10 Reasons to Try 20% Time in the Classroom

Yet another list of 10 for you to countdown the days of summer.  Take one a day for 10 business days while you consider using 20% time (a.k.a. #geniushour for you Tweeps out there) in your classroom in the fall...

Originally posted by Ross Crockett on June 4, 2013

“Here's a radical new idea you may not have heard of—20% time. With this concept, you devote that percentage of class time to allow students to discover and learn the things they want to, and in the ways they want to learn them. Sound crazy? I urge you to try it on in your own classroom. Below, AJ Juliani provides us with a list of reasons why it's worth considering as a classroom teaching and learning strategy.”

 via Edudemic

If you haven’t heard of 20% time in the classroom, the premise is simple: Give your students 20% of their class time to learn what they want. Yes, that’s it. Below is a list of the 10 reasons you should consider 20% time in your school, and you will not regret making that choice!

1. You will join a great community of learners

When I first did the 20% project with my students I didn’t have a community of teachers or learners. Within months that changed as a number of great teachers before and after me started to share their 20% time stories online. The largest active group is the Genius Hour teachers (inspired by Daniel Pink) who have #geniushour chats and a great Genius Hour wiki. Get involved and see what others have done!

2. You will allow students to go into depth with a topic that inspires them

One of the major issues we face in schools today is covering a wide breadth of information, instead of allowing students to get a real depth of knowledge. Students using 20% time are able to delve into subject matter that means something to them, often times taking their free time at home to learn more. Isn’t this something we should be promoting at all levels?

3. There is so much positive peer pressure

When students in my school have their pitch day, they get to share with the entire class what they are working on. Publicly announcing what they are trying to accomplish makes the goal real. Students get to see what their peers are working on and want to make sure their project stands up to the rest of the class. Regardless of a grade being attached to the project, this makes for students going the extra mile.

4. It relieves students of the “game of school”

Too often our students complete assignments for the grade. They go through the motions to receive an external pat on the back (or pat on their transcript). 20% time takes away the “game of school”. It brings back the love of learning for learning’s sake.

5. It’s fun!

Randy Pausch famously said, “If you think you can’t learn and have fun at the same time. Then I don’t think you have a good understanding of either.” Without a doubt it is the best time of the week. Listen to how one Genius Hour teacher share her students’ excitement for Genius Hour to arrive.

6. Your class will be covering all types of common core standards

It doesn’t matter if you teach elementary, middle, or high school. The genius hour and 20% time projects cover multiple common cores standards. We’ve had teachers propose this type of learning to their administration back by awesome research. Remember, the community will help if you are fighting a battle to get 20% time started at your school.

7. It’s differentiation at its best

Students are working at their level, and as teachers we should be helping to challenge each one of our learners at their best pace and ability. Because each project differs, students are not bogged down by following the same steps as their classmates. The entire class is learning, but it is truly differentiated.

8. You learn by what you do, not by what you hear

Experiential and challenge based learning puts the mastery back into the student’s hands. We provide guidance and pushes along the way, but they are the ones “doing” and “making”. Confucius put it perfectly: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Let your students make and they will understand and thank you for the opportunity.

9. It is a perfect way to model life-long learning

I did the 20% time with my students and took it upon myself to learn how to code and make an app from scratch. I failed to make that app. But my experience learning how to program left me with a whole new perspective, and was a teachable moment about what we call “failure”. There is no real way to fail a project in which “learning” is the end-goal.

10. Your students will never forget what it felt like to create

Have you seen Caine’s arcade? It started out as a little idea and now Caine has inspired hundreds of other kids his age to create something unique. When you create a product, it becomes part of who you are, and there is a “care” involved that we just never see with multiple-choice tests. What would you want for your child?

This is the most important time to be in education. It is the most important time to care about education. It is the most important time to impact education.

Now, more than any other time in the past 100 years, education seems on the verge of a paradigm shift. You see, for the past century, most of the educational change has been “doing old things in new ways”. Today, we are beginning to see educators, educational institutions, and educational companies do “new things in new ways”.

My challenge to you as a teacher is to allow your students the freedom to learn what they want. That’s what 20% time is all about, and that is why it is so successful.

It’s Time to Refocus on the Learner

Posted by Ian Jukes on June 11, 2013

“Mike Fisher writes in the following article for SmartBlog on Education that, "... the system and the institution are methodically destroying learning." He points to the methodology of testing and assessment that serves to 'quantify' everything from the effectiveness of learning to teacher performance, and more. He also asks us to consider who standardized tests are really designed for—the system or the student. Some real food for thought here, so I encourage you to read on.”

via SmartBlog on Education

This past weekend, I worked with Steve Hargadon of Classroom 2.0 at an educational conference in Jacksonville, Fla.

In the car on the way to the conference recently, Steve and I were discussing the “institution” of school and the “system” of school. The largest part of our conversation centered around the fact that we have, collectively as a nation, created a massive operation for educating children that does not work.

The “institution” is the bureaucratic, policy side of public education that demands that “each get some.” The “system” is the mechanism for delivering the “some” to all. The good ideas that created the system and thus the institution around it are lost in the shuffle. Doing what’s best for kids and doing what’s fair for all have each become a separate megalopolis each on a separate continent.

Education has become so institutionalized that the act of “doing” something equates to readiness for the next checked off item on the “to do” list of instructional practice. The ebb and flow of “doing” becomes the barometer for success as measured by standardized high stakes tests that, in one moment, assess a students ability to “do school,” measure a teacher’s effectiveness, and be a checks and balances sheet to maintain the system as directed by the institution.

Note that in the previous paragraph, the word “learning” was not used. In a Huffington Post article from last March, Connie Yowell describes education as what institutions do and learning as what people do. What’s happening, though, is the system and the institution are methodically destroying learning. I think it’s high time we refocus on the learner.

The system and the institution would have you believe that it is possible to well quantify the learning with one high-stakes assessment that serves as a good indicator of year to year growth, how well a teacher teaches, and whether or not the school as a whole is an effective system. The problem is with the variables. In science, we draw conclusions based on the experimentation of one variable at a time, a process approach that helps winnow the possible outcomes of comparative observation. In our current model, the system and the institution are on a multi-variable train that not only amounts to bad science but, in turn, leads to bad practices.

Case in point:  Students in New York recently took the first version of the new common core-aligned tests. They were asked questions that were more rigorous than ever before in an attempt to measure the learning of the common core standards. The stories that came out of the woodwork over the course of the week involved students walking out of the test, kids crying, kids unable to finish, kids just giving up, etc. The test was designed to measure the degree to which the students met the common core standards. The test does not allow for variations in home environment, parental support, socioeconomic status, etc.

The test was designed to evaluate the system and perpetuate the institution. The tests in other states that are being designed to evaluate the “learning” are all heading in the same direction.

Do we want our students ready for college and careers?Absolutely.

Do we want them ready to meet the challenges of the world they will graduate into? You betcha.

Do we need assessment? Of course.

Do we want them suffering through assessments that were designed with the institution/system rather than the child in mind? Not at all.

Assessment is not bad. In a previous blog post, I wrote about why in the world we would practice for a game we never played or rehearse for a performance we never give. I also don’t disagree with checks and balances in the system, but the system must have integrity. That means that we must not only find ways to more rationally assess students without causing complete psychological breakdowns on test days but also that we address some of the other variables that the system and the institution keep in the periphery, primarily poverty and family/environmental support.

Instead of the grimness of the dark and scary hell week of assessments, perhaps we start looking at what can be embedded in instruction. Perhaps we look at leveraging opportunities for choice and differentiated products through performance tasks and problem-based scenarios that not only generate a product but also are a launching pad for the next learning moment.

There are no easy answers here, I know that. But I also know that there are still kids at the heart of all of this. The institution and the system need to refocus on that. We have an unbelievable challenge and a massive obligation to get this right.

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Mike Fisher (@fisher1000) has more than a decade of classroom and professional-development experience. He is a full-time educational consultant and instructional coach and works primarily with school districts to integrate the Common Core State Standards, make data-informed instructional decisions, sustain their curriculum mapping initiatives and immerse instructional technology. Learn more at The Digigogy Collaborative or on his blog.

Thinking Math-ishly

Teaching Without Words

Another informative and thought provoking TED Talk about the importance of feedback and how teaching without words is extremely powerful.  Thank you to Stephen Lippa from Explore Learning for sharing the talk and reminding me about the penguin I met four years ago from a French lady at ECOO 2009.

Mathletics, First Nations, and Online Learning Success

For those of you who missed it on Monday and Tuesday, here is the article from the FNSSP document and the Fall 2012 edition of Spirit Interactive online math learning and the success that First Nations have had using this type of learning for their students.  You can view it here from its original source or read it in its entirety below.

Students at a community school in Alberta are acing math with the help of a dynamic, online program.

Early in 2011, the Morley school launched Mathletics , an online program for students of all ages. Not only have the school's young students increased their speed and ability to perform mathematical functions, but they have also started to do better in math, many of them for the first time.

"I've heard only positive comments from the students about the Mathletics program," said Danelle Oosterveld, a member of the Stoney Education Authority. "They are all extremely enthusiastic about mastering new skills."

Supported by the First Nation Student Success Program (FNSSP), Mathletics enables students to work at their own pace through 750 online numeracy activities and tutorials. Colourful graphics track students' progress, and visually stimulating animations break operations down into easy-to-follow steps. It's a modern approach to teaching math that enables children to advance rapidly.

"Our students are thriving because of the program's personalized approach. They are solving harder problems and performing faster calculations," said Danelle Oosterveld. "More importantly, they are tasting the excitement of advancing to new levels of skill."

Now, parents are interested in their children's progress, and their involvement is paying off. They are even approaching the teachers to learn more about the program and how they can help their children continue to advance their skills at school and at home.

Ten children at the Morley school have been recognized as top students in Canada based on their skills and participation in Live Math, an interactive part of the Mathletics program that tests students' math abilities against those of other students in the same grade level around the world. By correctly answering math problems, the Morley school students beat out national and international opponents to earn progress certificates and gain recognition on the Mathletics website.

The Morley school students are doing so well that even 3P Learning, the distributor of Mathletics in Canada, is impressed. Several students were able to make it onto the Top 100 list in only a few months.

"FNSSP and Mathletics have enabled us to work within the Alberta curriculum, as well as according to the ability level of each student," said Danelle Oosterveld. "We've seen the students make some really impressive academic gains, which will only become more evident over time."

Balancing Technology Integration

A long article on the implementation of technology for differentiation...