I will admit it. Genius Hour intimidated me; this so-called “20% time” where students work on passion projects. Although my pedagogy is driven by play—often including immersive games and meaningful projects—the concept seemed overwhelming. For those unfamiliar, genius hour takes place in the corporate sector, from Google to 3M to Colgate-Palmolive. At these companies, employees get 20% of the day to pursue projects of interest. As a result, employees may be more engaged. And they also tend to innovate. Post-Its and Gmail came from these creative policies.
But how does this look in a classroom? Fortunately, I had the somewhat unique experience of observing a master teacher at work. Not just any expert—Steve Isaacs—PBS Digital Innovator from New Jersey. Isaacs happened to be one of my dissertation participants in Fall of 2015, and I observed his students on “20% Tuesday.” I saw how engaged his students were designing, creating, and publishing games and digital media. In fact, many asked to eat lunch in his room!
Inspired, I dove into this school year and launched 20% Wednesdays in my 7th grade social studies classes. Steve was generous to give me some pointers, sharing a Google doc he uses with students. As it turns out, using Google Classroom was helpful to personalize learning. I recommend this resource, or a similar platform like Edmodo or Schoology.
Taking what they learned, each student proposed and designed a project. What’s more, everyone helped write the rubric, with help from Google Classroom’s “make a copy for each student” feature! We repeated 20% Time this January, themed on the immigrant experience. And the year will conclude with students pursuing topics not typically covered in middle school, like World War II or the Kennedy Administration.
Most importantly, 20% Time was fun! My students took project-based learning to the next level. A few made board games using a 3D printer for the pieces. Others used Do Ink’s green screen app to record videos. One of my students created a playable, electoral college-themed Minecraft adventure map. Rather than showing the class, he submitted it to a Minecraft forum. Three girls authored a 7,200 word Hunger Games/Harry Potter mash-up skit, which they published on fanfiction.net. And one girl put her project on GoFundMe. Then, she used the crowdfunded money to outsource children’s book illustrations from an artist in Indonesia, using the website Fiverr (it costs $5 per “gig.”). Her final product was a children’s book for Kindle, published on Smashwords. And hers wasn’t the only book! Two other students published books, also viewable on Smashwords here and here.
For your classroom, check out the free resources on Games for Change Student Challenge page on climate change, future communities, and immigrant voices. They include research for students and prompts to use for your class’ 20% Time. Soon enough, you will see a classroom of engaged students, self-directed in the pursuit of learning.
Matthew Farber, Ed.D. teaches social studies at Valleyview Middle School, in Denville, New Jersey. Dr. Farber is an Edutopia blogger and cohost of Ed Got Game, on the BAM! Radio Network, and is a BrainPOP Certified Educator. He was a recipient of a Geraldine R. Dodge Teacher Fellowship and a Woodrow Wilson HistoryQuest Fellowship. Look for the new, expanded edition of his book, Gamify Your Classroom: A Field Guide to Game-Based Learning — Revised Edition (Peter Lang Publishing, 2017). To learn more, please visit matthewfarber.com.
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