We started working on our Genius Hour projects last week. It was a mixed success – I think that students are a little unused to the idea and take some time to adjust. But I hope for great things.

To help spur things along, I’m going to write a little about some of my own interests. I hope to pursue all of them further, but since we don’t have infinite time, I might not be able to dig into everything. But here are some things that I’m planning to pursue this year:

• I was planning to write a book about coal.  I thought (and I still think) that it’s a really interesting topic because it’s such an important part of our energy use right now.  And there are many important consequences of that – as anyone who has heard of mountaintop removal can tell you.  The recent chemical spill that poisoned so much drinking water in West Virginia is a direct result of the coal industry, and I think that there’s a lot to be said about this.  There’s also a lot of interesting – and under-represented – history about the coal industry.  I’ve posted a lot about this on my old blog, and I’m planning to continue the research here.
• I’m trying to learn how to create a website.  I’ve been asked to help out with the Illinois Writing Project website, and I’ve created this site.  I’m trying to teach myself how to do this.  I suppose it will be easy to do the basics, but I don’t want to stop there.  I’d like to be able to make a good website, not just a workable one.  So, that’s another area of focus.
• I have a few story ideas, and one or two novels that are in process.  I’ve completed a first draft of a novel, and it needs some rewriting and editing.  It’s probably about six months from being done, if I apply myself.  I don’t know if it will be any good, but I’d like to finish and try to publish it.  That’s a life-long goal, and pretty exciting for me.
• While it’s not quite as focused on a specific product, I’ve been reading a lot of books lately about creativity and innovation, most recently Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson.  I’d like to start some kind of blog series about this research, and maybe share some classroom implications.  That’s something that really interests me as a teacher, but also as a creative writer and thinker.
• I’ve been thinking about writing a book about teaching writing in middle school.  There are a lot of good books about this already, which is why I hesitate a little, but I think that it would be good for me to put my thoughts together, even if I don’t find a publisher.

I have a bunch of others – being fluent in Spanish is a big one, though that has been a project for several years.  I would also like to learn more about the Flipped Classroom model and get more instructional videos online.  These are less central, though, to my other concerns.

I know that these goals are a little ambitious, but if I accomplish one thing on this list, I think I will have achieved something.  So, should we aim for two out of five?