Who knew that a loaf of bread, some peanut butter, and a jar of jelly could turn into one of the funniest and most effective lessons on descriptive writing?
Ms. Sloan (@kay_sloan) is a first- and second-grade teacher, and she used the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich to demonstrate how much adding detail to writing matters.
“I’m going to read some of your responses on how to make a PB&J, and then I’m going to copy exactly what your writing says,” Ms. Sloan began.
The kids quickly learned that their directions weren’t as clear as they thought. In her video, Ms. Sloan read the instructions off the first paper, which said to “get bread, get peanut butter, and get jelly.”
Instead of actually making the sandwich like the students expected, she simply grabbed the loaf of bread, the jar of peanut butter, the jar of jelly, and cradled them in her arms.
Her students proclaimed that it was not the right way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
On the next attempt, the first step was to “put the bread flat.” So, she set the unopened loaf on the table and pressed down on it with her hands, as her students clamored in the background.
When told to “spread jelly or jam on the bread,” Ms. Sloan opened a jar of jelly, plunged her hand into the jar, and spread the jelly on the bag of bread, eliciting an even stronger reaction from the kids.
When she went to “spread peanut butter on the other side,” she flipped the bag over and did the same thing with the peanut butter.
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The classroom was filled with shrieks of disbelief. Another paper instructed her to “put on peanut butter and jelly,” so she smeared the substances on her arms as if she were putting on lotion. The point was sinking. Once all the commotion died down, Ms. Sloan addressed the class.
“We just did a whole lesson on adding detail to our writing. Do we understand why you have to have detail? Did anybody ever mention a plate or a knife?”
She then asked the class how they would redo this writing assignment. They told her to put the bread on a plate, grab the knife, scoop some peanut butter, and put the peanut butter on the bread.
Next, they had her grab another piece of bread, put jelly on it with the knife, and flip the bread with the jelly onto the bread with peanut butter.
Finally, they were able to successfully make a proper peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The lesson struck a chord with TikTok viewers, many of whom remembered doing the same activity in school.
“One core memory of mine from school was doing this assignment about teeth brushing. My teacher spat right on the floor because the instructions just said, ‘Now spit,’ and we all lost our minds,” commented one viewer.
“Did this in my culinary class to learn about writing cooking methods and stuff, and it was super fun. We made a fluff and peanut butter sandwich, and we all got to eat our sandwich after. Mine was basically just peanut butter and fluff. One of my favorite days by far of the year,” wrote another.
“Did this on a training course, but with the analogy of making a cup of tea. Someone wrote, ‘Put kettle in cup’ instead of ‘Put water from kettle in cup,’ so gave back the tea with the kettle on top,” shared a third.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
