“For today’s writing topic, we’re going to have a group discussion for you to brainstorm ideas, and then you’ll have half an hour to write on the topic, and if you need to, you can take it home to finish it before tomorrow’s class,” said Jess Park, writing ‘Desert Island’ on the board in large letters.

The two dozen ten-year-olds shuffled in their seats and lined up their pencils with their writing pads. Some seemed to be paying attention; others were staring out of the window, already in a world far away from Lakewood Elementary School.

“I’d like you to imagine that you know you’ll be on a desert island for six months, and you need to decide what five objects to bring with you,” continued Ms Park.

“Cool,” said Matthew. “I’d bring my Xbox and all the games—can that count as one object, ’cause the games are necessary parts?”

“Desert island, Dummy,” said Maria. “They won’t have electricity, so your game machine won’t work.”

“Well, neither will your phone.”

“Who said I’m going to bring my phone?”

“Like you’d go anywhere without it—”

“Back on topic, please, students,” said Ms Park. “We should assume there will be no power on the island, so that rules out items that need electricity.”

“What about water?” asked James.

“What about food?” shouted Alex.

“I think it’s safe to say there will be water and food,” said Ms Park, “otherwise, you wouldn’t last very long and wouldn’t need your five items. I’ll get the discussion going by saying that my first object would be a sharp long-handled knife.”

Ms Park wrote ‘knife’ on the board and noticed that she now had the attention of almost all the class.

“Dope,” said Alex. “Are you going to hunt with it?”

“I don’t know yet, as I don’t know much about the island,” said Ms Park, “but it seems like a useful thing to have for cutting fruit from a tree or cutting palm fronds to make a shelter.”

“So there won’t be a house?” asked Susie.

“If it’s a deserted island, how could there be a house?” said Maria.

“Maybe it wasn’t always deserted,” said James. “The owners could have just all gone away and left these huge mansions with saunas and swimming pools and movie theatres and games rooms and stuff.”

“Why’d you want a sauna and a pool if you’re on an island? said Matthew, “wouldn’t you just swim in the sea?”

“What about sharks?” said Susie.

“Or jellyfish?” said Alex.

“Students! Settle down!” said Ms Park. “Let’s assume there are no houses, but enough vegetation to create a shelter. Now, what objects would you want to have with you?”

A small girl at the back of the class raised her hand, and Ms Park nodded for her to speak.

“Can I bring my little brother?”

“No,” said Matthew, and the other students then began to debate the pros and cons—mostly cons—of little brothers and to declare that people did not count, so no, Mariko could not bring Taro with her, at which point the girl’s eyes welled up with tears.

“I’ve not said anything about who is on the island, with you.” said Ms Park. “You can do this exercise imagining you are alone or imagining you have a few people with you.”

This caused a lot of chatter while the students talked about bringing their best friend or their whole families, or, in some cases, a celebrity.

“OK, then my dad can come and pack all the things we’ll need,” said Alex, raising his voice above the rest. “He’s awesome at that. One time we were camping and—”

“Alex, please don’t go off topic,” said Ms Park. “We need somebody to suggest another item.”

“What about clothes?” said Maria.

“Ew! Don’t tell me we arrived on the island butt naked,” said Alex, “that’s gross!”

“Good suggestion, Maria,” said Ms Park, writing ‘clothes’ on the board in big letters. “Can anybody say why?”

“Because it’s gross being naked,” said Alex.

“Because you might get scratched or something?” said James.

“Good thought, James. What about the sun?” asked Ms Park.

“I guess it’ll be hot?” asked somebody, tentatively.

“Right,” said Ms Park. “So that means you’d need clothes to protect you against sunburn.”

“Can all your clothes count as one item?” asked Susie, “I mean it’d be unfair if your pants and shirt and underwear took up three items.”

Matthew rolled his eyes at Susie and said, “You’d have more than three items, with your socks and your double tank top, and your—”

“That’s enough,” said Ms Park. “I think we can call clothes one item, because you could wear a big long shirt that would cover you against the sun.”

“What and no underwear? That’s gross!” said Alex.

Some of the children tittered and looked around at each other.

“I’d bring my fishing rod,” said Stuart.

“Good idea, Stuart,” said Ms Park. “Then you could catch fish to eat.”

“What about sharks?” said Susie.

“Or jellyfish?” said Alex.

Ms Park wrote ‘fishing rod’ on the board and asked, “How would you cook the fish?”

“On a fire, I guess,” said Stuart, “only I’ve never done that.”

“You’d need matches or a lighter or a big magnifying glass to start the fire,” said Robby.

“Quite right, Robby,” said Ms Park. “You’ll need something to start a fire with.”

“My Dad uses firelighters,” said Alex, “I’d bring those.”

“Yeah, but you still need to light them with something, so you’re using up one of the five things with something useless,” said Stuart.

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“Firelighters are not useless. I’d like to see you start a fire from nothing.”

“Okay, students, that’s enough about the fire. Let’s put ‘flint’ on the board and move on. What about water?”

“You said there’d be water,” called out a voice.

“I know; I meant how to carry it,” said Ms Park.

“You mean, like, a water bottle?”

“Yes, but maybe something bigger,” said Ms Park. “What if the water supply’s a long way away?”

“But then it’d be too heavy to carry back to the camp,” said Maria.

“Not if you had one of those big cans and put it on your head like some people do in other countries,” said James, balancing his water bottle on his head.

“I’d like to see you do that!” said Maria, just as the water bottle fell off James’ head.

“I could carry ten pounds on my head,” said James, retrieving his fallen bottle, then he flexed his arm muscles like a weightlifter. “Feel those!”

“Students, you’re going off topic again,” said Ms Park. “What else would you bring with you?”

“A boat, to get off the island,” Elspeth said.

“That’s stupid—how would you power it? Or are you going to row across the ocean?” said Alex, making rowing motions with his arms, while others laughed.

“Signal flares, for when planes go overhead,” said Lucy. “Does that count as one item? How many flares can you have?”

“My uncle has those on his boat,” said Elspeth. “They’re for emergencies.”

“But what happens when they’re all used up?” asked Stuart. “I’d write SOS on the beach in big rocks.”

“What if there are no rocks?” said Lucy.

“What if the tide comes in and covers the message when the plane goes overhead?” said Maria.

“What if no planes come?” said Robby.

“Quiet, now. Let’s get back to the items we’d like to have,” said Ms Park.

“What else would you bring, Ms Park?” asked Maria.

All faces turned to look at the teacher, and she thought for a minute.

“Shoes, I think. I’d hate to be barefoot on hot sand or sharp rocks or prickly vegetation.”

“That won’t work for my brother,” said Lucy. “His feet have grown so much in the last two months, he’s on his third pair of shoes. My mom’s really mad at him.”

Everybody laughed, and Ms Park wrote ‘shoes’ on the board.

“Can you bring some pairs of shoes to grow into and still count it as one item?” Susie asked.

“Why not just bring a ginormous pair that will fit you even if your feet grow into size fourteen or something?” said Matthew.

“How would you walk in them while your feet are still growing?” asked Lucy.

“OK. We have shoes. I think I’d also like a book to read, and a notebook and pencil to record things about the island,” said Ms Park.

“This sounds like school,” a voice groaned.

“Are notebook and pencil two separate things?” asked Lucy.

“Let’s call them luxuries and put them on a different list, said Ms Park, moving to the other side of the board and starting a new column of words.

“I’d bring a solar-powered radio, so’s I could call for help,” said Alex.

“I’d bring my dog, and I’d train him to hunt for food,” said Michael.

“Your dog wouldn’t catch anything,” said Robby.

“Yes he would; he’s a good hunter!” said Michael.

“OK class, I think we’ve had enough time now to consider the topic,” said Ms Park, clapping her hands. “Let’s see what we’ve come up with.”

She pointed at the lists on the board and said, “For survival we’ve thought of a knife, a water container, a big shirt, a flint and a pair of shoes.”

“That’s six things!” came a shout from the back of the class.

“For this task, a pair of shoes counts as one item,” said Ms Park. “Now on this other list of non-essentials we have an Xbox, a phone, more clothes, a fishing rod—”

“Hey! That’s essential,” said Stuart.

Ms Park ignored Stuart and continued writing and naming the objects. “A fishing rod, a book, a notebook and pencil, some flares and a radio. There, that should give you enough to write your essay on. You can start now, and finish it at home if you need to. I want the essays handed in tomorrow at first period. ”

Sounds of grumbling and scraping of chairs indicated that the children were staring at the blank pieces of paper in front of them, wondering what to write. Gradually the whispers turned to a hush with only the sound of many pencils scraping across many worn exercise books, and Ms Park was able to sit at her desk and look through her lesson plan for the following morning.

Ten minutes later the bell rang, signifying the end of the day, and the children leaped up, grabbed their backpacks and raced to stand in line at the door, calling a hasty goodbye as they headed off into their real lives.

One boy hovered at the edge of the teacher’s desk, his big round glasses making his eyes seem wider and more startled than normal.

“What is it, Tommy?” Ms Park asked.

“We won’t really have to go to a desert island, will we? I mean it’s not a field trip or anything, is it?”

Ms Park smiled. She was constantly amazed at how young minds leaped to conclusions.

“No, Tommy, you won’t be going on a field trip to a desert island, but it’s always good to think about what you’d do in certain situations.”

“OK. Well, I hope you have a good time on the island, then.” Tommy skipped to the door, then turned round and waved to her. “See ya!”