The Seventh Most Important Thing

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

ACTIVITY 1: “Your Sculpture of Trash”

• Choose your own seven important things that are typically considered trash and use them to create a work of art.
• Taking the “Important Thing” chapters into account, write a brief paragraph on why you chose each of these seven things and what about your own growth and learning it might represent.

Teaching Suggestion: Facilitate a discussion about the materials James Hampton used and how each represented a different struggle in Arthur’s life to help students think about why things from the trash might be meaningful to them, and why One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure. Discussions about the seven important things from the novel may be used to expand students’ ideas of what materials can create art.

ACTIVITY 2: “Filling In You”

• Draw an outline of yourself and fill it with descriptions, quotations, pictures, etc. that you feel represent who you are.
• Find someone who doesn’t share any traits with you and work together to find something in common. Share the process with the class.

Teaching Suggestion: Use this activity to start a discussion about how we all have something in common, even if it isn’t immediately obvious.