Reflection: Passion Projects in French Immersion

On my Maternity Leave with Abby, I got caught up on a lot of professional reading that teaching full-time with kids at home doesn't leave much time to do. I read books and blog posts and articles about Student-Led classrooms, I joined an online book club with other readers of Paul Solarz' Learn Like a Pirate and and jumped head-first into the twitter conversations, chats and live binder about Genius Hour and 20-time and maker spaces. My husband Rob (also a Primary French Immersion teacher) and I collaborated a lot, reading and reflecting together. He was the "guinea pig" to test out some of our learnings in his classroom to get out some kinks.

Coming back to school this past September, I was ready to dive right in, using Rob's successes with Genius Hour in my back pocket. We have always done project-based learning in Social Studies, Science and Art, and my students thrive on open-ended choice in Literacy and math, but I wanted to give students even more freedom this year. But, as we know, reading about stuff in theory isn't always quite the same as it is when put into practice.

Genius Hour/Passion Projects in the Primary French Immersion Classroom

We started the year talking and talking and talking and talking some more about ourselves, our families, our likes and our dislikes in staged and authentic, real-life situations. It is crucial for my students to understand and use familiar everyday expressions and basic phrases, and interact with one another in French. "Je me présente" is the first major focus for my students based on the Ontario Curriculum and the Common European Framework (CEFR).

Late September, I introduced students to our Mur des Merveilles (Wonder Wall). I asked them to think about all of the conversations we've had over the last month about their talents, their likes/dislikes, things they want to know more about. They could add as many wonderings as they wanted.

Bring on the tears.

This did not go well. Not even a little bit. "I don't wonder about anything." "I don't know." Lots of crying. Lots of absent-faces. I thought kids were supposed to wonder about everything!

At first I thought it was because I was having them write their ideas, so I gave them the option to draw it, and to talk to their partners... and to audio or video record their thinking. More of the same. Crying. Blank stares.

I decided to keep going. Rob said he had a lot of success last year with his grade 3s. I showed them a powtoon en français to introduce the idea of Genius Hour: Time every week they can explore, tinker, build, create, play with anything they'd like.

I started having Genius Hour every Friday. We talked about asking good questions and different ways they can present their learning to the class. They had a little log-book to record the information or ideas they had and research they might have found. They were supposed to check-in every once in a while to see the progress. Whenever they were ready to present their findings or new learning to the class (with any sort of "product" they wanted) they could. It was completely open-ended - without any real restrictions.

Again. In theory, sounded great! Kids were supposed to be engaged, discovering new things, playing and building. It didn't really work out that way. Many kids lost the log-book, couldn't figure out what to do, changed their minds every class and many couldn't follow their project to a product. People forgot passwords for computers and apps, fought over materials - and most of it was hoarded, destroyed or stolen.  But I kept on plugging. I had to find success.

The first round of projects were simple - there were posters about friends, animal projects, a science experiment and some crafts. Those who finished seemed pleased with their work, but not necessarily excited about it.


Along the way, I changed things up. Students didn't have to record any writing along the way anymore, only a 3-question reflection at the end about what they had learned. Peers gave feedback as well. I also changed "Genius Hour" from every Friday to a Literacy choice during our Language Block every day.

Things weren't that much better. I kept asking myself. What is the point of doing this? Is it because it is truly engaging my students or improving their French in ANY way? The answer was no for both. I felt that I was the English Police, students weren't collaborating, and the products they were making were not anything to write home about. Students didn't really speak while presenting either, just read the franglais from their work and their peers were disengaged.

The projects in round two (which again took FOREVER to finish for some), were mostly prezis slapped together with English youtube videos of Bieber or Skateboarding. I was pretty disappointed.

I changed things again.
I went back to a specific time to work on Passion Projects, as I felt many students were not choosing to work on them during Language block. I brought in more materials for exploration. I simplified the expectations further to 3 guidelines (1. You have to learn something new, 2. They are fun!, 3. Must be in French. I put up a grid on my chalkboard where students had to choose a question and stick with it. I explained that I was not ok with a prezi slapped together with videos and expressed many, many, many times that they had to learn something new.

This time around, there was more of a variety of ideas - but still kids still weren't really excited about them. They worked on it, but got distracted with other activities we were doing in class. More students, however, were making sure they were learning something new. One student wanted to create their own game within Roblox - which is amazing. He spent his time watching youtube tutorials on how to do it and then created his own working game, shared on his blog and other kids played it. He was proud. He was excited. I was really impressed. So much learning. BUT.... all of his research was in English. There was no French learning. Not even a little bit. This is the problem.

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So, will I do Passion Projects again next year? ABSOLUTELY! - but with a lot of changes.

Biggest Issues:

• Students are not reading in French if they choose to research something online
• (Most students can't read independently at "Internet" reading levels anyways)
• Students don't have appropriate log-in information for computers or knowledge of researching
• Students are taking too long to make a "product" to display learning - losing interest
• Students are not using feedback from teacher or peer
• Students are not staying engaged
• Students are not practicing listening, speaking, reading or writing in FRENCH

What can I do the same?

- Keep doing project-based learning 

- Keep doing STEM projects in other subject areas

- Keep open-endedness of wonderings

- Keep Kidblog/sharing & reflection requirement

- Keep teacher & peer feedback

What can I do differently?

- SCAFFOLD. More. Way more. Way, way more. Even though they are late primary. They still need gradual release. Even with this.
- MORE explicit teaching of growth-mindset and perseverance
- Spend more time with more explicit teaching on how to wonder....? What to wonder about?
- Create a perpetual-always-changing "Maker Space" with opportunities for tinker time. Creation/Invention and provocations (get rid of the "project" part until later in the year?)

- Give students more guided tasks first (“everyone invent a….”) before "project" part

- Find research for kids who need it in French....? (does that take away from inquiry? Not sure.)
- Bring in some French-speaking volunteers to help during Genius Hour

- More consistent check-ins and conferences with me (Add accountability partners?)

- Introduce to more product options/apps so they don't always choose the same thing

French Immersion is unique. Late primary students are unique. I need to figure out what my GOALS are for doing Passion Projects. I think my students understand the goal. But I don't. This is likely why I didn't see the success I was hoping.

Am I doing Genius Hour to engage them more?
(Primaries are usually already excited about everything)

Am I doing Genius Hour to improve their French Speaking/Listening/Reading/Writing?
(It would be nice, but it doesn't seem to be.)

Am I doing Genius Hour because it is popular & trendy? (Maybe.)

I totally loved doing Design & Technology and Visual Arts when I was in Elementary & High School myself. It was my favourite time of day. Anything creative. I would totally love this stuff if I was a student. Am I doing Genius Hour for me? (Maybe.)

I need to figure this out. With the students at the centre.
I can't wait until September!
xoxo

(Any and all feedback is welcome)

**I wrote a 2018 Update on Genius Hour here**