Genius Hour Goals - How Pinteresting!

Hi everyone!!

As I continue my search for resources for my Genius Hour topic - how can the feelings of camp be incorporated into the classroom, I find myself on Pinterest quite often! I love Pinterest for various reasons. One, because you could type anything into the search bar and find thousands of amazing ideas and resources, and two, because you can create boards with a collection of these ideas and resources to refer back to at any point! As a result, I have created a page called Camp in the Classroom that I would like to share!

I have been contemplating my goals for this Genius Hour project, and I think that creating a Pinterest board with quality resources would be a great way to show my progress! My goal is to find interesting ways that fellow educators are implementing aspects of camp life into their classrooms. I am excited to see where their ideas take me and in the ways I can synthesize the resources I gather to create a make shift 'tool bag' for others who are in the same position as me - trying to find ways to connect their camp counsellor/director role to the education world.

The Little Genius Hour That Could...

My research for my Genius Hour portfolio is slowly piling up! However, I am finding it difficult to find relevant research, which I find very surprising! There is no way I am the only person thinking about the link between camp and the classroom, so my search continues! I think my challenge will be to make those connection myself, rather than finding an article that outlines exactly what I believe. So, I've taken the approach of researching what makes camp so great then reflecting on how these strategies can be incorporated into the classroom.

For example, I found this article online called Why Camp is So Great for Children. This article is written about Rockbrook Camp for Girls, but extends to my experiences with summer camp! It includes 10 things that children do at camp that foster positive experiences to show that camp is an amazing opportunity for all children. A few of my favourites are that camp builds resiliency in children and learn valuable social skills. These aspects definitely resonate with me, as I feel they are often ignored in the every day classroom. Children need to learn how to make mistakes and to know that those mistakes are necessary to growth. Teachers should show students how to take risks in their work, rather than replicating the same ideas over and over again. Social skills are another crucial part of school. But children are rarely given the opportunity to be in authentic social situations. Teachers constantly put students in groups, arrange their desks in clusters, etc. But I am a firm believer that children need to learn how to interact appropriately with peers. Simple things such as being empathetic, polite or even kind are sometimes left out of the classroom. Not always - but sometimes it can be overlooked in the craziness of lessons and schedules!

One comment in this article surprised me! It mentioned the idea of 'unplugging' from technology as an asset to summer camp. I think this is an interesting approach. Do children need time away from technology to get that 'camp' feeling that they love? Definitely some food for thought! I plan on looking into this a little more in my Genius Hour journey!

So, I'm going to keep chugging along... trying to find some answers to my multi-faceted question! 

Welcome Post - Genius Hour Introduction

Today in our Technology class, we started brainstorming and researching possible Genius Hour topics. This is the first I have heard about Genius Hour, and I am quite intrigued about the entire concept. Through my readings, I discovered that it is a concept that Google started with their employees. Google decided that they would allot their employees 20% of their time to research and investigate topics they are passionate about. What a great idea! They found the productivity of the company increased and so many interesting things came out of it, including some technologies that Google now uses (such as Gmail!). Of course, educators around the world got on the band wagon and began to incorporate it into their classrooms. Students were given opportunities to research topics that were of interest to them during the instructional day. In my school years, I was able to do a couple ISU (independent study units), but the topics of these always felt directed or suggested. In Genius Hour, students are able to research anything of their choosing, as long as it is appropriate and a topic they can collect research on.

I find this concept so interesting, but I have yet to see it in the classroom. But! Before I have to think about to teach or incorporate Genius Hour into my classroom, I get to create a Genius Hour! I am excited to get started! I have decided to connect back to my experiences with camp. I have been involved with Summer Camp, either as a counsellor or director, for seven years. It really has been my only job, and I have loved every minute of it. Unfortunately, this will be my last summer working for camps, as I need to be a student to be hired. So, as endings often do, I feel a sense of reflection is necessary. And, since my next transition will be into the teaching world, I want to see what aspects of camp can be taken with me and applied in the classroom. Sn many students share with me their love of camp, but they do not necessarily have the same type of fond memories of school. This is where my interest lies. I want to know where that disconnect is, and whether it is possible to incorporate the aspects and feelings children get at camp, to the classroom environment. Although I have just started researching, I have already found a few resources. Most are simply camp themed classrooms, which I do not necessarily want to focus on. But, the Institute of Play has an interesting website that I look forward to looking at more in depth.

Until next time!

The Importance of Copyright

It is very interesting for me to finally grasp the idea of copyright. In our undergrad, copyright was explained to us in the form of plagiarism and how important it is to ensure your work is original and protected. However, there is so much more to copyright than the fear of plagiarizing or being plagiarized. Copyright stems from the idea that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that you produce online automatically has copyright, and it is the choice of the author to share it or not. But not only does copyright protect your work, it also governs what you can and cannot do not do when creating work using resources from online. As a student, I found it very difficult to follow copyright laws, as it is so easy to simply go onto Google and have so many images, resources and videos at your finger tips. I did not feel that I had proper training on how to maneuver through the online world and therefore I feel a sense of responsibility to be that resource for my students. For example, teaching students to used advanced search in Google to find resources that follow copyright law or having discussions about the responsibilities they have online to follow certain rules could harbour an awareness for students to be careful of what they use and create online. However, I think it is also vital to show students the collaborative power the internet can have and how they can access it through creative commons. In the 21st century, it is not necessarily about creating something brand new but rather interpreting and adapting ideas in different ways to add perspective.

Ribeiro, L. (2008, June 30). Children at school [Online Image]. Retrieved from.

Wikimedia Commons. (2009, November 22). Walden computer [Online Image]. Retrieved from.