This is a lesson plan regarding middle school research. Students first complete their career research (different lesson plan). Next they complete this lesson which is completing a biography on an important person in their chosen career.  Picture taken by Jann Leishman  

  This resource is for teachers to aid students through the expeditionary and inquiry-based learning process of Genius Hour. Genius Hour is a passion project students can participate in using 20% of class time every week (about 1 hour). They will learn how to ask good questions around a topic they're interested in, conduct research, and ultimately produce and present evidence from their findings.Time frame: 1 hour per week every term (About 10 hours)Format: asynchronous, virtual, or in class with groups

This Genius Hour project will focus on student’s in special education and their IEP transition goals related to their career interests. Students will select one career of interest to them and conduct research, interview people in the field, job shadow, etc. to develop a presentation on their findings. 

Thumbnail Image:  "creative quote" by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0 This lesson plan is on how I would implement a Genius Hour Project into my classroom.  It has some ideas of how to get started with your students, how to help students reflect on their project each day, ideas of final projects, a final project rubric to guide students in their presentation, and an idea of how to share and recognize the students' great work.

This is a 5 day unit about validating sources on the internet and social media.  It is taught so that students understand and respect the obligations of using social media wisely before sharing and the importance of giving credit to creators through citing sources.  It is a blended unit with a final project to be done in Apple's Keynote where students will show what they have learned in a slide show to other students in the class. They will be able to practice what they learn in class and become better at research, validating sources, and spotting fake news. Image citation - “Say Thanks to Pxhere - Free Images & Free Stock Photos - Pxhere.” Pxhere.com, https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1361501.

*This lesson plan is adaptable for various projects involving technology.  This is a general lesson plan used for our Tech Fun Fridays. Students who are caught up in all core classes and not missing any assignemnts are given time to do their own research on a topic that they are interested in. They must conduct research, create a presentation to compile their research, cite sources, create a project (3D printing, animation, etc.), carry about that project including taking and editing photos of their final project to include at the end of their presentation and then practice their public speaking by presenting to the class. (This covers many core standards depending on what grade you teach. Please reference the standards you are working with to determine which ones fit this lesson.)