Survival Guides
Survival guides have some interesting potential for a variety of historical and literary analysis needs. This idea was jump started by the Brighid Survival Manual which was found via Super Punch.
Here’s a quick example for the Witch in The Wizard of Oz.
I’ll see if time allows me to make one for a Jamestown colonist. The problem is that these take a good bit of time and effort if they’re going to be good. That’s great in a project but it does make it harder on me.
Anyway, lots of English and history applications. It’d be fun to write survival guides for self-destructive historical or literary figures- maybe Edgar Allen Poe or Custard.
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Modernist Posters
When it rains, it pours snows people panic and Richmond shuts down. Also when I find one good thing on the Internet, others often show up. So here are minimalist TV show posters by Albert Exergian. I’d do this for sure. It’s another in the line of restriction = creativity possibilities. The drawing skills are really low. It’s all about figuring out the essence of the novel/era/historical person and figuring out how to represent it as simply as possible. You’d have to stress what makes things modernist and really get students thinking about using color, shape etc. with as much thought as possible. The example would be key, as would your explanation of it. I ended up with this from one of the few email newsletters I find worth subscribing to – Very Short List. If you like this type of thing, it’s worth checking out.
Calling E.T.
This is another one of those little things I love that the Internet brings me on a silver RSS platterGranted, I’ve piled this platter so high with various feeds that a lot is lost in the shuffle. It may be time for a reboot.. From New Scientist As part of our special feature marking the 50th anniversary of the search for extraterrestrial life, we round up humanity’s radio messages to the stars. This is an awesome list of messages we’ve sent into outer spaceWe’ve done some very strange things. and leads to some potentially interesting English uses. Here are a few very rough ideas. Your Message – The standard idea would be “What message would you send into outer space? Write one paragraph etc. etc.” That’s OK but it doesn’t really do it for me. You need to add a lot of restrictions and bring to the forefront the things you need to consider when sending messages into outer space. I’d start by looking at the messages we’ve sent. What do they have in common? What assumptions are made about the recipientsThey can see, hear etc.? Then it’d be really interesting to start restricting the size of the message. How do you pack the most information into your message? The debates over what stays/goes would be really interesting as well […]
6 Word Teen Memoirs
This would be a fun way to start off the school year. It’s similar to a number of things I’ve posted before but I liked these and the presentation is really nice. Ways I might twist it for the first days of school – maybe it’s just your summer in 6 words, your prediction of the school year in 6 words or you have to produce one for someone else in the class on whatever topic is chosen. Make sure you show good examples. Just another example of rules and being “inside the box” driving some really interesting content production. Hat tip – Jackie Gerstein
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This is yet another great way to move past our traditional methods of teaching and embrace the digital age. I have been teaching social studies for some time and at some point in the year, students always make a brochure, but this is much cooler. Thanks!