Oprah’s Question that Others Answer

Each month in O the Oprah Magazine, Oprah asks a major question. Next she asks for readers to answer it on oprah.com. Then she selects from all of the responses, specific ones that she especially likes, and features them in an upcoming issue. Here is the question she printed in the March 2013 issue and the first sentence of all the answers she chose to feature.

What’s the one item you’d never part with?

* My collection of sea glass from around the world

*  My grandfather’s pocket watch

*  A ticket stub from an Andrea Bocelli concert six years ago

*  My marathon medal

*  A trunk of letters sent between my grandfather and me

*  My Texas A&M University class ring

*  My scrapbook

*  A photo of my sons, Adam and Michael, on Adam’s first birthday, in 1971

*  A jade necklace I got in China when we adopted our first daughter

*  A doll my mother gave me as a child

Each selection is explained a little further about why the particular item means so much.  Not one has to do with monetary value. All have to do with sentiment, a personally motivating connection, or a major life lesson.

Translated into teaching terms, introduce the new word “materialistic.”

Ideas of March!

Design your own classroom activity based on this concept. As your students reveal to you their prized possessions, you are all bound to have a meaningful and eye-opening lesson.