ere is Lauren's trashcan exercise that everyone has been asking about. It's a good way to introduce your Documented Essay because students do research on the contents of their own wastebaskets.

Note: It's important that students do the first step before they know about the rest of the assignment.

  1. Ask students to go home and make a list of the contents of their trashcans. Bring in this list, typed, anonymously. Collect the lists and redistribute them to other students.
  2. Share the following information, from Brad Seltzer's The Millionaire: "The first thing private investigators will do is read your garbage. Once trash is on the curbs, it's public--no longer your property. Anyone can take it."
  3. Ask the students to read each other's garbage as research to construct a subject of investigation. Students can first write notes in response to each item, then start to make connections about what the trash could mean. Then write a subject profile of the person you've constructed out of the trash.
  4. Discuss your results in pairs, and then ask a few to share with the class.