Watch Your Child’s Schedule for Genius Hour

DOES YOUR CHILD LACK ENOUGH CREATIVE EXPOSURE IN CURRENT SCHOOL? IS THEIR NATURAL CURIOSITY AND INNOVATIVE SPIRIT GETTING KILLED BY THE FIXED LEARNING PROCESS? DO YOU GIVE IMPORTANCE TO STIMULATED SELF-DISCOVERY BY CHILDREN?

IF YOUR ANSWERS ARE POSITIVE, WE HAVE JUST THE RIGHT COURSE OF ACTION! FOLLOW THESE TIPS TO MAKE YOUR CHILD AN INNOVATIVE GENIUS. KEEP READING FOR MORE.

In today’s fast-paced world, innovation is the way if the world needs creative products. Humanity needs quicker and more effective solutions to modern problems. While there are various sectors where creativity and innovation should be promoted, digital innovation takes the lead, given its inherent potential to improve our quality of life.

However, innovation and creativity flourish only when passion and interests are encouraged and pursued. Today’s imperative is to nourish and support our children’s natural curiosity and spirit of exploration.

What is Genius Hour?

Genius Hour is a concept where a portion of productive work or study time is purposefully allocated to explore and pursue one’s passion and interest. People utilise it to innovate and create new products. Google, as an organisation, for instance, is considered a pioneer and leader of this idea and has successfully implemented among its employees to derive innovative products and services such as Google AdSense, Gmail, Google News, etc.

Genius Hour in Education

Education and how children learn today have breached traditional boundaries beyond physical classrooms, fixed schedules, and curricula. The concept of virtual learning from anywhere, with online schools offering flexible schedules and customised learning support, has the potential to facilitate the evolution of Genius Hour in education adequately. It can empower students with independent thinking, creativity, and a love for learning.

However, to promote the concept, Don Wettrick, an Editor of STARTedUP, says there is a need to restructure our pedagogy and resource allocation, for instance, the instructional week in a school. He argues that while 50% of the time should be given to maintain the set academic standards- terms it ‘Have To’, we should allocate at least 30% of the time for what we ‘Want To’- to include new ideas and enhance the learning outcomes. In comparison, the remaining 20% must exclusively be given to foster critical thinking and innovation.

10 Reasons To Do Genius Hour With Your Students

By now, you must have a fair idea of the concept of genius hours and its significance for children. Here, we have collated the top 10 reasons to allocate a dedicated slot for your child:

1. To foster passion:

Every child is unique, and two children of the same parent may likely have different interests and passions. You never know when a passion for some art form can become a full-fledged profession later in life. Therefore, we must look for ways to inculcate a sense of respect for their love to make the most out of it.

2. To Encourage Independence and Ownership:

We must instil a sense of responsibility and ownership for our children’s thoughts, actions, and outcomes from a young age. It boosts their self-confidence and makes them responsible in life.

3. Making Them Creative Genius:

The cognitive abilities develop during the formative years of every child’s life. Therefore, early childhood care and creative exposure are considered necessary. We must acknowledge every creative idea our children bring to us to encourage them to be more innovative.

4. To Encourage Time Management:

While every child loves to play and pursue their hobbies and passion, time management for every activity fosters discipline and Productivity. As discussed earlier, we should remember the have-to, need-to, and want-to components when allocating genius hour time for our children.

5. Developing A Sense of Inquiry:

Although, by nature, children are more interested in things in general than an average adult. However, we need to channel this quality for meaningful outcomes. Giving them a dedicated genius hour can foster innovation through inquiry and a quest for knowledge.

6. To Develop Problem-Solving Skills:

If you provide enough time and space to children, they can devise out-of-the-box solutions to any problem. Therefore, they should have time for specific problems and observe how they bring innovative solutions.

7. To Foster Collaboration:

A genius hour doesn’t necessarily mean study time in isolation but can foster collaboration among like-minded children. Group projects, assignments, and even virtual discussion forums can work wonders by sharing ideas and learning from one another.

8. To Develop 21^stCentury Skills:

Children today need more than just textbook knowledge to succeed in careers and life. Therefore, the onus is on us to upskill them early to open the doors of opportunities and let them shine. Through creative ideas for Genius Hour, they can work on their communication, collaboration, and critical thinking to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

9. Personalized Learning:

The genius hour has one specific advantage: it brings out the creative best in your child. However, you need to support them with flexibility in learning to customise the study schedule as they want. Online schools like International Schooling offer this feature that gives children enough time to pursue their passions and excel in various domains of life.

10. Life-long learning Mindset:

It is crucial to develop this mindset early on as we adults tend to become hesitant towards learning once we grow old. At times, being ignorant about something costs us more than it should. The benefits of life-long learning by spending time with oneself, reading a book, pondering on solving a problem, a puzzle, or even just pure imagination can do wonders.

10 Reasons To Do Genius Hour With Your Students

What Is Genius Hour for Elementary Students?

The concept of a genius hour for elementary students simply adapts to the larger context. It means giving ample time and space for every child to blossom and become a better version by working on themselves. A self-directed project pursued by little minds can bring about more significant results in the future. However, to achieve this novel goal, you need a proper structure with scope to adapt to changes as and when required while working with your child.

For instance, elementary-grade students need easy-to-understand language and props while explaining the ideas for Genius Hour to them to generate interest. You should do brainstorming sessions, scratching your head at times along with them.

Similarly, selecting projects for kids may give you a hard time since it will decide their interest and persistence. With careful planning, support from their teachers and peers, and integration with their current curriculum, you can easily navigate with their personalised genius hour. Always remember that you are also a part of it, and no matter whether your kid is doing this online or offline, you need to encourage creativity and celebrate every little success.

What Are the Rules for Genius Hour?

Genius Hour, although is a flexible, personalised, and student-driven learning approach, to succeed genuinely, you need to mind specific rules and follow some time-tested principles we are highlighting below:

1. Respect Boundaries:

It is fundamental to anything in life in general to mind the limits to get the best results in our work. During the genius hour, let your child focus on your project while thinking about others’ projects and progress. Moreover, you need to keep in mind the time boundaries of Genius Hour.

2. Ask For Help:

If you are working with a child, never hesitate to take help and encourage them to seek peer support.

3. Set Clear Goals and Stay on Track:

Children are unpredictable and may lose interest in something very dear to them just a while ago. As a parent, you must be mindful of this fact while designing, selecting, and working alongside them to keep them on track.

4. Be Creative and Have Fun:

The whole point of Genius Hour is to be creative, innovative, and, last but not least, have fun. Ensure your child is having fun while working on projects to keep them going.

5. Reflect on Learning:

Remember, you have progressed even if you fail to do something. Therefore, celebrate failures and reflect on learning because they are critical to ultimate success.

Overall, the concept of Genius Hour is to provide flexible, fun-filled learning opportunities to young minds. It can be done only when we take a genuine interest and pull our children from the burden of fixed classroom learning. Much support can be drawn from online education platforms such as International Schooling, where personalised and flexible learning methods do a remarkable job for new-age learners.

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