Directions: Copy these questions into a Google Doc and respond to them in full. Then either copy and paste the completed reflection into your Genius Hour website, or link this document to your page.
Summarize the purpose of your Genius Hour project in 140 characters.
The purpose of our genius hour project was to help children realize that bullying is something that has become a major issue and that they can do something to help stop it. Explain the process of your Genius Hour project. Be reflective. Be contemplative. Explain and describe your journey. (No Less Than Three FULL Paragraphs.)
The process for our project was brainstorming, writing, finding pictures, editing, making the book and eventually reading to the class. The brainstorming stage took the majority of our time simply because we didn't know what to write about. After a lot of ideas and looking at what we would write about we decided on bullying. We decided this because recently bullying has become a major issue in all age groups. We found difficulties when coming up with ideas that would inform the children about bullying and tell them how to help those who are being bullied. Once we had a rough draft of what we wanted to write about we starting choosing pictures that would best fit our project. The editing process was very difficult for us because it took a lot of careful thinking about how we wanted to word things and show the kids that bullying is wrong in a long term effective way. After the editing process, we started making our final draft. The final draft was written on white paper, printing copies and create a title on colored paper for a cover. We had to make at least 14 copies of the book in order for us to have a copy to read, the kids to have a copy, and for Mrs. Francis to have one as well. Through writing this book we wanted the kids to realize how wrong bullying is and that they can always help a kid who is being bullied. Our main goal of our genius hour and this book was to help kids stop bullying and hopefully cause them to make a difference for others kids who are being bullied. Writing this book was not only a learning opportunity for the kids who we are reading it to but also ourselves when we were gathering our information. The intention For Genius Hour is NOT only to learn, but ALSO to share your knowledge with others who can and will benefit from your learning. How did you share your learning? What do you hope the result might be? (No Less Than Two Full Paragraphs.) Through making this bullying book we were able to share our learning on the topic and share it with a classroom of children. We made the book to contain information on how even if they are not the ones being bullied they can help the ones who are. We including catchy slogans and informative information on what they can do when they are put into a situation that involves bullying. With writing this book we were not doing it to simply read a boring book to a class full of students. Our main intention was to help reduce bullying within the group if there is any and show them that they can make a difference if they know of someone who is being bullied around them. Bullying is a major issue within all age groups and even if you are not the victim you can still make a very impactful influence on them.
If you could do anything different with your Genius Hour project what would you do differently and why? (No less than two full paragraphs.) Overall I thought our genius hour project went very well. However, there was a few things that I would do differently if I could. At the beginning of our genius hour we wasted a lot of time brainstorming even though we had a great deal of effective ideas to teach the kids about. Once we did come up with our final idea we also wasted time on coming up with pictures to put on each page of the book which left us with less time to write the actual information. Another thing that I wish we would have done differently is while reading the book to the class was including more activities. I would have liked to include more of these so the class would get a better understanding of what kindness is and how big of an impact they could make on someone who is being bullied. Although we did make a puzzle for them I wish we would have possibly made them do more with one another in a group activity. I believe if we did they would have remembered more so of what the main goal of us reading to them was over the long run.
Reflect on what you did well during this Genius Hour process? Note your successes and accomplishments. (No less than two full paragraphs.) Over the course of doing our genius hour project we had a lot to complete. At the beginning of writing our book we created catchy slogans for the kids to remember, bright colored cover pages, clever pictures to resemble the information, and also a wordsearch so the kids could see what bullying should and should not be. With doing all of this we completed it in the time frame that we were given. Myself and Jackie Enright were very successful in making the kids attract their attention to the book. Another accomplishment was when reading to the class and giving them the activity we had created we were able to inform them about bullying. They understood how wrong bullying was and how it must be stopped. With reading the book they also learned that even if they do not know the victim of who is being bullied they can still help by telling a teacher or a parent. They learned about the importance of kindness and how far it will go in the future.
Include any videos, pictures, presentations, or artifacts that will document your journey.