what to do when your kids find their “passion” — from teachmama.com by author, teacher, and ‘learning addict’,  A.J. Juliani

Excerpt:

As a high school English teacher I was able to answer this question of “What Next?” when I ran a “20% Project” with my students three years ago. The project was simple. It is based on the “20 percent time” Google employees have to work on something other than their job description. It has been well documented, and Google has exponentially grown as a company while giving this 20 percent time.

After we came back from winter break I gave them this handout:

The 20% Project

1. For the rest of the year, 20% of your time in my class will be spent working on something you want to work on.

2. It has to be some type of learning, and you have to document it (journal etc).

3. You’ll present your accomplishments to the class twice (and will not be graded on it).

4. That’s it. Have fun. Find your passion. Explore it. Enjoy learning what you want.

 

From DSC:

  • Another example of how we can learn from — and apply things from — each others’ worlds — K-12, higher ed, the corporate world.
  • Another example how “more choice/more control” impacts intrinsic motivation!
  • This is the sort of thing that should help kids become more entrepreneurial as well…perhaps even starting their own freelancing gigs!