The Genius Hour

1.
Project
20% of our class time (every Friday) will be spent working on this.
2. You may work alone or with a group.
 Decide carefully. If you choose a small group, you will have to make
compromises with them and deal with other personalities. If you work alone, you
have complete control in the decisions, but you are responsible for the result.
 If you want to be in a group, ask yourself:
 Is this person a worker or a floater?
 Can I get along with this person for an entire semester or year?
 Is this person going to keep on track or distract me?
 **It’s not about hanging out with friends. It’s about making something
really cool that you are interested in**
3. Choose a project that is new and interesting to you, and something you normally
wouldn’t do in another class.
 If you are stuck, do some research on other Genius Hour projects, or talk to
people around you.
4. You must produce a product or achieve some sort of goal.
5. You will reflect on your progress and plans in a weekly journal.
6. If you feel lost, overwhelmed, or uninspired, you need to set up a meeting with me to find
a solution (during electives, lunch, before school, after school).
7. Failure is an option. If you make mistakes, you can learn a lot.
8. You will share your progress and product at the end of each quarter. You can either do
two projects (one per semester) or one project for whole year.
WHAT IS IT?
The Genius Hour project is your choice. You decide what it is you want to learn, make, or do.
You are responsible for putting it together, setting it up, reflecting on it, creating it.
It is NOT GRADED. Some of you may not achieve your goal or complete your product, but
that’s okay, and you won’t be punished for that. I will grade you on small assignments
throughout the course of our time.

HOW DO I START?
Begin by asking yourself:
 What am I passionate about?
 What’s something I’ve always wanted to do?
 What inspires me?
 What’s do I want to learn?
 Who do I want it to impact?