More Organizational Strategies!

I am a sucker for a fun way to organize in the classroom, and as a future teacher, I can't find too many to put in my teacher toolbox.  That's what hooked me on Cool Cat Teacher's recent Twitter offering via Steve Williams (@MrHSIE).  She launches a bunch of classroom activities off a standard three-component Venn diagram.  This one:



So your students need to know how to compare ideas or plots in a story.  Here's where you start, but how can we make it stick a little better?  She suggests turning it into a wiki- you might hyperlink to videos which illustrate each component.  Or you can, she says, turn it into a podcast "where an individual can become and reflect each element."  Or blow it up into the space of the classroom by dividing the room into three and hanging string to illustrated the characteristics of each element.  Maybe this is a permanent installation while the unit progresses and students develop it as you work through the unit.

Looking forward, the idea of the podcast is particularly interesting.  I love the idea of students creating a radio drama of a modern adaptation of Shakespeare, for example.  Just when I think I'm running out of ideas, my Professional Learning Network gets the ball rolling again. . .