# U1L11 - Packets Unplugged

**URL:** <https://forum.code.org/t/u1l11-packets-unplugged/10761>\
**Category:** Resources, Tools, Differentiation\
**Created:** [October 3, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u1l11-packets-unplugged/10761 "2017-10-03T14:37:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![timothy\_s\_milligan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.code.org/timothy_s_milligan/32/234_2.png) [@timothy\_s\_milligan](https://forum.code.org/u/timothy_s_milligan)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://forum.code.org/t/u1l11-packets-unplugged/10761/1 "2017-10-03T14:37:17Z")

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We had some internet outages recently, forcing me to rethink some lessons, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the whole lesson can be done unplugged, if you have to, using a large number of notecards. The notecards are the packets, of course, and you simply have to make the rule that each card can only hold 8 characters. Then, put students in groups of 3, with the third person representing “The Internet”. These students have a brief conference with you before the activity to lay down some ground rules:

- Packets being sent between the other two group members must be passed by “The Internet”
- “The Internet” often delivers packets in a different order than they were sent
- Sometimes “The Internet” just throws a packet or two away.

And other than that, you run the same activity as in the lesson plan using the Simulator. It was a great fix in a time of technical difficulties!