Author: chonaker

  • Lessons learned from Innovation Hour and my own 20 Time Project

    Lessons learned from Innovation Hour and my own 20 Time Project

    From June 2015: Finally a few minutes to view the Innovation Hour presentations and I was more impressed watching them after the fact than while I was there. So much great work by students came out of these projects, but viewing the montage video has helped me think more about what I want to do…

  • Innovation Hour Event and some Reflection

    Innovation Hour Event and some Reflection

    From May 2015: The curtain has fallen. The stage has cleared. Our first year of 20 time projects has closed. This week marked our 20 time showcase event, Innovation Hour. Students have been viewing TED talks, discussing public speaking styles, and preparing their final presentations of their yearlong journey with their 20 time projects. It…

  • The Importance of Feedback

    The Importance of Feedback

    As I looked back at my journey with this project, I realized I had not provided enough opportunities for students to talk about their work with people outside their peers and receive feedback on their progress. This blog post outlines one of the times I did provide that opportunity and delves into why this is…

  • Public Speaking and Innovation Hour

    Public Speaking and Innovation Hour

      This post details my efforts to find resources to help students overcome their fears of public speaking and prepare a rockstar presentation for the Innovation Hour Showcase event, as well as some thoughts on revamping the 20 Time model yet again. From March 2015: With all the snow, I have had some time to…

  • New Curriculum Model vs. Old School Philosophy

    New Curriculum Model vs. Old School Philosophy

    As any teacher can attest to, trying to be innovative in an industrial-era model of school is challenging. This blog post details some of the issues I faced as my students moved forward with their projects and negitiated the new model I set up. Some things we were able to work around with grant money…

  • Model changes for 20 Time

    Model changes for 20 Time

    After a few months with this project, we moved into Holiday Break which allowed some time to dig deeper into my students’ blogs and evaluate the effectiveness of our approach to 20 Time. I made some big changes that alleviated some of the issues that kept cropping up across the teams. From January 2015: Over…

  • Innovation Hour gets a big boost from Educator Innovator

    Innovation Hour gets a big boost from Educator Innovator

    This blog represents a turning point for 20 Time in my classroom. The funding I was awarded, as well as the implementation of status reports changed the tides of student projects and progress in my class. From December 2014: I opened my email yesterday and there was a great surprise waiting for me. I was…

  • Inspiration and Adaptation with 20 Time

    Inspiration and Adaptation with 20 Time

    Innovation Hour journey- Installment 4 From November 2014: It seems like my classroom this year is a bundle of activity. I think much of it is attributable to the 20 Time projects, but some of it stems from my desire to not repeat the same lessons year to year. Changing things up each year keeps…

  • Mentorship and 20 Time

    Mentorship and 20 Time

    As I continued with my 20 Time journey last Fall, I realized how important it is for students to see somebody who has walked the walk with following their passion. We watched lots of TED Talks and discussed how to find and follow a dream, but there is no substitute for live mentorship. This post…

  • Innovation Hour takes hold

    Innovation Hour takes hold

    Featured Image originally  from https://www.jisc.ac.uk/blog/tracking-what-your-students-really-think-about-your-organisations-digital-environment-20-jun-2017 Installment two, from September 2014: This was our first official week incorporating the 20Time Project. I thought the students would enjoy it but I had no idea how much they would dig in and create amazing stuff. I think it helped that each day I showed different takes on projects…