Define and Draw

Sweetwater wants the students to interact with each other and be active while they learn. So, an activity that Mr. Dorray has them do occasionally is to work in pairs and define a vocabulary word and draw it. They must define it in their own words on one side of a piece of construction paper and then illustrate it on the other side.

Some of the words they had to choose from were Democracy, Theocracy, Sharia, Parliamentary Democracy, Communism, Islamic Republic, and Entrepreneur to name a few.

It went pretty well. Some of the drawings were really creative.

I was a little concerned that the students would only remember the word that they worked on, but after each presentation he called on a few students to repeat what they had just heard. Some of the presenters had to repeat themselves until the majority of the class was able to repeat the definition.

One concern that I have is that the students take so long to complete a lesson. This lesson is going to end up taking two and a half days. And, for words that they have already learned. Middle school students just require more time, and I am still adjusting to it. I have to continuously remind myself that they are unable to learn and work as quickly as I am accustomed to.