Catcher in the Rye Mind Map
Smells Like: Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield
Student mind map of Holden Caulfield
My seniors’ summative assignment was to create a mind map of Holden Caulfield. I’d never done this before, so my instructions were a bit sketchy — mostly along the lines of imagine what might be going through Holden’s mind and try to capture it in some sort of graphic. An alternate project was to graphically depict each chapter, a sort of plot map of the story.
What pleased me the most about the above poster is that the group of students responsible for it came very close to what I actually did have in mind. They also depicted something remarkably close to a photograph in the recent Los Angeles Times article about walking in Holden Caulfield’s footsteps in New York.
Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times --- Holden's family's home is here on East 71st Street between 5th and Madison avenues.
By Tom Fasano on May 18, 2010 – 8:32 pm
Posted in Graphic Organizers | 3 Comments »
By
Dennis Cass on May 29, 2010 | Reply
Love this. It reminds me of Dan Roam’s BACK OF THE NAPKIN. It’s a business book, but the ideas (about how to represent ideas and solve problems visually) are universal.
By
Jay on Jun 2, 2010 | Reply
Looks awesome, so I want to do it. Just curious what you gave the students to start, and how you framed it as a lesson.
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Tom Fasano on Jun 2, 2010 | Reply
I had this very discussion today with two teachers after school. This lesson was brand new to me, something I sort made up as I went along. I basically wanted them to come up with a visual representation of what was going on in Holden Caulfield’s mind. That’s why I called it a mind map. As far as a rubric or handout—nothing. Next year I’ll be much better prepared, especially with digital shots of student work.