Blog post #1: Making a Plan
October 7, 2016
What I want to accomplish in genius hour in these next few months is helping people who can't afford new clothes by donating to the Caring House, which is a home for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. I am donating my clothes that I don't wear or don't fit me anymore. I was thinking lately that not everybody can afford nice new clothes from mall stores especially people who had something so dramatic happen to them, it would be a very good thing to do and a great learning experience for me as well. Me and my friend Sadie are going to go through our closets and take out all of the clothes that we don't wear, which could be a few big boxes, and hopefully make another girl really happy.
Blog post #2: What can be learned from failure?
Date: October 21, 2016
During Genius hour I always thinks to myself, why we are doing this? What is the point? How does it relate to English? After reading this article I got a little better understanding of what genius hour is. I learned that a big part of genius hour is failing and learning from your mistakes. In the article, many of the kids mentioned started off with one idea and the idea transformed into something different. I like the idea of genius hour because its educational yet still could be fun if you are doing what you enjoy or what you have a passion for. Genius hour helps kids learn different skills then they would in other classes, it allows freedom and creativity. I've found that while i was doing my project that i bit more off than i can chew, and I felt like just giving up. I had this big grand idea on how i was going to help the needy in my community but it was unrealistic for what i could do in 3 months, so i got thinking about another way i could help the needy and that is how i came up with this idea to donate my old clothes. Like the kids in the article, my idea transformed into something else which ended up being better than my original plan.
Blog Post #3: How do Geniuses Think?
Date: November 3, 2016
Everyone thinks of geniuses as being super, incredibly intelligent, although that may be true in some cases not all geniuses score a 1600 on their SAT and have an extremely high IQ. It's not intelligence that makes them geniuses it's how they think productively not reproductively. Geniuses think outside the box. In a way, we can all be geniuses, we just need to think more creatively and not just give up when we can't figure it out, but to look for another way around it. In this project I’ve been trying to think more think a genius would by looking at problems In many different ways, instead of giving up, I saw my problems as an opportunity to improve and changing them to make them even better.
Blog Post #4: What Does a 3-D Printer have to do with MY Genius Hour Project?
Date: November 22, 2016
When Mr. Cowen came into our English class my first though was how does this relate to my genius hour project? It turns out, his presentation helped me a lot when I was making my ted talk for my project. First Mr. Cowen talked about why he made the 3-D printer and how he became interested in it in the first place. That is something I could do that for my ted talk, I could first explain why I wanted donate my old clothes and what got me interested in wanting to help people who can't afford new clothes. Mr. Cowen then talked about how he made his 3-D printer and how many times he ran into trouble but didn't give up and just found another way to make it work. Even Though I didn't build a 3-D printer, I can still share all of the troubles I had along the way, what I did about them and what I learned from the experience.
Blog Post # 5: "Is Genius Born or Can it be Learned?"
Date: February 3, 2017
In the article, “is Genius Born or can it be Learned?”, John Cloud attempts to answer this major question: is genius genetically inherited, or are geniuses the products of stimulating and supportive homes? The debate is: is it nature or is it nurture. Either one could be correct, but cloud explains how “writers don't nail down exactly what they mean by genius.” Cloud states that: Geniuses are those who "have the intelligence, enthusiasm, and endurance to acquire the needed expertise in a broadly valued domain of achievement.” How high somebody’s IQ is or if they got straight A’s in school doesn't matter, smarts helps but it’s not everything. They have enthusiasm and passion for what they are doing and they have endurance and perseverance as they fail and get back up and keep going. Putting that together with common sense and critical thinking can create a genius. I think these 3 qualities can be great guidelines on how to go after my genius hour project. If I have enough enthusiasm for something to create a passion, then I will research about whatever that is and use that information to do my project. Then, I will have endurance throughout the project and even when I fail I will get back up a persevere. That is what I will do for my genius hour project and any other big project in my life that i am passionate about. So the answer to that question In the article I was reading about If genius can be learned or are you born with it is both, people who are born with certain personality traits or inherited traits can make someone a genius, but a genius can be made by having intelligence, enthusiasm and endurance. It is not impossible for just anyone to become a genius, but it takes a lot of work and perseverance to get there.
Blog Post #6: "STEM Education"
Date: March 4, 2017
The name of the article that is read was: “at NuVu studios, learning is a hands on experience” STEM is an acronym for science, technology engineering and math. Many schools all across the US are starting to incorporate more of these subjects into the curriculum, one of the being NuVu. NuVu is an innovation studio for middle and high school students, when you walk in a classroom kids are scattered around building and sculpting different contraptions. I think this is a very good way to learn, especially because more jobs in the future are going to be hands on. More and more schools around the U.S. are starting to require different classes related to STEM. I don't think they should not require the other core classes like English or social studies, but rather try to incorporate more STEM learning into those classes. technology is changing and I think we should get the next generation prepared for what is to come in the future. Hands on learning Is also a very great way to learn, trial and error is involved in hands on learning, and trying to learn from your mistakes Is a really good thing to learn. I fully agree that more of these types of classes will be really beneficial.
Blog Post #7: 6 Fridays left!
Date: April 7, 2017
With only 6 genius hours left I still have a lot of work to do. My new project for semester 2 genius hour is a website I created called Healthy Foods Before Dudes (H.F.B.D). Healthy Foods Before Dudes Includes a bunch of recipes for healthy foods that my partner and I found online and made. We also researched how to be healthy tips and information on eating disorders to prevent girls form develop any eating disorders and put those information on a page on our website. We came up with the name not to exclude dudes by any means, but to draw in more girls so they can learn the dangers of eating disorders and how to eat healthy. Anybody of and gender or age are welcome and encouraged to view my website, try the recipes, and hopefully learn something so they can go teach somebody else about it. My site dosn't just show ways to eat healthy but fun and easy ways to eat healthy. We looked on pinterest for recipes and ideas and incorporated some of them into our site. I hope to get a lot of work done on my site in the next 6 weeks, I'm also going to include pictures of the recipes that I try and might try to create some of my own.
Blog Post #8: Progress Update!
Date: May 12 2017
I have accomplished a lot since the last post. In my last post I was talking about everything I was hoping to finish in the next 6 weeks. I am finishing up my site and will hopefully soon start genius hour reflection. I looked on pinterest for some healthy recipes and found some which I put links on my recipe page. I also created some of my own recipes inspired by some of the things I saw on pinterest or online and put them on the recipe page along with pictures. I have also gathered some information about eating disorders and about how to eat healthy tips. I am really proud of what I have accomplish so far in genius hour and surprised by how much I've learned this year. I'm pretty sure I will finish before my deadlines considering how much I've got done in these past weeks, unless I slack, which I tend to do a little, so lets hope I finish. I have had a few troubles with weebly but i learned from my mistakes. I really liked genius hour this year, I feel like I learned a lot and it was actually really fun. I just hope that I helped others learn everything that I have learned through this project.