On "desk work" and "being a fan girl"

Greg here - aka fan girl. More on that in a minute. I am sure everyone is extremely busy with lessons, grading, etc., so I will do my best to keep this short. 
On the recommendation of a departing faculty member, I began writing on desks this year. Many would consider this blatant vandalism, but thankfully it involves a thin tip expo marker and a microfiber cloth. The students quickly followed suit.

For my students, this goes in the face of everything students have been told since kindergarden - and they love it! I've been working on cause/effect mind mapping with students (Chronological Reasoning). I thought it was a perfect time for them to work at their desks.

Students quickly grasped their markers and worked together to create some impressive connections that clearly demonstrated their contextual understanding of the issues. 
In the examples above, we were discussing the contributing factors leading up to the War of 1812. I followed it up with a modification of Jeff Mummert's game jam concept. (Full Disclosure: Jeff is a friend and colleague at a neighboring school.) Students needed to take a movie, utilize its characters, and modify the plot to represent the history.

The group that modified The Lego Movie created  fantastic relationships between the characters and historical figures (my favorite being Morgan Freeman's character Vitruvius representing Thomas Jefferson).

I tweeted the board work to the writers of The Lego Movie - Chris Miller & Phil Lord. My students were blown away when Phil Lord retweeted their work! 

I was rather enthusiastic when I shared the news with the students. Although they were extremely impressed, it earned me a new name: fan girl.

Best,
Greg

P.S. Don't forget to enterBecky's giveaway!