This is my hook:

Last night I read a short story about a little boy who painted himself purple on All Saints Day.  All over, even his privates.  I’m not going to write anything more about the story, but I was inspired to read more about Saints.  I mean, I live in Mexicali.  I see images of saints everywhere I go.  I never knew there were so many… 

But, here is what I’m writing about: classification.

I encourage my students to use classification in their research papers.    In their mental health papers, for example,  I hope to see a few break down the complex nature of bipolar disorder into different levels and categories: Bipolar I, Bipolar II, hypomanic or depressive episodes.  Other classes are writing environmental arguments.  Will they be able to classify the various elements that influence asthma in Imperial Valley children?   Classification will elevate student analysis.  They may make connections they previously didn’t see.

For our reading of The Tortilla Curtain, I’ve designed a classification activity that will help my students develop their skills for their research papers.   I have students measuring different degrees of self-indulgence in the characters.  Others are drawing lines of racism in the book.  Me, I’m going to classify the saints I see here in Mexicali.  I bet you they are there when they need them for the characters in The Tortilla Curtain.