Start-Up Activity

Before class, set up a mystery for your students to solve: Move one student's chair underneath a poster on the wall and change the poster somehow (perhaps adding a paper mustache to someone's face).

When the students come in, ask if they notice anything strange about the room. The student with the missing chair should wonder where his or her chair went. Another student should discover the chair beneath the poster. You can say, "I wonder why the chair would be over there under the poster." Then hopefully a student will notice that the poster has changed. Prompt them: "Why would someone want to do that to the poster?" and "Who would have done that?"

Of course, students will suspect the student whose chair was used. Then you can reveal that you were the culprit. Your reason was to give them a mystery to solve to whet their appetites about writing mysteries of their own.