Teacher 20% Time!

This semester I've been having a hard time getting some of my students to "buy in" to the 20 percent time idea.  When reading through student proposals, many students just used the ideas I gave as examples.  In response to the question, "Why are you excited about this project?" one student replied "I'm not excited.".  Clearly, there is a lack of enthusiasm.  When I first started Passion Projects it was with a high-beginning group of ESL students and they were thrilled to have the opportunity to pursue something they wanted to learn.  However, the class I am teaching now is a very advanced class with most of the students planning to attend college or workforce training in the very near future.  For them, they would rather study from a TOEFL textbook than create something of their own.  They don't see the relevance...yet.

I recently read AJ Juliani's post "What to do when Genius Hour fails...".  I now feel that all hope is not lost!  One thing he suggests in his post is to ask the student for help with your own project.  In the past I had always considered doing a project of my own alongside my students.  But I thought to myself, the students will need my help while working on their projects, I don't have enough time to do my own project, I have other things to work on, etc.  However, after reading AJ Juiliani's post, I have begun to reconsider.

My students are lacking enthusiasm for the project but by participating alongside the students I will be establishing credibility for the projects.  The students will see me working through the same process as they are and will hopefully become motivated.  I can ask students for advice, ideas, or support for my own project which will make the learning a two way street and build collaboration and community in the classroom.  And most importantly, by completing my own project I will be modeling.  Modeling is paramount in the ESL classroom.  By demonstrating how to ask questions, find answers, and overcome obstacles while completing my own project, students will have a better idea how to approach these ideas themselves.  With many of my students having limited formal education, the process of inquiry based learning is completely foreign.  Modeling is a key piece of this process that I realize I have been neglecting!