Flipgrid Video Passion Project Pitch

For this assignment, we will be using Flipgrid to make brief passion project pitch videos. Please answer the following questions in your video pitch, which should be no longer than 60 seconds.

1) What are you planning to do for your passion project? Ex: Create a step-by-step video tutorial on how to shoot a basketball free throw OR Spend 10 hours volunteering at the South Hadley Food Pantry and publish a vlog or blog post describing my experience OR Create a public service announcement video on how people can do a better job at recycling or reducing their carbon footprint.

2) How does this project relate to your interests, abilities, or hopes/desires/wishes?

3) Who will your project help? What will it improve or better or fix?

4) What is your next step? What do you need to do to get the ball rolling with your project?

Post your Flipgrid video by clicking HERE or entering Flip Code f9c09a  

Your passion project pitch videos are due by the start of class on Thursday, March 11. 

Tenth Blog Post: My Passion Project

Create a new blog post titled “My Passion Project.” Embed your project into the blog post or include the link. In addition to including your project (or link), your blog post should answer the following questions:
a. How, specifically, was your project inspired by one of your passions or interests?
b. How did you finally end up choosing the project you did? Was this what you originally planned on doing, or did your thinking on your project idea shift over the course of the year?
c. What have you learned, either informationally or personally, during the completion of this project? Would you want more freedom of choice on future assignments in other classes? Why or why not?
Your blog post is due by the day of your passion project presentation. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Ninth Blog Post: Final To-Do List

With one month to go until the completion of our Genius Hour Passion Projects, now is a perfect time to review your progress and make a final to-do list of what you need to accomplish between now and our presentations, which will begin on Wednesday, May 22. Please answer the following questions in a new blog post by the end of class on Wednesday, April 24:
1) What is the status of your passion project? Is it done? Almost done? Halfway done? Less than halfway done?
2) How have you documented your progress? What have you taken pictures or video of? Remember, you need to have some kind of visual evidence of your progress and journey.
3) What platform are you going to use to share your project? Will you be publishing it on YouTube? Instagram? Google Sites? Google Drive? Spotlight153.com? Something else? Whatever you end up choosing, you'll want to be able to link to it from your blog so we can all see your work.
4) What has been the most enjoyable aspect of your project so far? What has been the most fun or meaningful or personally satisfying?
5) Do you have any questions about how to complete your project? Is there anything your classmates or I could help you with in order to ensure your project is done by May 22?

Eighth Blog Assignment: Documenting & Publicizing Your Project

One important aspect of a Genius Hour Passion Project is its documentation and publication. As you proceed with your project, please be sure to capture pictures and video of yourself which can highlight your journey on the way to completion. For this blog post, please think about and answer the following five questions by the end of class on Monday, Feb. 11:
1) What, specifically, are you doing for your project? If you've changed or modified your project since the fall (which is fine), please note what it is you've changed or switched to. 
2) How many steps or tasks does your project involve? What do you have to actually do between now and the end of your project?
3) Which of these steps or tasks would work well for documentation? What could you take photos or videos of?
4) How do you plan to share and publicize your work? Will you publish a video to YouTube and share the link with friends and teachers? Will you write an article for the Spotlight Media Group for publication on spotlight153.com? Will you create and publish a photo gallery on the Spotlight website or Instagram or some other form of social media? Will you create a website using Google Sites?
5) How close are you to being done with your project? Please keep in mind that all projects will need to be completed by Monday, May 20. If you've finished your project, please note when it was completed.    

Seventh Blog Assignment: Next Step Results

Congrats! You've taken the next step toward making your Genius Hour Passion Project a reality. For this post, please answer the following questions by the end of class on Tuesday, Dec. 11. Remember to write in complete sentences to earn credit.
1) What was your specific next step? What did you do?
2) If you called or contacted someone or some place, who/where/what did you contact?
3) How did your conversation or correspondence go? What new ideas or information or direction do you have for your project?
4) What do you need to do next to keep the momentum of your project going? What are you going to start creating or doing?   

Sixth Blog Assignment: Passion Project Next Steps

Now that you've identified what your passion project is, why you're doing it, and who it's going to benefit, the next step is to articulate what you need to do to get your project off the ground. For example, if you'd like to volunteer at an animal shelter, your next step would be deciding which shelter to volunteer at and to reach out to them. The most effective way to do that would be with either a phone call or an e-mail where you let them know you're available to help, and ask what it is they might actually want help with.
If you're planning to cook or bake items for the local food pantry, your first step would likely be contacting the food pantry to see what items they might want, and then looking up recipes for those items.
For this post, which is due at the end of next class, please state the following in complete sentences:
1) What you're doing for your project.
2) What your next step will be.
3) How or what, specifically, you will do to take that step.
Regardless of your project, you should plan to take your next step (if you haven't already) by the end of November, as your next blog post will involve writing about how your next step went and how your project is developing.

Fifth Blog Assignment: Your Time Management

After completing the Time Management Questionnaire, tally up your responses and answer the following questions in a new blog post titled "My Time Management." Remember to write in complete sentences for full credit.

1) How many points did you get?
2) Do you agree with the questionnaire's description of your point total? (i.e. you need to change your behavior; your sock drawer is organized, etc) Why or why not?
3) If you scored above 30 points, what are two things you do that help you manage your time?
4) If you scored below 30 points, what are two things you might need to modify or change in order to make more effective use of your time and accomplish your priorities?
5) If you had one extra hour in the day to do whatever you wanted, what would you do? Why?
Your blog will be due at the end of next class.