Saturday, 14 March 2015

Plot Bunnies Hopping from My Classroom

I've been teaching for a few years now, and I noticed that most students manage to remember generic rules if I give them outrageous examples (a few think I'm nuts, but most do remember the strange example, and they associate it with the rule -> success!).

Last week, I wasn't teaching my students any generic rules, but I was talking about art conservation, and I mentioned a documentary about the British Museum, telling them to watch it if they ever spot it on telly or on the net.
And then... Crikey! I don't know where that came from, but I told them about pigments, about the one shade of yellow used by Van Gogh that's turning brown because of a chemical reaction. I went on, talking about the 19th century artists who used crushed mummies to paint, and... plot bunny! 
I told them that it'd be funny if the mummies came back from the dead through the paintings and chased the painters to curse them or kill them.

I quite like this idea.

I don't know where I'm going to use it (on its own, or in a 19th century plot on which I started working months ago), but it's in the plot bunny colony now.
I love it when my students help generate bunnies.

2 comments:

Ruan Peat said...

oh nice, coming back or leaving messages so when you look the painting has changed and next time its changed again!

Lanor said...

Yesss! ^_^
I'm becoming quite fond of that plot bunny. ^_~