Tomorrow afternoon I am presenting with a fellow VP to a group of teacher candidates on the topic of assessment.  And you know what? I love the way it forces me stop and think. It is such a good way to reflect on my why for everything. Why do I assess the way that I do? What do I value in regards to meaningful assessment? What does it even mean to me? This is one of the amazing silver linings of putting in all the work to put together a presentation--you really have to stop and think about your why. And that is so meaningful. It is one of the reasons I love collaborating with colleagues a ..read more

It has been 4 years since my last blog post, written on April 24th, 2020.  My son is also almost 4 years old. I was fortunate enough to be able to take 2.5 years off when he was born and spend it at home with him. I stopped blogging then but I didn't stop writing...I started a baby journal and started writing in that instead. I am still journaling in that way but today I decided it was time to come back to my blog. Why? I feel newly inspired!! I just switched school districts and am so excited to be the new vice principal at Talmey in Richmond (an AMAZING district--check out their strat ..read more

Hi everyone! I just wanted to quickly share a new resource that Denise Krebs and I put together. This is the new rubric that we are using for Genius Hour. We hope you like it and find it useful to use with your students! FYI, I don't focus on each characteristic with each session of Genius Hour, but rather I have had students reflect on a couple at a time. But you could use all of it at once--totally up to you! You know your students best! We use the acronym G.E.N.I.U.S.  H.O.U.R. to spell out these Genius Hour characteristics: You can access our new Genius Hour rubric here.  You ..read more

Implementing Genius Hour in your classroom? Here are the 6 steps that Denise Krebs and I have laid out in the NEW 2nd edition of The Genius Hour Guidebook! We hope this helps as you implement this amazing passion/inquiry based learning in your classroom.   Click here to hear Denise explain how she uses the 6 steps while teaching remotely during Covid19.  [Thank you to Valentina Gonzalez (@ValentinaESL) for creating the graphic to go along with our 6 Steps ..read more

I am so excited to share that the 2nd Edition of The Genius Hour Guidebook is now out! In this edition, Denise and I update each chapter with new stories and new quotes from many teachers who have been implementing Genius Hour in their classrooms.  We have also added a couple of new chapters based on reader feedback and have included update lesson plans and handouts.  We really appreciate the support of all the readers that have used the 1st edition and we hope that you love the 2nd edition even more! Click here to purchase the book on amazon. Click here to purchase the book on ro ..read more

4th grade student working on building different structures with kiva blocks. He is using his creative thinking and documenting the process I have been thinking about this question a lot. And not just recently, I have actually been thinking about this question for years now.  When I first started doing Genius Hour with my students during the 2011-2012 school year, I didn't even think about this question. It was just a given to me that students could work on any type of project that they were passionate about. However, the more popular Genius Hour gets, the more how-to videos and ..read more

"Identity day is a day where you bring in a few items to school that showcase your passion. Then the school splits up into 2 groups. The 1st group stays while the second group walks around and learns about your passion! It is really, really fun!" -Addison, Grade 6 November 21, 2018 was my first experience with Identity Day. I have read about versions of this sort of special sharing day online and I have always wanted to see it in action, so I was thrilled when I got to Brookside Elementary (I just started as a grade 4-7 classroom STEAM teacher in the SAIL program and vice principal t ..read more

I wrote a blog post about my thoughts on spelling many years ago. It was 2013 and I was teaching a grade 5/6 class. I never published the blog because I felt like it was too short and wasn't quite finished. And so it sat in my drafts for 5 years. I think it is time to push publish. I didn't add anything. I left it the way it was, so it is still short and maybe not quite finished...but as I tell my students, sometimes done is better than perfect. So, here it is. What do you think about spelling programs?  ​ From 2013: ​Spelling.  I am getting tired of teaching spelling…I have tried it ..read more

In March of 2012, Denise Krebs and I co-hosted our very first #geniushour chat on twitter. I was so nervous. I didn’t know if anyone would show up...but they did! Since then we have had 67 chats over the past 6 years. Those chats are amazing! So many people join in now, from all over the world, to share their genius hour successes, advice, and to ask the group for advice.  We have had amazing guest hosts and have covered a wide variety of Genius Hour related topics.  Our chats on the first Thursday of each month at 6 pm pacific/9 pm eastern. Currently all of our archives are on our ..read more

As a vice principal, I have the wonderful opportunity to spend time in many different classes over the school year and I always find it so exciting to see what folks are doing with their students!  Of course I get especially excited when teachers invite me into their classrooms to participate during Genius Hour.  Last year (the 2016-17 school year) I had several different teachers ask me to join in during Genius Hour and it was great to see how they all approached it in slightly different ways.  The overall structure was similar in each room: students were given time to brainsto ..read more