Suggested Books (paid link)

*This lesson coincides with Breaktime from A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech.

Lesson written by: Elena Glenn & Virginia Evans

Grade level range:  Elementary to Adult

Length of time to teach lesson: 8 minutes

Overview of lesson:  Students will play a game of tic-tac-toe.  Each square represents a different mental activity that students will perform.  Students will analyze the effect of these activities on their thinking.
Objectives (Learning targets) of this lesson:  I can help myself to overcome a mental block by doing certain mental exercises.

Resources/supplies/handouts needed to teach this lesson: Tic-tac-toe board,  Roger von Oech book,  A pencil or a marker, rubric
 
Step-by-step teaching instructions for the lesson: 

1)  Introduce the objective of the lesson
2)  A student whose birthday is closer to today’s date is an “X”, the other students is an “O”
3)  Students take turns placing X’s and O’s on the board and perform each activity corresponding to the square they chose.
4)  Students analyze how their thinking was affected by a specific activity
5)  Students use an Exit ticket by writing their “takeaway” of the lesson
 
Special Notes from the creator of this lesson:

 Four Activities - Read one activity from the book, students find various explanations

Hand Activity - Stack up cups in different configurations

Hidden Pictures - Find hidden pictures in one of the Salvador Dali paintings

Find the Difference - Find the difference between two almost identical pics

Metaphor - Find a metaphor to your classroom

Favorite Number - What is your favorite number and why, how does it connect to your life, to history?

Golden Ration - Find some Golden Ratios on your body, measure and verify

Free Space - Go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, walk around the room (player’s choice)

Assessment: Have the students leading this lesson complete the rubric for each participant using the tic-tac-toe board.