8th hour learning

What would you do if your boss told you, "take an hour each day to learn whatever you want." What would you learn? What would you create? What would you do?

My boss calls this time "8th Hour." I have no idea if this is a term that he made up himself, if so, perhaps this needs to be one of his TCEA presentations?

When I was a classroom teacher, I really enjoyed having my students participate in Genius Hour and I think that 8th Hour is essentially Genius Hour for Adults. Next year I might get more crafty...you never know. I bet my office mates would love it if I brought in an old computer or some old piece of technology and started taking it apart. This year I mostly stuck to learning new technology tools, reading books, and Twitter.

Anyway, here is a link to a Padlet I made that included the things I did during my 8th hour learning. (Katie's 8th Hour Learning)

I have really enjoyed my 8th Hour time. Some days, I couldn't get an hour in because of meetings or trainings, and some days I just had too much school stuff to take care of. (Which is fine, because it is all part of the job!) But, I always enjoyed the days I could take my 8th Hour.

Lastly, I found this quote and it really resonated with me:

To me, the best part of 8th Hour is having the opportunity to reflect. We can go, go, go all day--but if we don't take the time to step back and reflect--we are just wasting time.