Because it is important for middle-school students to feel confident about themselves and their abilities, the author wanted to challenge her seventh graders with a drawing problem that would yield a high rate of success. So she asked them to put their best foot forward as she introduced a lesson on contour drawing. The assignment was to draw a shoe and then place it in an environment--a shoescape! She told them: "Pretend you're an alien who has never seen a shoe and doesn't know what it is used for. Just concentrate on what you see--lines and shapes." The lesson is explained in detail in this article.