Sometimes the students chose their own topics for writing. Sometimes they had a list from which I wanted them to choose. Whatever the case at the time, one student asked to write about his summer vacation. I told him that would be fine.

He wrote a lovely paper about going to the coast and getting a summer job on a fishing boat. He described how, without any skills, he was still able to obtain work as a "bait boy" on the boat. It was his job to make sure the bait was provided, cut up, if necessary, and even put on the hooks if the customers wanted him to do that. He did well, was given more responsibilities, and advanced quickly in the job. By the summer, he had done so well that he was made: "Master Baiter."