DANETTE GOULET -- On Campus

NEWPORT BEACH -- Students rummaged through mysterious bags of luggage,

scrutinizing the contents and concocting wild stories about who the owner

might be.

It sounds reminiscent of my childhood secret agent adventures, except

these youngsters did not have to fear being caught.

They were doing a character sketch assignment in Sean Boulton’s

seventh-grade English class, learning to write creative essays off the

cuff.

It is a skill students will need for a test they’ll take Thursday, when

they will be given a writing prompt of some kind and expected to create

an essay. Boulton used props during the exercise to stimulate the

students’ interest and creative ideas.

“There’s so many visual things to compete with out there,” he said. “And

these test books -- they hate.”

In contrast, the students happily delved into the suitcases filled with

strange objects.

The assignment: Pretend Boulton stole the baggage off a carousel at John

Wayne Airport -- which he did mention would have been illegal. Each of

the five rows of boys and girls had its own case to examine.

The five bags contained totally different objects -- cowboy boots,

Ping-Pong paddles, suit coats, books -- intended to make students wonder.

Since I had plopped down in Row 2, I joined the students as they peered

into a ratty, gray duffel bag.

They looked for clues about the owner: a physical description,

personality traits, occupation, where this person may have been going or

coming from, even thoughts and emotions.

As four sets of hands reached in, out came a nurse’s uniform, a dress, a

Walkman, a passport -- that was a big clue. Next came a couple of books

and a Nurse Week newsletter -- which was a tad obvious.

From these items, the group began drawing conclusions.

Student Tara Gallegos transcribed information from the passport while her

classmate Thomas Folsom studied the types of books that our “nurse” read.

There was no makeup, and so she was a self-confident woman, Thomas

concluded.

And on it went for half an hour, until the students returned to their

seats, ready to share their characters with the class.

Our traveler was sad even before her luggage was stolen, they concluded,

because as a missionary nurse who travels all over the world, she rarely

got the chance to see her family.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education

writer Danette Goulet visits a campus within the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District and writes about her experience.

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FYI

* Who: Seventh-grade students

* Where: Sean Boulton’s English class at Ensign Intermediate School

* What: Writing an impromptu character sketch

* Lesson: How to take a writing prompt and run with it