I’m sitting here doing homework diligently…okay so what’s really happening is I am about to sit back and have my laptop open while I try to do homework and watch the college basketball national championship. My team (UCONN) didn’t make it to the final game and I’m not that into the game but thinking of basketball inspired me to write this blog posting. In basketball analysts love discussing their Mount Rushmore of best basketball players. Making a Mount Rushmore of something is basically a fancy way of making a top 4 of something. These top four represent the model of greatness in what ever topic the Mount Rushmore is about. So with that I decided to make my own Mount Rushmores related to some topics that I find interesting including my favorite movies, best actors, favorite characters, countries I need to travel to, and best Will Ferrell movies. Yes, I realize that most of these have to do with movies but I figure that movies are always fun for people to talk about because we all know them and we all have opinions about movies. I may be modifying the Mount Rushmore method slightly with some of these topics but it’s my blog so that’s what we’re going to do.
*Side note for all my teacher readers. As I was thinking about the Mount Rushmore idea I got to thinking that this could be used in the classroom. Some of my initial thoughts include sparking argumentative writing ideas as students discuss why they fell certain items belong on the Mount Rushmore and others do not. The Mount Rushmore method could be really beneficial in students getting to know their peers and teachers better early in the school year. Additionally since this practice asks you to list the 4 items that represent the topic the best, then one could take their list and practice their comparing and contrasting skills. To add to this point this practice could also help students identify what qualities of an item make it worth being on this list. Clearly teachers need to be creative with approaches like this but I think there may be something here that can be used in the classroom.
Without further ado my Mount Rushmores
Favorite Movies
Gladiator, Titanic, Lion King, Rocky IV
Best/Actors
Bryan Cranston, Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Leonardo Dicaprio
Favorite Characters
The Joker (The Dark Knight), Gustavo Fring (Breaking Bad), J.D. (Scrubs), Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones)
Countries I need to travel to
Italy, Australia, Japan, Ireland
Best Will Ferrell Movies
Step Brothers, Anchorman, Elf, Blades of Glory
Please feel free to leave your own Mount Rushmores either related to some of these topics or create your own and tell me what you think about incorporating this in a classroom and how you would think about incorporating it. Thanks for reading!
Brandon0127's Blog of Consciousness 
I really like this idea, Brandon. I’ll admit I don’t watch basketball so I was assuming this post would be about a spring break trip to see Mount Rushmore, but I was not disappointed. This kind of activity would make a great icebreaker for the first few days of school that could lead into a personal narrative or argumentative essay. Thanks for sharing!
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You can never go wrong with the Lion King, that is one of my all time favorite movies as well. I like how you used Mount Rushmore to incorporate your thoughts.
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I love, love, love this! I don’t follow basketball, and had never heard of “Mount Rushmores.” What a great way to have students prioritize, select, and defend their choices. Some of mine:
Favorite Books
Anthony Trollope’s Palliser novels
E. F. Benson’s Lucia novels
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels
Dorothy Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries
But . . . I long ago settled on my top FIVE books. My top five list includes Tolkien’s LOTR fantasies, of course, but if I only get four . . . I don’t know what to do. I suppose I would have to come up with some selection criteria, evaluate each series, and eliminate one. Tough task.
Favorite Movies
Apollo 13
That Thing You Do
Star Wars (Episode IV)
Singin’ in the Rain
High Society (Frank Sinatra/Grace Kelly)
Wait, that’s five again. How can I possibly get rid of one?
Maybe it would be good to have the students initially come up with five or six items, then have to cull that list. They might find it as difficult as I did. (Or as difficult as I would, if I were actually going to do it. I’m not. There are five on my lists, and, because I’m the teacher, I get five.)
Excellent idea, thank you!
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Hey Brandon!
I always appreciate how fun your posts are and how they connect to TV shows and movies which are basically my two favorite things in life.
I had actually never head of the idea of “Mount Rushmores” being the Top 4 list of something but now I can see how they are quite common. Your choice of top 4 characters and Will Ferrell movies were on point so I would definitely agree there. I could also see using this strategy to help students create fun lists when choosing a topic for certain assignments where they can get creative.
Here are two Mount Rushmore lists I came up with:
Places I want to go in the U.S.:
California
Las Vegas
New Orleans
Hawaii
Places I want to go outside of the U.S.:
Australia
Italy
France
Ireland
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I love this Mount Rushmore idea! I have never heard of it and before I began reading, I thought your post was going to be about a vacation you took there. This concept could literally be incorporated anywhere and for anything. As a future English teacher, I think it could be used in writing: “Choose your top 4 pieces of evidence and (explain) why you chose those pieces”. It’s very clever and unique, something I definitely think the students would enjoy. Here’s a look at my own Mount Rushmore:
Favorite Movies
The Proposal, Something Borrowed, Burlesque
Best/Actors
Will Smith, Rachel McAdams, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum
Favorite Characters
Michael Scott (The Office), Serena van der Woodsen (Gossip Girl), Derek Shepard (Grey’s Anatomy)
Countries I need to travel to
Ireland, Greece, London
Best Will Ferrell Movies
Elf, Blades of Glory
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Top 4 writing teachers…Gallagher, Anderson, Kittle, & NWP…if I was skilled I could make a graphic! Love the idea and how you transformed into a teaching idea!
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I like your Mount Rushmore teaching idea. If I could talk about sports in any way that was competent or believable, I’d use it. Also, given our group assignment last week, the fact that Lion King is in your top four made me laugh.
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Brandon, this is a great idea for the classroom and for and activity in general. I would definitely use this in my future classroom. Great idea!
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