Megan Post's List: School - English 7

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• Seventh-graders request boxes

• That was the way it happened to Megan Post, a  seventh-grade English teacher at Union City Middle School in Erie County. A  couple of years ago, she noticed several priority boxes in the art room. "I  asked 'What are those? How can I get one?' " Ms. Post said by telephone from her  North East home last week.

   

  Ms. Post visited the artist's website and followed the  steps to request a priority box. Then she had each of her students order one. At  the start of the school year, she uses the box request as an exercise to  activate the students' school e-mail accounts.

   

  Because of the volume of requests, Mr. de Las Mercedes  cautions that it can take four to eight months to receive a box within the U.S.,  and 10 months or more outside the country.

   

  "Just as we're forgetting about them," Ms. Post said,  "they start showing up in mailboxes at the students' homes."

   

  In the meantime, the class visits the artist's website  and watches a video he's posted. "They see a real artist doing his work and they  think it's pretty cool," she said.

   

  Ms. Post uses the boxes in her abstract nouns unit.  "Most of the words he puts on the box labels are abstract nouns," she observed.  "They discuss abstract nouns they would like to receive, abstract nouns they  would like to send to someone, and those they would never send."

• Students also use the priority box experience as  material for their assigned journal entries, and to spark discussion. When  someone receives a box, he or she is asked to "tell about how your box is  perfect for you. The word may be 'peace' or 'tolerance' or 'joy.' How does this  relate to your life?"

   

  And priority box applications go beyond the  classroom.

   

  "When they arrive at the homes, the parents will ask  'What is this?' and that sparks a conversation between the students and their  parents, which is always a good thing," Ms. Post said.

   

  Occasionally a student has to come to the defense of a  box, explaining to parents that they shouldn't open it and why. Being students,  they've even come up with some suggestions for Mr. de Las Mercedes, such as  creating a map that would show where he's sent priority boxes, and word  suggestions. "He needs more words. My class would love to create a list for him  if he wants."

   

  Most of the students take their boxes home at the end of  the school year. Last year, two students left their boxes in Ms. Post's  classroom. "Both kids came back to visit them this year."
• Ms. Post said that she'd sent a contribution, figuring it was time to "pony up"  after so many of her students requested priority boxes.

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