Puzzle Your Students
by
Stephanie J. Willbanks

I love crossword puzzles. I enjoy working out the solutions, piece by piece. I can even see an analogy to the law in crossword puzzles. The law develops piece by piece, case by case, statute by statute, regulation by regulation, until it is one interrelated whole.

So, on the second day of my Wills and Trusts course, I assign a crossword puzzle. [Click here for one of the puzzles and the answer puzzle.  See below if you do not already have Adobe Acrobat Reader loaded on your computer.]  My goal is nothing as lofty as leading students to the realization that law in its entirety can be viewed, and learned, like a crossword puzzle. Rather, my goal is much more mundane. The material in the book is vocabulary and history, what law professors typically assign as background reading. I do not like to assign material that I do not cover in class. It sends a signal to the students that this material is not important. But it is. The vocabulary of the law helps us communicate and informs us of important underlying concepts. In Wills and Trusts, the language also tells the history. Moreover, I believe that active learning is more efficient. If students "do," they remember. The exercise fosters cooperation and confidence, requiring all students to participate. This helps establish my expectations for the rest of the semester.

The exercise is relatively simple, although it takes some preparation on my part. I create a grid (using the table feature in WordPerfect) and fill it in with as many of the words from the reading as possible. Crossword puzzle fans realize that this is not as easy as it first appears, because many of the words are long, and creating a pattern where they intersect without colliding is difficult. I am never able to get all the legal words that I want into the puzzle, but I do manage to insert a reasonable number of them. I then finish off the puzzle with "normal" words that will assist the students in solving the puzzle. I then test my creation on family members, friends, or staff to catch the inevitable errors. Although it creates additional work, I construct a new puzzle each year so that my students cannot acquire the answers from prior classes.

On the syllabus, I simply assign the text pages and tell the students to bring a pencil to class. The first year or two, this created a sense of unease among the students. While this was an added benefit to the exercise, I am sure that the student grapevine now relays to each new group that this is not a standardized test and they can rest easy. I allow students to work alone or in groups of two or three, but all books and notes must be closed. This requires all students to participate in the exercise and forces them to rely on their colleagues for answers. I bold the clues for the words from the course and tell students that those are the ones I want them to complete. I allow students approximately 35 to 40 minutes to complete the grid, circulating through the room to determine when a reasonable number have completed the essential words. Then I "debrief" by going through the class, student by student, asking for the answers. At the end, everyone will have completed his or her puzzle and learned the terms.

Students enjoy this exercise because it is novel. The students who do not enjoy crossword puzzles are few and far between. Because it is not graded, or even collected, students are willing to take risks. This exercise works well at the beginning of the semester, and it might work in a review session.

The lesson I learned from this exercise is to be adventurous and try something different. By the third year, students are tired of the same old case analysis and Socratic method. They will learn more if the material is presented in different ways. The other lesson I have learned is that students react positively to this exercise because I enjoy it. They are willing to take the risk of something new because of my enthusiasm. So when you try something different, make sure it is something that you like.

To View the Crossword Puzzle:  To view the clues and puzzles, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. This is a free product which can be obtained by clicking the following icon:

After you have downloaded and installed the product, click here to view the puzzle.