Genius Hour and The Manifesto

WOW! I had such a great time at TAGT's giftED Conference this week!  While I presented several sessions and was able to spend some time with some amazing educators, I also spent some time learning and growing my own understanding of giftedness and how we can serve gifted learners well.

On the last day, I attended Brian Housand's session, Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs: The Trail to Talent Development.  In this session, Brian referenced E. Paul Torrance's Manifesto and I couldn't help but realize how closely it connects with the idea of utilizing passion-based learning to serve our gifted learners.  Let me explain.  

I absolutely love this quote from Dr. Torrance:

“We found that after 30 or 40 years other things became more important than achievement, intelligence, and creativity….I call these ‘Beyonder’ characteristics, such as persistence, courage, willingness to take a risk, and loving and doing what you can do well.” ~ E. Paul Torrance

If you've implemented Genius Hour in your classroom or heard me talk about this idea, those things should sound familiar.  This type of learning gives our learners the opportunity to authentically practice persistence, courage, the willingness to take a risk, and loving what they do as they do what they do well.

So, I thought I would take some time to make the connection between The Manifesto and what our learners experience during a passion-based learning experience...let's get started!

Don’t be afraid to fall in love with something and pursue it with intensity. - This is what Genius Hour is all about. The Passion/Purpose portion of my Genius Hour process gives learners the opportunity to choose something that they want to pursue with intensity. It requires us to give them time and space to lean into something that they CHOOSE to explore.  

Know, understand, take pride in, practice, develop, exploit, and enjoy your greatest strengths. - One of my favorite things about Genius Hour is that it gives our learners the opportunity to develop and practice their own strengths. As they begin to plan out their Project and consider how to make their purpose statement a reality, learners should be encouraged to identify and utilize what they do well to keep their project moving forward.  It also gives us an opportunity to see those strengths - even when they are strengths that we might not typically see in a traditional classroom.  

Learn to free yourself from the expectations of others and walk away from the games they impose on you. Free yourself to play your own game. - Genius Hour isn't about playing the "school game" well and it's also not about doing what someone else "thinks" you so should do.  It's about them, who they are, and what they want to explore. As learners work on their project to develop a Product, passion-based learning gives our learners the opportunity to play their own game and learn while doing it. 

Find a great teacher or mentor who will help you. - Connecting with an outside expert while working on their project is a great way for learners to practice communication skills and to listen to understand.  Being mentored throughout their project gives our learners the opportunity to make an important connection and reach a deeper understanding of whatever it is that they are exploring.  

Don’t waste energy trying to be well-rounded. - So many of our gifted learners feel as if they have to do all of the things. This type of learning encourages them to focus in on something. Sometimes, just being given the time and space to spend time pursuing, impacting, changing ONE thing is what our gifted learners need. This practice provides the opportunity to push pause on everything else and focus their attention on what it is that they want explore using their own strengths to make progress and create change. 

Do what you love and can do well. - I don't know that there is a better way to make this happen than to make passion-based learning a priority in the classroom. Giving our learners the time and space to do what they love and helping them identify the things that they do well is time well spent and should be more of a priority during the school day. Making reflection a priority so that learners can consider whether or not they are doing the work well is an important part of the process and should be prioritized. 

Learn the skills of interdependence. - Making thought partnership a priority throughout the Genius Hour experience gives our learners the opportunity the practice and experience interdependence.  This is also highlighted as learners Pitch their ideas for feedback. Learning to practice interdependence reminds learners that we really are all in this together and can learn and grow from listening to and sharing with each other. 

It makes sense, right? This type of learning connects so well with The Manifesto from the "father of the creativity".  I'm not sure why it took me so long to make this connection but I'm so glad that I finally was able to put the two ideas to together to help explain another "why" behind implementing passion-based learning in the classroom.  

If you'd like to learn more about Genius Hour, please visit andimcnair.com/geniushour or send me a message. I'd love to help you implement this idea to encourage and support creativity in your classroom.