10% Time

Google have this well documented policy called 20% Time. Employees of the great Internet company are permitted, so legend tells, to 20% (that's one day per week) to work on a project of their choice. This work is as mixed and varied as you would expect from such a large group of individuals.

So at the beginning of 2010 I got this idea from Tony Ryan that this could be used in a classroom. So I introduced the concept of '10% Time'. Roughly one block per week to do the project of the student's choosing. Students had to write a proposal and meet with me every once and a while to discuss their progress. I maintain that this is the most engaging, most enjoyable and certainly the most valuable educational initiative I have personally been involved with. We had gardens, 3D models, rehashed videos of ads, paintings and stories to name a few. Most of all the vibe in the class was wonderful. Not everyone was been super 'productive'. But almost without exception every student was more productive than usual while creating, learning new skills, collaborating, and having FUN!!!!!

So why isn't this kind of thing happening more? It is good enough for one of the world's most successful companies why not our schools. Some of Google's products have sprung up from 20% Time projects, e.g. Wonderwheel.

Kids are smart! They are capable of being part of planning the kind of projects that will shape a wonderfully stimulating learning environment. But we are subjecting them to 'more important stuff' like two week letter writing units, grammar lessons, and simple algebra all in the name of higher literacy and numeracy levels. Most of these things I learnt and forgot several times at school and many people have this same experience. The bottom line is that skills such as how to write a letter can be learnt, by the person who needs the skill, extremely quickly. However, creativity is a deeper level of thinking that needs time and freedom to develop. Schools need to open up more time for this creative thought.

Anyway, 10% Time... It's a great concept. One I hope to develop more. Join the Facebook group to raise some awareness about a better way of doing school:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_211926902162588&ap=1