Austin Baker
So, Genius Hour in my photo classes was really successful. I
thought it would be pretty good, but it was REALLY good. As I’ve been trying
everything on hard-mode this semester and working with the more difficult of my
two classes first, I was actually kind of blown away by what they turned out.
I came up with the idea for how to implement the assignment
almost immediately as we were talking about it in our last class meeting. The
kids would have a short time to brainstorm and prep, then a short time to
shoot, and finally a short time to edit before delivering, personally, their
finished images.
In actuality, I had to pare down the deliverable a little. I
originally wanted 3 shots, but after much complaining and gnashing of teeth, I
narrowed it down to one. That was a good thing, for two reasons.
First, I think the kids focused more on getting everything
right than if they had to shoot multiple images. Secondly was time. Having them
create, deliver, and critique one image per student took about 2 hours for a
class of 30 kids, even with me working to move things along as quickly as
possible.
I was surprised by the quality of work that came out of my
tough class; pretty much across the board they all did some of their best work
fof the semester. It engaged them, and they actually tried. I’m not sure if
that’s because they have to get up and stand beside their work, or because they
were just generally engaged with the assignment The shy kids obviously hated
it, but they got up and did it anyways. And, the one kid who really missed the
ball on the assignment didn’t want to come up and talk about his picture in
front of the class. I asked why and he proceeded to rattle off a list of all
the things he’d done wrong in the image. I think that he was embarrassed because
he didn’t take it seriously. Also, the list he rattled off including all of the
things I was going to say about it, so, I didn’t make him get up.
I think overall, Genius Hour was super-successful because
there were so many good thigs that came out of it, plus, it tied in so many
concepts of PBL> It’s authentic, it’s problem-based (how do I get a shot done
in this short amount of time?), it’s creative/artistic, it’s active, it has an
element of collaboration, it has responsibility (in that I put the kids up
beside their work), and it has critique (from both the teacher and from their
peers).
The conclusion my kids came to is that Genius Hour is basically
like every reality TV game show competition out there; you have judges come in,
assign a competition, you have limited time to complete it, then they have to
present and get judged, then a winner is called right away. It’s especially like
Top Photographer, which is a show
that just came out and is a spiritual successor to America’s Next Top Model, which we have been watching in class. In
fact, I think I’m going to take inspiration from that show next time and give
them a slightly more directed theme than this first one, which was “shoot
whatever you want.”
Austin,
ReplyDeleteI never thought about how Genius Hour is like reality TV, but in actuality it is very much providing students with the opportunity to really choose what they want to learn about and as the facilitator of that we provide them with the boundaries of time and space and the resources to engage in their inquiry. You shared how you provided students with the opportunity to engage in Genius Hour in one class time with the freedom to completely decide what they were shooting and with the task of applying all the skills they'd learn to create the most effective shot they could and then the presentation component is where they share not only their product but their process. All of the components are valuable, but in reading your reflection it seemed like this public presentation of their craft was huge for your students because in most cases it provided affirmation of their work (in one case you mentioned, the lack thereof). I appreciate the creative way you approach each pbl opportunity presented to you and to your students. In reviewing your Genius Hour evidence of application in your folder in our course Google Drive I was able to see your student photos and was blown away. I am not a skilled photographer but I loved Eric VonCannon's photo of him taking a photo in a circular frame. I also liked so many of the shots that played with light and space. Your explanation of the project was short but concise, providing them with enough structure to get started but without too many details that took away from their creativity. I am glad this worked well with your classes. I am wondering what this structure could look like with your English classes.
Austin,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your Genius Hour blog. I have been curious as to how you have been incorporating PBL in your photography class, and I think this was awesome. I like that you narrowed it down to one photograph. I think that really allowed your students to narrow in on their subject of choice and focus on their interest. Glad to hear that Genius Hour went so well for you.
I love the scope of your Genius Hour adventure. I also loved that you incorporated student-choice in to this lesson by letting them plan and shoot whatever they wanted to capture. This also has a lot of real-world applications because professionals should be able to produce something on a tight schedule.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool, short genius hour project. I have it in my head that genius has to take time over several weeks to complete, but I like how you shortened it but still had the elements. The photographs look awesome, and I'm glad that your students enjoyed the process!
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