Submitted by: Shannon Woods, River City High School, West Sacramento

This activity focuses on communication.

Objective:  Discuss about keeping lines of communication clear.

Materials: paper, pen, pre-drawn “perfect” bug to specifications below.

Time: about 15 minutes plus discussion

Procedure:

1.Pre-draw a “perfect” bug based on the following requirements: The bug must have a body, head, eyes, legs, wings, a tail with stinger, a secondary defense method ( pinchers, teeth, etc..) and decorate the body.

2.DO NOT show pre-drawn bug to students.  Begin by letting students know that they may not talk during this activity. Do not answer their questions just let them know to do the best they can with the information given.  Have the students draw a bug with the specifications listed above. Give simple instructions: “Draw the body of your bug.” Allow a short time like less than 1 minute to complete each step.

3.After the bug has been drawn, have the students grade their bug. Then trade a total of 3 times with other students rating the other students bugs. The last trade, everyone starts off with an “A” and now it must be graded based on your pre-drawn perfect bug. Show the picture and tell the grader that if their bug does not have the features then they need to mark the picture down one letter grade.  Now return the picture to the original owner.

4.Begin by asking who drew the perfect bug. Why not? What would have made it easier for you to draw the perfect bug? How does this relate to driving? What forms of communication can we use when we drive?

Make sure you emphasize that you gave clear instructions about what you wanted. And then lead a discussion about how lines of communication are opened and how that relates to communication lines/ methods in driving.