"I'd buy a $1,000 worth of spicy chicken."

my Sophomore English class is reading Steinbeck's The Pearl.  i didn't like the book back when i read it in 8th grade, so i was annoyed when i found out that the class was already a chapter in when i joined the staff.  however, my mind has been opened.  i now really like the story and love teaching it.  my students seem to feel likewise.

today we did an assignment (to connect the story to their lives) about purchasing power and values.  Kino, the main character, comes upon a potential fortune with his discovery of a valuable pearl.  he tells his neighbors and family that with the money he will pay for him and his wife to be married in a church, he will educate his son, buy new clothes for the family, and then get a new harpoon and rifle for himself.  his desires here show that he values family, independence, societal recognition, the release from ignorance, among other things. 

my students listed a few things they would do with $200,00, and what their choices reveal about what they value most.

if I had a sudden $200,000 i'd get rid of student loans and buy a plot of land.  where would I buy the land?  Denver, probably.  then i'd make plans to build small little houses on it that everyone i love could live in.  these houses would be sort of far apart, so that no one would kill each other.  we'd have a garden in the middle.  lots of flowers.  and, why not?  how 'bout some Easter egg chickens. 

this shows i value being debt-free, living in a place i love, being able to help fam and friends, comfort, beauty, and cute eggs.  and, the fact that i did an assignment about money shows that i value people thinking about how they use theirs.