Hands-on activities in English classes are few and far between sometimes, but a new game being used for reviewing has hit the English department. The junior students in teachers Dana Morris’s and Melonie Menefee’s classes have been using a modified version of Jenga! to make sure they know material before testing.

After reading Of Mice and Men recently, students spent part of a class period in small groups with a stack of numbered Jenga! blocks and a list of review questions.

“It was a really great way to learn about Of Mice and Men,” junior Chris Delacruz said. “I really learned a lot, and it was better than a boring old test review.”

Students pulled a tile and had to answer the question that matched the number on the tile. Students in the group determined if the answer was right or wrong, with Menefee as the final authority. If the answer was right, the tile was used to build. If the answer was wrong, the student had to keep the tile. Students worked to have the highest stack in the class as well as the fewest number of tiles when the stack fell.

“It was a really cool way to help get all the facts stored in my head,” junior Nathanael Young said. “It was really cool that she knows a lot of different methods of learning and teaching.”