In an earlier post, I started playing around with Pinterest, considering its different uses for learning. And so this morning, during my prep, I started a new board without really knowing what to do with it. I reflected on the previous day of classes and this great conversation we had in AP about Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie. We did two jigsaws: one on the characters of Amanda, Laura, Tom, and the absent father; and a second on elements of craft: setting, stage directions/body language, music, and symbolism/metaphor. I've only read The Glass Menagerie twice before teaching this unit, so I still have a lot to learn about it and its characters.
Laura, the daughter, is interesting to me because she doesn't have a strong presence or personality, but I feel like there's more to her than meets the eye. Yesterday in our lit circle discussion about Laura, we noted her interest in beautiful things and how Williams projects images of blue roses and winter scenes on the screen while Laura talks. And with that idea in mind, a concept for my pinboard came into being: an exploration of the symbols associated with Laura and how they give insight into her character.
I went to google, typed in symbols, looked through the image results, and pinned whichever ones sparked a new thought for me. Then, with the caption feature, I wrote a couple of sentences of insights into the symbolism. I compiled a board of six pins with accompanying captions in about 40 minutes, and I'm walking away with great insight into Laura. Pinterest also allows you to comment on one another's pins, so I'm going to ask my AP class today if any of them will respond to my captions and maybe even add their own pins and captions to the board. It was a good brainstorming, symbolic analysis, and reflection activity. Being able to respond to one another's pins also makes it a good discussion board and a place to grow ideas.
http://pinterest.com/emcguffin524/laura-wingfield/