Genius Hour Reflection

After starting on my Genius Hour today, I'm excited to introduce my Genius Hour topic: What styles and designs make the best paper airplanes for time of flight, distance and aerial tricks? My goals for this Genius Hour project are to make a paper airplane that can stay aloft for 20 seconds, make a paper airplane that can travel a distance of 30 metres and to make a paper airplane that can complete 3 aerial tricks before landing. My experiences thus far with my Genius Hour topic would be a casual interest in paper airplanes, no different from a typical kid growing up. My rationale for coming up with this topic is to be the teacher who can make the coolest paper airplanes. This motivation stems from my Grade 9 science teacher, who was known as the teacher who could "make a metre stick fly!". It would be awesome to have my students remember me years later as a fun, interesting teacher (although it would be amazing if they also remember me for my teaching!), as well as serving as an excellent tool for teaching about and starting discussions around the concept of planes and aerodynamics.