If
Pac-Man is not available to you as a teaching device (i.e., your students are more likely to be playing
Smash Brothers than having ever touched Pac-Man), the same principle can be applied in a more
general sense. I was taught this
mnemonic when I was seven years old, and it has stuck with me since.
Our teacher simply drew the greater than and less than signs. Then she drew a bumpy nose over the top of each of the signs, and drew teeth inside of them. The signs were instantly transformed into Hungry Hungry crocodiles! (Rar!) They were ready to devour anything within range and they always wanted the biggest snacky-treat.
Mentally, I never think "greater than" or "less than," I always mentally interpret the signs as one sign that points out which quantity is larger. When doing algebra and quantitative comparisons on standardized tests, I think this is helpful. This method is also a good one because it gives third-graders an excuse to draw little crocodiles on their math homework.