My secret.... Sometimes when I'm not sure where to start, I go to my students. My second year of teaching, I got to the unit of quadrilaterals and had no idea where to start. I decided to assign an exploratory based project to my honors class and see what turns up.
Objective: Students design and create a graphic organizer on the topic of quadrilaterals.
It began as a very open project and resulted in some unique results. I gave them several days to research, design, and produce their graphic organizer. We used a round robin strategy to evaluate and rate the graphic organizers on display. After this, the students were to choose a graphic organizer and complete one of their own for their journal containing the generalized information of the class.
The following are student products and may contain copyright violations and incorrect information.
1. Multi Shutter Fold within Large Shutter Fold
This was by far the most creative and the inspiration for the Properties of Quadrilaterals foldable I now use.
2. Basic Half Page Book Fold
I collected the above graphic organizers, combined some styles that I liked, and produced the following graphic organizer that I used this past year. I am always still working on facts and information. So if you have any critiques or suggestions, please comment.
The second half of the project consisted of an essay.
Options:
- Write two full pages analyzing the attributes and relationships of quadrilaterals.
- Depict the attributes and relationships of quadrilaterals using fiction.
I ended up with quite a bit of plagiarism which was a violation of the course syllabus and resulted in failing grades and reprimands.
However, the best result is the relationship a student told of a rectangle and a rhombus. "Rectangle and Rhombus stayed out late one night, and nine months later they had Square."
EXTRA: This is my first quadrilateral foldable experience from a journaling workshop.
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