A Different Approach to the Process Essay

I have often said that the hardest writing to do is the writing of instructions.  Over the years, I've had many approaches to the process essay, a type of essay which often includes the writing of instructions.  One of my favorite approaches to the process essay has involved Legos.

When we moved in 2013, we had to get rid of a lot of stuff, and at that point, I let go of my tub of Legos.  Last year when I taught the process essay, I borrowed some Legos.  I've also thought of buying them.  But this week, I came up with a different idea.

I got to the office and cut shapes out of paper.  I made piles of similar shapes.  At first I was thinking that I'd give each student a different variety from the other student, but that's not how it worked out.

The first step was having the student make a picture with the shapes and tape them to the white page.  I cautioned him that it wasn't art class, so not to spend too much time on the picture itself.

The next step was the crucial one:  write instructions so that someone who receives a bag of the same shapes can create the picture, using only the directions that the student had written.

And then it was time to test the instructions.  Our registrar agreed to try out the instructions.

In some ways, the biggest part of the learning process might have come from the student watching the registrar try to follow the instructions.

For the most part, the student wrote fairly good instructions.  It was a fun project which taught essential lessons.  I'm always happy when I can come up with assignments like this one.  And even better:  I didn't need to buy Legos!

I ended the class by sharing my story about the easiest $50 I've ever gotten.  Long ago in grad school, a computer company needed people to test out their instruction manual.  I got to the lab and opened the manual.  The instructions didn't tell me to turn on the computer!  Three minutes later, I was on my way and $50 richer.