Often, we have to write about topics that, quite frankly, bore us. It’s not just in school, either. Seemingly boring topics are trying because we don’t know what to write — nothing comes to mind at first.

Enter: today’s lesson with English Strategies and English Studies (first, second, and seventh periods). As part of our on-going lesson about finding topics for an assigned paper, we explored today the mysterious Myth of the Boring Paper.

We looked at a single dollar bill; as a class and in groups, we looked closely at it and tried to notice as many little, odd details as possible. (For example, have you ever noticed that there is an owl or an eagle in the upper-right corner of the dollar bill?) Once we shared our details and converted them into questions, it became obvious that a seemingly boring topic like a dollar bill can be full of possibilities.

Afterward, students in groups created questions for an assortment of “boring” topics: a stapler, a pack of Post-It notes, and a dry-erase marker were among the items.

In the end, everyone wrote an affirmation in their writing notebook: “I can write about anything if I look at it carefully enough.”

Homework

None (we’ll begin having homework next week).