 Passion-based learning. What is it? It is authentic. It is student-driven. It is inquiry-driven. It is how we grow in life. We ask questions and try to find answers. It is giving students ample time to be creative. Passion-based learning helps cultivate lifelong learners. Is that what you want in your school? Questions can come from interests. Interests can lead to passions. Passion can lead to purpose. I'm going to begin by looking at a teacher's perspective. As a teacher, what is something that you are passionate about? This type of learning could take you many places. If you were given time in your school day to pursue your interests, you could go many routes. However, what about your school or career gets you sick to your stomach? What problems are you facing that you would like to change? This type of question truly drives our learning. This is where your fuel comes from, inside, from heartache. Angela Myers is my top motivator and role model for encouraging passion-based learning. She stresses the importance of not only asking what students love, but what breaks their heart. She knows that a passion is something you must do, something that no matter the obstacles or the pain that comes with it, you will continue doing. It is part of you. This is passion-based learning. Why is passion-based learning valuable for your students? Let's hear from teachers in the trenches first. Passion-based learning is valuable to students and important to implement because of engagement. In today's world, we are 14 years into the 21st century and kids outside of school are already creating their own videos, they're connecting through Instagram and Twitter, Facebook, they connect with their friends and family, they plan meetings, they gather together, they Google what they want to know and they are completely engaged outside of school. But are they connected to ways that serve their futures and are they engaged in the traditional classroom? And that's what we have to ask ourselves because what we need to do is to get that outside of the classroom stuff inside so that we are creating classrooms of engaged learners. We have a positive online connectedness, mastering digital literacies. And how do you do that? Well, Genius Hour are passion-based learning. It's a time to dig into your interests, master your skills and ideas and share your passion with others. Passion-based learning or compassion-based learning has been extremely beneficial to my students because it really helped them to identify something they are passionate about and it allowed them to learn how to learn through their passion. So it allowed them to take ownership in school and to get them to have them be inspired and excited to learn and that was very refreshing to see. So I think most students really appreciate the autonomy they receive within it and then feel that the learning that they're doing is relevant and something that relates to them. It's one thing to, you know, try and reach your students by integrating things they want to do and by giving them choice in the projects and then it's another thing to just like let them go and do anything they want and learn about anything that they're passionate about or that they wonder about and then share that learning with the class. It really is something completely different and well, I think the rest of my teaching is pretty good. I know that during genius hour, that's when my kids really love learning and they come alive in a different way. I think that first of all, passion time gives students an opportunity to explore their own interests without too much structure from the teachers. I think that it's a chance for students to take risks without worrying about failure or grades because in our classroom we don't grade our passion time projects and passion time is also a great opportunity for students to work with friends either as a partner during their their passion time project or just collaboratively as a whole class. Why is passion-based learning valuable for you as a teacher? I thought I'd be able to model that learning for the students at the same time as they were doing their projects. I figured they'll do their genius hour projects and I'll go ahead and do mine. It didn't turn out that way. There's absolutely not enough time for me to do my own projects when I'm circulating and checking in with kids and having one-on-one conversations with them, giving them feedback, asking them questions, that kind of thing. It didn't turn out the way I thought it was going to at first, but it was still so valuable for me as well because, well A, my students are learning so that's amazing and B, I got to know my students in a different way. You really get to know them. You get to know what they're interested in and what they're passionate about and you get to see the way their minds work when they're dealing with their wonders and kind of planning out their own projects and see them problem-solving on their own. So why is passion time valuable to me? Well, as a teacher I think that it's great that I'm giving my students some time for them to explore their own interests so that makes me happy. I think it's also valuable to me because I see that students are practicing skills that we're learning in other areas of the curriculum and that confirms to me that this time is extremely valuable and purposeful. It's also important for my students to have a say in their education so it makes me happy to know that I'm letting them make some decisions because what they learn and how they learn it doesn't always have to be determined by me. One common theme we hear is that you get to know your students. Getting to know your students is not something that is just nice. No, it is necessary if you intend to teach your best the rest of the time that you have students, the time in which you have curriculum to cover. You can cover that curriculum in a more engaging and effective way when you know your students likes, dislikes, skills, and struggles. This is true differentiation. It is personalization for the rest of your school year as well as this dedicated time. There will be no talk of grades in this video. Many teachers do not grade their students passion-based learning time or products but some give multiple points for various tasks. I'm of the belief that we do not grade practice. This is a time in your week when students can practice, fail, and then try again. If they fail, we know they are trying. To grade or not to grade is something you will have to figure out on your own but your personal learning network, including parents and students alike, should be able to help you make this decision. I also will not be addressing how to fit it in. Now that you know the reasons behind passion-based learning, you realize that you do have to fit it in. How much time is up to you? Here's a disclaimer, however. It doesn't matter how much time you choose when you start because you and your students will hunger for more. And hopefully you will create more time for students to own their own learning. You will find that ideas from passion-based learning become infused into the rest of your week easily. So how do teachers implement passion-based learning? First, dedicate a specific time during your week when you will give the learning over to your students. This can come in many forms. Imagine you have a common text all students need to be reading. One baby step is to have students develop questions about this text. They can then branch off into different corners of the room to have discussions stemming around these. These questions are issues that they came up with, not teacher-directed questions. Imagine you have a set time set aside for independent reading. They should be choosing their own books, magazines, articles, blogs to read. You could have a wonder wall where students post questions and other students help them answer these questions. Or giving the learning over to your students could mean that you create genius hour or 20% time or passion projects. A set time for students to learn what they want to learn. A time for students to create. A time for students to possibly change the world. You can start small here if you'd like. Two days at the end of each quarter, one week during each semester, or set aside time every single week. When you decide to implement time each week, you may start slowly if you feel you need scaffolding. You may want to begin by letting students share their skills with the class. They can share what they know about a subject or share creations they've already made. A second step at implementing passion-based learning once a week is making sure you have time to have one-on-one conferences with each student. You will then find that you will be able to use the time you spend in these conferences to really learn about them. What drives them? What can you use to capture their attention and keep them engaged the rest of the week? With what do they struggle? What may be obstacles on their journey to success? The precious time you have one-on-one with students will help you infuse what you learn about your students into the rest of your days. Your students will know that they matter. Chances are you'll create stronger connections with these students than you have with prior classes. A crucial step in implementing passion-based learning is informing the parents. Let them know what time you're taking out of your regular curriculum and the reasons behind it. It may be that their child has never had this time embedded into the school day and parents will be thrilled you are taking time to really get to know their child or let him or her shine. Typical school is very stressful for many children. When they come home glowing about the learning that's taking place parents will be appreciative. Consider your end result. What do you want students to get out of this time and what do you want them to produce and share with others? Some classes have students share when they are ready. If the questions they had have been answered they've created something to share with the class then they can share when ready. At this point other students may want to help them continue with the learning. What else might they want to know about the subject? How else could they tackle this issue? Sharing with the class can bring a new dynamic to the child's ideas and he or she may want to continue the learning at this point. If not it's time for this child to brainstorm or get started on another idea. Some classes have students share at the end of each quarter or unit or even year. You will need to decide any parameters for sharing. In the Genius Hour community the major consensus is to let students share how they want. A poster, a presentation, a performance, an interactive session are all welcomed. Some teachers need more structure and they will require something as formal as a Ted style talk. Some students will be grateful for the freedom and yet some would rather have the structure. It is what they've been conditioned to do in a school setting. You may want to have options to share with students from more structured to less structured so they may choose based on their learning style. At any rate, sharing is crucial in passion-based learning. This stage, whether it be many times throughout a student's project or slowly at the end of a project, helps students reflect on what they've learned and accomplished. It allows other students to learn from each other, give feedback, ask more questions and be inspired further. Sharing can come in many forms, presentations, songs, demonstrations, a poster to hang in the school, blog posts or an entire blog dedicated to the learning, YouTube videos, or perhaps a presentation before the school board. There are myriad ways students can share what they've learned. The possibilities given the technology and connections we can make are endless. When you expect more of your students, you will find they take the next step. They will choose to make a difference in the community or in the world. Through their passions and your guidance, they will realize their heartbreaks. They will start creating content that Angela Meyers calls WoW content, worthy of the world. So why take the time to try passion-based learning? In case I can't convince you, I ask other teachers, why should teachers take the time to implement passion-based learning? Well, if you do a search for cognitive verbs in the Common Core by Robert Monsano with ASCD, you'll find a list of Common Core State Standard Verbs. Let's look at a couple of those. Collaborate, contribute, share. Build, develop, create, produce, publish, record. Appreciate, persevere, plan. Reflect, self-correct. Problem solve, argue. Defend, claim, quantify, support, verify. Acquire, compile. Gather, listen, notice. Search, seek, study. This is what kids do when they're looking up things for their own interests, something they're passionate about. So it builds knowledge, connections, possibilities. And through that passion, students apply all those skills that our standards expect in communication, research, reading, writing, designing, collaboration, media competence, digital citizenship, all the digital literacies, etc. It really defines the reason for school. When I have taken 20% of my time out to get students inspired and passionate about learning and to teach them how to learn more efficiently, I've found that when you go back to the other 80% of the time that you have, they learn more efficiently and more effectively than they ever have before. And they're learning more than they used to in my whole 100% of the time that I had. So my answer to that is that that isn't an issue. In fact, I would just give it a try, take a chance, model the fact that we're willing to take a risk and do this and just try it. And I think that you'll see that students become much more passionate learners and excited to learn and more efficient learners. Your students are going to just amaze you with their projects, with their passions and wonders and the things that they come up with. And you're going to get to know them in a new way and that's going to be really special. Why else? Because during Genius Hour, so many different learning outcomes are hit and it's a way for us to focus on the procedures of learning and not just content. So your students are going to be problem solving. They're going to be coming up with ideas, they're generating lists, they're thinking up ways to do their project, they're being creative, collaborative, they're communicating with each other and with the whole class when they present, they're working on a lot of those other skills that we really want them to be able to work on. So it's a good way to practice those what some people call 21st century learning skills. Passion time allows students to learn about their own interests and it's important that they understand that school and life don't have to be separated. They don't have to look forward to going home in order to pursue their interests. They can explore those interests in school and share them with all the people in the classroom. Also other teachers might be surprised at how much passion time actually empowers students to lead the classroom, not just during passion time but also throughout the rest of the day. When teachers get off the stage and become the guide on the side, student learning and independent thinking improves immensely. Finally passion time really helps teachers take a step back from constantly guiding the students. Sometimes we just need to let our students go and make their own discoveries and make their own mistakes. Hi Joey, Genius Hour has been such a valuable experience for me because it helps me to retain my position as chief learner in the classroom. When I align myself with my students and together we become teachers slash learners, it changes everything. Together, we are better and more able to be passionate learners. What do you and your students need in order to succeed? You will need to dedicate a specific time during your week. You will also need to tell the students and parents so that they hold you to it. This is non-negotiable if you want it to work. Your students also need to have a virtually risk free environment. Set up this environment from day one of the school year. Students need to feel comfortable trying something new, failing, trying to improve and sharing their triumphs and failures with their classmates. Many teachers believe students need to have a guiding question. This question must be one in which the answer is not found by a search engine. This is a broad question that will take a while for students to search for an answer. If it is not a question they want answered and instead it is a goal they want to achieve, students should be encouraged to develop a timeline as to how far they think they should be at certain points in the year in order to be successful then adjust as needed. You will need something to ignite a fire under your students, a push that motivates them to act. Kid President's pep talk on YouTube is a quick clip that inspires children to take action. Students could create paper blogs about their passions. They can map out their heartbreaks. You may want to host a cardboard challenge. Whatever you use and it may be all of these things, if it will impress upon your students that you mean business they are great to use. It will impress that you want to know their passions and see what they can do and what they already know with what they want to learn. You need to get out of the way of your students. This is their time to learn or create what they deem is important. You need to take the time to talk with them one on one, be there as a guide to answer their questions with why not instead of no I don't think so. You need to buy into the idea of students owning the learning or your students won't. If you still have a need to control or manage the classroom you'll have a very difficult time implementing this type of learning. Books you could read to help you change your mindset are listed in the resources page in this video description. Authors such as Angela Myers, Daniel Pink and Sir Ken Robinson will make you see children and learning through a different lens. Soon you will be committing to some time in your classroom given to the students so you should be alerted to some of the outcomes you and your students will experience. First, know that this is a major shift for teachers who still like control. We grew up with a teacher in front of the classroom telling us what we need to know and then testing us on it. If you expect other teachers to jump on board with you right away you may have a large hurdle in front of you. However, you may find a kindred soul and you too or more teachers can work together to jump in and then keep tweaking as needed. If you believe in this type of education enough your passion will be infectious and you may convince others to help you change education one class at a time. If you decide to implement passion-based learning once a week know that this may be the hardest you work all week simply facilitating but it will also be your most rewarding part of the week. Know too if you're trying this once a week that it will be difficult to rein in students to follow your lead once again and as you delve into your classroom curriculum you may find that this is an obstacle at first but you'll soon realize that this disengagement from students during your lessons will push you to create an even more student-centered environment throughout your week. You will find that students will gravitate more towards each other rather than you when they have questions. They will learn more from each other and you will be learning alongside them. You'll see the true essence of we are better together. You may have a student who doesn't buy into the idea of owning his or her own learning. This will hurt your heart. You'll work with this student more than the rest trying to get at what makes this one tick. This one student may be your biggest struggle but you must not give up. This will just strengthen your conviction that this type of learning is necessary in our educational system. Those students who struggle every other day in your class you'll see their engagement rise. You'll see them smile instead of sigh more often. You'll find moments to connect when there is no pressure or stress and the culture in your class will grow into something beautiful. It will definitely be a year to remember for both you and your students. Warning, one taste of it and you'll want more. Let's wrap up with hope. Teachers were asked what is your favorite part of Genius Hour or Passion Projects? My favorite part about Compassion Based Learning is just the fact of seeing students excited about something in a classroom so they get that time and they're just like oh I cannot wait to go look this up this is my topic this is what I love and when they do that and in Compassion Based Learning we have you know really told them pursue your passion but then try to change the world try to make the world a better place through your passion and to see students actually do that to see some of the final projects that they have done that have helped out the community or to talk to younger kids and get them excited about something to see students passionate about learning learning after school learning in the summer learning at lunchtime at school you know giving up their time to learn because they become so excited about it has been the greatest thing that I've seen. I think my favorite part is of course like I said before getting to know my kids in a different way it's really special to learn more and more about what my kids love and what they're interested in and I think it changes the sense of community in the classroom it changes the relationship between student and student and student and teacher and ultimately it starts to spill over into the rest of our week so that's probably number one favorite thing but number two or maybe even tied to number one then the other thing that I really really love is when the students share when they present out their genius hour projects and the other kids in the class get to know a part of them that they didn't know before and new connections are made or just a new awareness about who's in your classroom and what their talents and strengths are and what they think about and what they love I think that's really special as well. So what's my favorite part of passion time? Well I would probably have to say that there's a few things number one their final products are something that I enjoyed looking at even though the final products not our focus we are focused on the process but there's nothing better than seeing you know the pride in each student when they finish a project that they're pretty proud of as well. I also like to read each student's compliments and quality boosters that they give to each other in the comments section of each other's blogs they end up seeing things that I could never see and I'm pretty proud of them for being so observant and then finally I enjoy the process of coming up with essential questions or guiding questions with my students because I get to have one-on-one conversations with each student and that gets me to know them in a different way that I might not have been able to do otherwise at a different time in our day. The factory model of teaching needs to end. Our students futures will be so very different from anything that we have ever known they need to know how to learn for themselves by trying something new failing adapting and trying again in a low risk stress-free environment that we can provide. Our students are already learning on their own outside of school we need to be there to give them guidance when they are struggling in school you will find resources mentioned during this video in the description underneath. Let's end our session now by hearing from some seventh graders who have experienced a type of passion-based learning titled genius hour. It gives you an actual time to learn something new that you really want to learn. People get to like read books that they normally wouldn't be able to read and they get to explore different things that they wouldn't be able to do in different subjects. So you could learn more about what you want to learn. You get to learn what you want to learn and study what you want to study because later we can share it with other people. It allows kids to be creative because you do what you want to do and not what the teacher wants you to do. It gives kids time to be able to learn knowledge. It gives kids time like to learn something on the on their own instead of having their teachers tell them what to do. You get to learn what you want but you learn because you can become a scholar because you get to learn what you want to learn and you learn more and you read more. Yes like everything you do leads to learning and learning is good for you. That's why it's worthwhile.