0 ABC Review

It's finals and Regents time! What ways are you helping your students review for their final? Believe it or not I've finished regular instruction in both of classes and started reviewing for the final. This was one fun way that I reviewed the literature we read in class this year. It is called ABC review. 

Students were put into groups of 5. I gave them each a piece of large white butcher paper. The students write the entire alphabet down the left side of the paper (grouping XYZ together). Students had to think something for every letter of the alphabet from any of the pieces of literature we've read this year (characters, literary elements, titles, themes, authors, etc).

Student Example

A section of the ABC review

           When they were done, each group shared their poster.

This can be adapted to any grade level or subject! Great for general, fun review. You could even have each group do a different piece of literature exclusively; then have the groups jigsaw. What other ideas could you use the ABC activity for? Post below! 

0 Greek Gods Facebook/Resume Project

Most of my students are on Facebook...or at least know what it is. It is important to me to find ways to connect to my students and find ways to motivate them. Technology is definitely something that is ingrained in students' lives....and mine! I'll be the first to admit I'm not capable of putting down my cell phone any more than my students can. Using technology is sometimes limited in my district, so I do what I can. This project was something I adapted from various ideas I've heard and seen on the internet and from other colleagues.

This project began our unit on The Odyssey (a unit I initially dreaded). It turns out learning about the various gods and goddesses and reading and teaching the myths was very interesting! I started the kids with a Prezi presentation on the Greek gods. Students were given a packet with descriptions of various gods and goddesses that were important to the narrative of The Odyssey. Students had to choose one of the characters and complete a Facebook page or a formal resume for that character. I gave them examples of each and time in class to complete the project. I limited the amount of time given to work on the project in class...I've been noticing students like to waste time when given time in class to do work.....so....I stopped giving them so much time. Students did really well right off the bat with the project! They already knew the parts of the Facebook page (wall, friends, info, photos, etc) and they used the resume template to complete the resume. Students had to be creative to think of a character's email address, contact information like phone number and address, and skills and abilities. Students who chose the Facebook option had fun creating the 'wall' with conversations with the other gods and goddesses.


I think they did well with this because it was something that they could relate to. Even students who normally don't complete work got right into this. The project could literally be adapted to any book and any character....or even people in history. Here are some student samples:

Medusa's Facebook Profile

Resume for Hera

Rubric for the project was :

Creativity/Neatness: 5 points

Effort/Participation: 5 points

Amount of info given: 5 points

Accuracy of info given: 5 points

There are also actual websites that allow you to make a mock Facebook profile. I didn't have access to computers for the class, so I just had them draw the profile out. But if you can get your class to a computer, I'm sure they would love these tools too!

My Fake Wall

Fakebook