"Rich Writing"

On Monday, I gave my students a challenge of writing about whether they were rich or not. At first, their answers were, "Of course not! I don't have a lot of money!" After which we followed up with a discussion about what makes one rich. We talked about how important it was to have friends, family, health, and basic needs such as food, water, shelter, and clothing. I added that many people in other towns, states, and countries don't have their needs met. Then some of my students went in the opposite direction. "I have a big screen tv with lots of channels, and lots of toys!" they started to brag. I tried to get them to reach a happy medium and realize that it's important to realize that you are rich if you are happy and have your basic needs met. Not sure if they all really got the point, but here are some samples....