Hi Class and welcome to Mr. Waulk’s World. This week I have decided to add a video section to our class blog. Each week I will post a video that pertains to the topic being taught that week. I will do my best to keep them entertaining and fun to watch while you still learn important information about the week’s topic. This week I will be discussing the process called orographic rain and rain shadow effect and how it affects your local weather in places such as Seattle. Enjoy!

Hey Class check out our new Podcast section of the class Blog, I will be adding a new Podcast each week. Please let me know if you have any ideas for topics, in the meanwhile check this out.

Hey Class check out the new flash cards I added to help you study for the upcoming quiz! 

You can find them at this link:
The World in Flash Cards 

Here is another study aid to help you with this weeks vocabulary test.  These can also be found at this link: 
https://quizlet.com/_2u8cf1 
 

EDT 660 Video Post

Introducing Genius Hour for 8th grade Geography

The Genius Hour

We will be starting a new project here at Mr. Waulk's World and it is called the Genius Hour. I'm sure you have all heard of Google, right? Well we can thank Mr. Google for the brilliant idea of letting his employees spend 20% of their work time on projects that they are passionate about. 

Have you ever heard of Gmail, Google Earth and many other Google inventions? Well guess how these were accomplished, it was through the concept of the Genius Hour or 20% of your work time. Below is a video that will help you understand how it will play into our classroom and what you can do with it.

Expected student outcomes from this lesson are as follows:

• Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other
• Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively
• Work effectively and respectively with diverse teams
• Use a wide range of idea creation techniques

Common Core standards are as follows:

1. Communication 2. Collaboration 3. Creativity 4. Critical Thinking

For more detailed description of these standards please visit the link below

21st Century Common Core 4 C's

Lesson:
For this assignment you will be working in teams of two and together each team will have to decide on the Genius Hour project you are going to present at the end of the semester. It will be up to you how you will present your findings whether it be power point, a video or even on a poster board, what ever you can imagine is the limit. The theme of your project will need to be built around geography either human or physical, it can be something solving hunger in third world countries, finding ways to provide clean fresh water to drought stricken locations or what ever you can think of that has a geography theme to it, this is your project and there is no right or wrong just great new ideas.

Some of the resources you will be using is our class Chrome books, the internet, Microsoft Office and what ever technology you have at home. If you only have poster board to work with then that is fine, as long as it presents your main idea and how it works you are doing great.  While in class we will set up a class blog where you can share your information with others or get help from others on your project, collaboration is encouraged. 

Each week we will set aside 20% of our classroom time for you to work on your projects, we can either take 10-15 minutes out of each class or use every Friday to work on it, it just depends on how well you do with your required school work.  Each team will do research every week during the semester and put together a presentation by the end of the semester that demonstrates your concept and how you plan to implement if you get to that point, don't worry if you don't completely finish it. It is a strong idea and plan that you are looking for. 


For this assignment you will self-reflect and self assess your progress, there is no right or wrong answer only creative ideas! You can use this Rubric to measure your progress with your project.
Genius Hour Rubric

I am really looking forward to all the great new ideas you will come up with this semester and I look forward to your presentations, good luck!



Here is a list of helpful links to assist you with your Geography Genius Hour project:

http://www.geniushour.com/what-is-genius-hour/ 

http://creativeclassroomtools.blogspot.com/2014/03/genius-hour.html 

http://www.owlteacher.com/5-themes-of-geography.html 

http://www.geniushour.com/2013/03/31/genius-hour-ideas/ 

http://www.middleweb.com/28123/idea-starters-for-the-genius-hour-classroom/ 

http://geography.org.uk/projects/ks4ict/projectideas 

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/ 

www.blogger.com 

References:

Hour, G. (2016). Where passions come alive - genius hour. Retrieved November 20, 2016, from      http://www.geniushour.com/ 

Blackboard. (2002). Common core state standards (CCSS) / 21st century 4Cs learning map. Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://www.santeesd.net/Page/8966