Circle of Connections
Circle of Connections takes different aspects of your text and put them in a list. From there, students will draw a circle of circles and then place each word in a circle, connecting them together with their thoughts. This activity was not effective when I started with nine circles, but what I did this week was more effective.
I started the class discussing “random” (the slang usage). We shared some “that was so random” moments (my random moment was the ending of Ong-Bak 2). From there we made a list of random words and then tried to explain how Romeo, fate, or tragedy could be connected to a watermelon, a computer, and “WHAT?”
The challenge: We made a list of Romeo and Juliet ideas, characters, and quotes. I drew three circles on the white board and asked if anyone could come up with three words that I couldn’t link together, which hooked the class while modeling how the activity is done.
The students then took up the challenge with three circles, then five, and finally nine.
I used this activity to help students collate and consolidate our ground work on Romeo and Juliet before moving on to essays, projects, and tests.
I was taught this activity back in university. Some readers may know it by another name, though Juliet would be quick to remind us that the activity’s more important than the name.
January 28th, 2009 at 2:07 am
Ryan,
I used this foundation for a lesson today on post-classical Japan but I changed it up a little bit. It worked well and the students made excellent connections, but it is different enough from what you describe that I think it is worth telling you what I did.
I wrote nine different terms on the board, all having to do with the unit in some way. I should point out that I used it as a type of “review” activity, in the sense that we are near the end of the unit. I called on a student to describe a connection between two of the words. In this case I asked a student to describe the connection between the terms “Emperor” and “Christianity.” After the student made the connection they then called on a second student to make a new connection. The new connection could involve one of the already-used words, or two brand new words.
The process worked well! Students were interested, challenged each other, and gained new insights between the words even as they learned the terms more fully. This is “comparing” at its best.
I could see ramping up the exercise by asking students to connect three or four words, instead of just two words. Alternatively students could be asked to choose three terms and write a single sentence that successfully incorporates all three terms.
For homework, I asked students to write a RAFT paper that forces them to make additional connections between the terms, but in writing. Students were asked to assume the role of a Ronin, and write a letter to a daimyo asking for a job. I expect excellent results from this exercise.
Thanks for a great idea Ryan!