Testimonials

**Here's what teachers have said about Genius Hour.**

 * [|What is Genius Hour?] by Gallit Zvi
 * As a result of genius hour in my classrooms, school is becoming engaging, fun, independent and meaningful. My students know they are geniuses, and geniuses are lifelong learners who are productive and creative. It's not just that one hour every other week or once a month, but genius hour has enlightened all of us on a daily basis. We are looking with fresh eyes at the Common Core standards. My students are learning for themselves what the standards say and making decisions on how to master them. School has become student-centered for us this year, and we are all much happier about it! ~Denise Krebs
 * It was difficult to begin in the middle of the school year - I had prepared for it, but it was so different from anything my 7th graders had done. Some thought it was too unstructured - "Where's the rubric? When is this due? What will we do when we're done?" It took awhile to understand this was a __process__. What has come out of it has been profound, and we've only done a little! One student presented on cancer, one on bullying and its effects on victim and bully, one on the history of animation...We are getting to know each other better, and trust each other to be teachers. Who owns the learning? The students! Who's working harder, and enjoying it? The students! -Joy Kirr
 * [|"Pure Genius (Hour)"] post by Kelley Inden
 * We held our very first genius hour period yesterday. The level of engagement compared to a typical class was outstanding! A few students really did have trouble taking the reins - they didn't trust that their question was "good enough" and kept looking around the room, saying "actually I'd like to do that. No, that!" One student had no idea how to go about learning on his own and sat and waited to be told what to do. With some facilitation he was able to get started. Eyes wide - "You mean I can watch Youtube videos???!!!" I am so glad that they are getting the chance to see that learning can and should come from within. On the other hand, one student came with his project finished - did it at home! We'll see how the process unfolds with him! - Carol Davison

**Here's what students have said about Genius Hour.**

 * ====== What I enjoyed most was that I was able to learn about what I am interested in, not what we have to know and teachers going cram cram cram. I learned some of my writing limits. ======
 * ====== I liked not being told exactly what to do. ======
 * ====== I liked that we were able to do whatever we wanted to try to contribute to the world. ======
 * ====== What I liked most was getting to work with my friends, trying new things on the computer, having our own independent time to work, and acting out and filming the video. ======
 * ====== I learned that being independent is good. Trying new things is awesome. And I think everything went pretty good. ======
 *  Genius Hour is fantastic because you can learn about any subject you are passionate and determined to learn more about. It gives students the opportunity to learn what they desire, instead of a teachers handing students worksheets or textbooks to complete work. This is unique and influences students to want to learn more because they are learning what they are interested in to learn about . In my opinion, Genius Hour is phenomenal, I am very glad my teacher Mrs.Zvi, gave the class and I the trust and privilege to let us on our own to learn about anything we are interested in. We are very fortunate to have this privilege because students all around the world don't have the opportunity to do Genius Hour or have blogs, and have e-Portfolios from when we were in either sixth or fifth grade like us, we should be thankful for having a great teacher Mrs.Zvi for letting use technology and having subject that aren't even on the curriculum.
 * You don't want to learn your teacher's passion, you want to learn your own passion.