Math Visits the ELA Class: Using Graphs to Analyze Characters

I have followed Ian Byrd's blog, "Byrdseed", and gotten his newsletter for a while now.  He's very creative and has a ton of great ideas.  He recently came to Texas and presented at a GT update (sadly, I had a family emergency and had to cancel my reservation...).

In his latest newsletter, he shared ways to use graphs in character analysis.  Now, I don't teach ELA (although I have before), but as a math teacher I loved this idea.  We spend a good deal of time in math working with graphs and the important part of graphs is being able to analyze and interpret them.  I love the way Byrd is using graphs to help student analyze characters.  This graphic shows characters graphed based on the traits of morality and physical strength.  Imagine the discussions that could occur on where to place characters on a graph like this!

From Byrdseed.com

Byrd also shows how to use line graphs.  In one example, he shows how Katniss's (for those not familiar with Katniss, she's the main character in "The Hunger Games") confidence changes through the story.

I've always believed that the more we can use cross-curricular skills, the deeper our students' knowledge and understanding will be.  Check out Ian's blog by clicking on the link above.  You can read the "graphing" article here.