Schools Embrace Geni as Fun and Interactive Learning Environment

As Geni continues to add additional features, teachers are discovering that Geni is a great tool for students to learn more about themselves and their family through a fun and interactive medium. Sally Goerner, a sixth grade language arts teacher in Longmont, Colorado, describes her experience and those of her students while using Geni.

Our sixth grade students are working on a memoir project called, “Writing Your Life.” There are many options available to students for what and how to write about the important events in their lives. One of the ways we want them to express their lives is by looking at where they came from. Geni.com seemed to be the ideal way for the students to build and examine their family tree.

We started them in the computer lab at school, just filling in the basics of themselves, brothers and sisters, moms and dads, and any other relatives they happened to know. We encouraged them to invite older relatives to their tree to help them fill in the gaps and to add additional family information that they didn’t know themselves.

My own sister got into Geni.com and added tons of our relatives, along with photos, birthdates, etc. I ended up with a whole lot more knowledge about my own family and I could then share this with my students who were especially intrigued by the birthday reminders and ability to share news across the country with relatives they previously didn’t have a lot of personal contact with.

We challenged the students to a little competition to see who could build the largest tree. I was also able to show them how Geni.com could allow for the many fractured and rebuilt families for those of us who have more than one set of parents and siblings who belong to some parents and not to others.

Finally, we partnered up with our fabulous tech lab teachers who agreed to print out the trees in color for students to include in their personal “scrapbook” of their life. This has been a great learning experience for us, the students and their families! We will definitely do this again next year and utilize more of the nuances of this great program.

If you would like to know more about how Geni can help facilitate a similar experience with your children or students feel free to contact us at a schools@geni.com