Lee Burneson Students Letter Writing Project Produces Movie Prop

When language arts teachers Paul Roth and Jennifer Seighman gave their seventh graders a letter writing assignment, they never expected it to produce a prosthetic arm.

More precisely, it was one of actor James Franco’s prosthetic arms used in the filming of 127 Hours. Tony Gardner, the uncle of student Joe Gardner, is a special effects expert who happened to work on the movie set and designed the prosthetic arm.

The item was the result of an outrageous request letter writing assignment in which students learn to write a business letter – part of the Ohio Department of Education’s standards for language arts classes.

Language arts teacher Deb Schrembeck came up with the original idea several years ago as an introduction to a unit that includes the book Jumping the Nail by Eve Bunting, in which a boy asks another character in the book to do something outrageous.

“The business letter is a mystery to most of our students, who have never written anything past an email,” Roth said. “They are learning to be better writers. They are learning to write the right way is not just homework – it’s something you can do and see the benefits.”

Among the items students have encumbered over the years include:

• Four tickets to a Cleveland Browns game
• A basketball from Indiana University
• A Gamestop poster
• A call from then-First Lady Laura Bush
• Rollerskates
• Four tickets to a Lake Erie Monsters hockey game
• A note from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling
• Zig Tech athletic shoes from Reebok

Bradley Katcher wrote to 20 companies and 10 responded with the material Paracord, which Bradley uses to create bracelets. He then sells the bracelets and donates the profits to the middle school’s Environmental Club.

Anna Craven has received autographs from Cleveland Indians right-fielder Shin-Soo Choo and her favorite author, Christopher Paolini.

Schrembeck said the quickest response a student has received after sending a letter was 20 hours, while the longest was four years. Schrembeck said the four-year item was an autograph from The Flaming Lips, adding that she tracked the band for years until they responded.

But Gardner’s prosthetic arm might be the most unusual item to come out of the assignment. Tony Gardner designed 10 different arms for the film, which documented the survival story of Danny Boyle, whose arm was stuck while mountain climbing.

“His uncle wrote a note with it that said ‘I hope this is outrageous enough,’” Roth said, adding that the note also mentioned that his nephew had “really cool teachers.”