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A task analysis is a method of teaching that breaks down the instructional steps of an activity. It is a succesful method for teaching children on the autism spectrum.
Happy Hanukkah, the festival of lights! Sharing a task analysis on how to teach others to play the game dreidel:
- Get a dreidel. The four letters on the sides of the dreidel are Nun, Gimmel, Hay, and Shin, which stand for “A Great Miracle Happened There,” referring to the miracle of the oil keeping the candle lite for eight nights!
- Gather friends. You can play with as few as two, but the more the merrier!
- Distribute tokens evenly among all of the players. The tokens can be any little thing: pennies, gelt (chocolate).
- Create “the pot”. Before the game starts, players put one token in the middle of the circle to create “the pot.”
- Take turns spinning the dreidel. When it’s your turn, spin the dreidel once. The letter facing up determines whether you win, lose, or draw. According to the letter appearing, the player should perform the following action:
Shin (“shtel” or “put in” in Yiddish) – Put one more token in the pot.
Nun (“nisht”or “nothing” (in Yiddish) – Do nothing.
Gimmel (“gantz” or “everything” in Yiddish) – Take all tokens from the pot.
Hay (“halb” or “half” in Yiddish) – Take half of all tokens lying in the pot. In case of an odd number of tokens, round up.
If you run out of tokens, you are out. Keep playing until someone wins by collecting all of the tokens!
