Cultivating Genius: The Book

When Melissa Hellwig and I give presentations and professional development sessions about 20% Time, Genius Hour and Project/Problem Based Learning, we usually have an curious and receptive crowd. We try to be thorough about WHY schools need to change to incorporate personalized learning and also show the template of our own program. Toward the end of our talk, we get questions about incorporating this philosophy into other situations and a call for more information on the subject. Most of the school districts where these teachers work do not provide any PD on 20% Time or PBL so these teachers are on their own to find relevant information. Teachers often want to be secure in what they are doing before taking that first step.

Because of the constant call for more information, I wrote Cultivating Genius: The Why and How of Creating a 20% Time Learning Environment. Last summer, I assembled all of the materials that Melissa and I created and wrote the book in two parts. The first part is the "why" of 20% Time. It explores what schools have traditionally been and why we need to change education. The second part of the book is the "how" of 20% Time. It represents a step-by-step template of our own program that teachers can use as a model. I included the forms that we created and use and I also explained how everything works during the course of the year. Melissa contributed to the book as well. I included a powerful blog post that she wrote and she also created many of the documents that appear in the book. It is our hope that this book can be a springboard for more teachers to embrace the 20% Time model and ignite the passion for learning in their students.

I'm Retiring

A few days ago, I sent my letter of retirement to my superintendent. I have been teaching in the Webster Groves School District for 24 years (since 1992) and in Missouri public schools for 28 years (since 1988). I have loved every minute of my time working in this district. I have found Webster Groves to be a district that pushes its teachers to be the best they can be, gives teachers the autonomy to develop and puts what's best for kids as its most important guiding principle. I recognize how lucky I have been to spend the bulk of my career with some of the most creative, professional and intelligent educators in the nation. 

Every year we get a new group of kids who come to us nervous and timid. Over the course of the year, as they learn that we value their uniquenesses and quirks, they get comfortable in the environment and grow as students and as people. They feel safe enough to be themselves and learn in the way that they learn best. Those nervous, timid kids that we had at the beginning of the school year leave us as confident, assured kids who have problem-solved, invented, created and learned. 

Am I ready to retire? NO! I still have a LOT of gas left in the tank. Why am I retiring? Well, I'm eligible and I hate winters. I have been planning a move to southwest Florida for the past ten years. I knew it would either be this year or next. Since I am eligible to retire from Missouri now, I plan to take my work to southwest Florida and continue teaching there. I believe that, at this point in my career, I am peaking. There are so many new adventures ahead of me and I would like to share the joy of learning with more students. Collier County Schools? Lee County Schools? I don't know right now, but over the next few months, that part of the equation will work itself out. For now, I am enjoying my last semester as a teacher in the Webster Groves School District preparing these kids for the future.

Downtime for Learning

Sometimes the only time we have to catch our breath and take a step back is during our extended breaks. During this winter break, I took the opportunity to re-up my certification to remain a Certified Google Educator. When I first was certified in the summer of 2013, I didn't know that the certification only lasted eighteen months. It should not have been surprising though. Technology changes so fast that certifications should be renewed frequently. Google is smart that way. The requirements assure that certified educators are up on the latest changes to the technology.

The new certifications last two years. By then there will have been many changes that we will need to learn in order to stay current. During winter break this year, I took the certification exam for Level 1. In the next few months, I will probably attempt Level 2. After all, I use these tools in class everyday so I am very familiar with all of them. Even so, there were some new things I picked up in the training that preceded the exam. No matter how adept we think we are at something, there is always something new to learn. Now, for the next two years, I will be a Certified Google Educator. I'm interested to see what manifestation certification takes by the time I have to retake the exam.

Learning Opportunities

Every year, special learning opportunities come up during the school year. Any time we get the chance to incorporate these opportunities, we take them. Two months ago, we created EdCamp Harmony, our student edcamp. I have attended several edcamps and know that these events are powerful days of learning. We wanted our kids to experience that same thrill of learning from their peers. We structured the day so that kids could both teach and learn from each other. The kids loved it! Read more about that experience here. Since that first edcamp, we have conducted another one and plan a few more during second semester. This type of learning must expand in schools.

Last month, we participated in Adventure 15, a global initiative to connect classrooms from around the world. Because of our time zone, we were connected with a classroom in White City, Saskatchewan, Canada. The ability to connect with same-age kids in another country was so cool because our kids got to see how their lives were similar and different from ours. The kids did a little research on that area of Canada so they would have good questions for those kiddos. What a great, authentic learning experience it was. Read more about that event here.

This week, we have the opportunity to participate in a national student edcamp, #stucamp. This first annual event incorporates classrooms from around the United States using the app Unhangout. We are going into this event not knowing how it will work out but it seems like it will be awesome. When our kids have the opportunity to learn from middle and high school students from around the country, we take that opportunity. This is real, authentic, relevant learning for our kids. These are all experiences that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

And We're Off!

As any teacher knows, the beginning of the year is one of the busiest times of the school year. Getting to know the kids is paramount. In addition to setting a great tone for the year, we're constantly on the lookout for new and different things that will expand the learning of our kiddos. So far this year, we've managed to write a $21,100 grant to take the entire school to see the documentary film "He Named Me Malala", conducted our first Student EdCamp, kicked off our new year of 20% Time, and made great strides toward creating a classroom MakerSpace. All of these new things are in addition to creating the team climate that is best for kids, managing the regular project-based classroom learning experiences for kids, creating smaller team "events" that motivate kids to achieve and garnering parent support for the things we do in class and on team.

The first eight weeks of school have been hugely busy but so very rewarding. We thrive in an environment where change is constant and we introduce new and cool things all of the time. The kids learn that change is to be expected and that we are constantly learning by experiencing new things. Our kids are so much better prepared for life at the end of the year than they were when they came to us.

Back to School

If an educator ever tells you that they are not nervous the night before the first day of school, please know that they are lying. I enter my 28th year in education and I still have a restless night before the first day. Part of that is excitement for the new year and part of that is worry that things will go well and that I will set the right tone for the kids on the first day. I know that hooking the kids early and demonstrating to them that this year will be different from what they've had in the past are the two most important things I can do on the first day of school.

On the first day, I only want to learn the kids' names. I don't care about the rules, expectations, curriculum, school events or any other agenda items. We'll get to those. All I care about is learning, as quickly as possible, who they are and what they're about. I want the kids to know that I am buying into them and I want them to be open to buying into the class. Building relationships with our students is the single most important thing that we do. All else hinges on those relationships.

We are now two weeks in to the new school year. The last ten school days have been a blur, a good blur. The kids are relaxed, happy and learning. They are learning that our expectations on team are to treat everyone with respect and compassion, do the best they can and be open to both success and failure. As we live those expectations this year, kids will make leaps and bounds toward becoming lifelong learners, our ultimate goal for them.

Learning Together

During the past month, Melissa and I went to RCET to conduct some professional development for teachers in the southwest Missouri area. We had attended the RCET conference in March and this PD opportunity grew out of that conference. One of the things we love most about attending conferences and giving PD is the shared learning that occurs during the sessions. We know that we bring some new things to the teachers who attend, but we also learn a great deal during those sessions as well.

During our time at RCET, we conducted three PD sessions: Integrating Innovative Technology into the Classroom, Harmonized Learning: A 20% Time Learning Environment, and PBL: Learning Through Doing! All of the sessions were well-attended and rather than a "sit-n-git" environment, we try to create a session around discussion and collaboration. Indeed, we have information to impart, but we hope that by engaging the teachers in a conversation about how they can implement things in their own classrooms, we can all learn from each other.

Then it was on to the Fox School District for Curriculum Campus. This day of professional development for the teachers of the Fox School District was a very well-attended event. During our time there, we conducted two sessions of Integrating Innovative Technology into the Classroom and one session of Harmonized Learning: A 20% Time Learning Environment. While teachers were curious about 20% Time and what it entails, they seemed more interested in the technology ideas that they could use in their classrooms. We realize that not everyone is ready to implement 20% Time but we had a good group of teachers who wanted to know more, even if implementation was not imminent.

Now we are in the planning stages of our long-term in-district PD program. We will be training some of our own Webster Groves School District teachers in creating and implementing a 20% Time program in their own classes during our fall semester. We are looking forward to the sharing, collaborating and learning.