Genius Hour Cont'd

For my Genius Hour I've decided to do my own version of a Happiness Project. Ever since I read Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project I have been inspired to try and live my life to the fullest. I am going to use the hour that we have devoted to our projects to reread this book as well as read other  books about the concept of bringing happiness into our lives and how to do it.

Borlasa, K. (2015, January 2). The Happiness Project [Online Image].
Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/kynaborlasa/

I will measure my progress by implementing what I find in my research into my own life - piece by piece - to determine what works best for me. I think that its important that I "practice what I preach". That I'm not just saying that this and this works to make yourself happier, but that I've also tested it to see if it works for me.

However, the book by Gretchen Rubin explicitly says that everything she suggests in the book doesn't work for everyone, and thats true - it won't work for everyone. But I think its important that everyone take the time to see and really think about what makes them happy and what helps them to think more positively. So with my happiness project genius hour, I want to give suggestions for people to try, with hopes that they can take those ideas and go even further and become intrigued into looking at what makes them happy.

Each post I will suggest some different ideas on what people can do to start their own happiness project. Essentially I will rant on about what I have researched and people can pick and choose what works for them. I am going to try focusing on three different elements; mind, body, and soul.

Stay tuned!

The Ins and Outs of the ⓒ

I'm not going to lie to you, I'm that person who would do the simple Google Images search for just about every single project since elementary school. I would just hit search and copy and paste whatever image I liked best without looking back. Now I understand that although those images are out there, they aren't free to use. There are some logistics that I've recently learned about that are important for students in our digital age to learn about before becoming an Image Thief...like I did.

One of the most important and easy-to-use tools I've learned about is Creative Commons. This website makes it just as simple as Google Images once did for me to find images that are allowed to be used for purposes such as posting on this blog like I'm doing now. However, this is not to discourage the use of Google Images as this is still a valuable tool with just a little bit of reconfiguration. 

It's so important that teachers are teaching their students about what copyrights are and how to use them. For example, in searching children and computers on Google Images and configuring the page to find images that are "labelled for noncommercial reuse and motivation" I found this image of a baby using a computer. Upon looking further I found the images source and was confirmed that I could use this image and that no attribution was required. However for the purposes of this blog post, I will be giving attribution regardless.

Pixabay. (2012, March 18). Baby Computer [Online Image].
Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/baby-boy-child-childhood-computer-84626/

Furthermore, in using the Creative Commons website I did the same search of children and computers and found the image shown below. On the Creative Commons, you also have to do some reconfiguration of your search by clicking on "Any license" and instead choosing "All Creative commons".

Silfverberg, M. (2006, May 16). On the edge [Online Image].
Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/miikas/

Throughout searching these web sites as well as in class this week, I learned that the Internet has a vast amount of information on it - including pictures - but not all of this information is free for use WITHOUT attributing as to where you go it from. That little ⓒ that I have seen my whole life has a much bigger significance to me now than it ever did. With that being said, being a teacher in the types of classrooms I will be apart of in the 21st century, it is more important now than it ever has been to teach my students about the ⓒ and what it truly means, and how to use it.

Genius Hour

Hey Followers!

Welcome back to my blog...I've been MIA for a while! I'm writing these new posts on behalf of my Technology Class at Brock University! So, welcome to my blog (again) and lets get to it.

Genius Hour...what is it?

I don't know why genius hour wasn't a thing when I was in school. It makes so much sense! Genius hour essentially gives students the opportunity to research whatever they are interested in for a whole hour...A WHOLE HOUR! What kid wouldn't be excited to get "time off" school and search what they  are really truly interested in?! I don't know a single student who wouldn't love that!

Not only is it beneficial for the student, but as a teacher, we can use this to determine what our students are really interested in. This makes it easier since we don't necessarily always have time to conference with each and every student. With genius hour, we can simply observe and keep track of what kids are interested in and then use this information to tailor our lessons in the classroom.

What a wicked way to get students engaged in the classroom!