20% Rule
I was already thinking this idea before class as I’ve been reading several books about it. One great resource that is a quick read is the Ted Talks book: The Official Ted Guide to Public Speaking (pictured above). There was a chapter dedicated to how you can use free time in the workplace or classroom to allow individuals to learn about whatever they want. At the end of a specific timeframe the students will need to present what they have been learning. This is a fun and great little way to support anyone improving their public speaking skills. I highly recommend checking out that book and giving it a read.
Setting aside free time allows the students to learn about something that they are passionate about. When a student is passionate about something they will learn it to a greater depth than anything else. What they don’t know is that they will also be learning other great skills that will help them a lot in the future. Skills like research, presentation writing, if you make them do a PowerPoint they will learn computer skills, and of course the obvious lesson learned will be public speaking. Think about those students who may be too shy to present on a class assignment. Maybe some school subjects hard for them to connect with. They might be more willing to do a presentation on something they are passionate about and something they chose verses a pre-assigned concept from the book!
This is something I’ll definitely want to be testing out with my kiddos in the classroom. It might be something that I’ll start more open and free at the beginning of the year to get to know them more. It might be that at the end of the year I have them present on anything of their interest of a particular topic. I don’t know yet! But I do like the idea of setting aside some free time for self learning.
Joe,
ReplyDeleteThis is such an exciting idea to be implemented in classrooms! I love the thought of allowing unstructured time for students to work towards something they really enjoy doing. I think you nailed the point of '20% time' when you mentioned that students will learn in-depth about something if they are passionate about it. It's exciting to think about the creativity that might come from doing this since students don't typically have much unstructured free-time. Great post!
Hi Joe,
ReplyDeleteTed talks are awesome good pick! I will defiently check out this book when I have time for a good read. I would have to agree with you on that one. I know that when I am passionate about something I will want to learn about it even more. This is a great tool to use in a classroom. I loved the idea of having the kiddos learn about history of the war but if one student is into music, they can learn about the history of music during that time period. It is a great spin on education that I beleive we should incorporate into our classes. Great post!
I love this idea. This is something I totally want to implement into my own classroom. This is also a perfect way to boost motivation for those that do not particularly care for a specific subject. I think using passion to inspire learning not only ensures that the information sticks, but it also pushes for critical thinking. I love the idea
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