed support curriculum and many of the prescribed learning outcomes.   

I have one more tweet to share!  This one was shared by Joy Kirr, a teacher that I admire so very much! her words are perfect and I think they truly summarize how a lot of us feel.  Genius Hour doesn’t just give students an hour (or 20% or however you break it down) to inquire into their passions and wonders…

…It changes EVERYTHING.  

I have change a lot as a teacher over the past few years thanks to my school district’s support, graduate classes at SFU and mostly because of the support and brilliant ideas from my PLN.  Thank you all for learning and growing with me!  I am so excited to continue this journey with all of YOU.