I have been reading a great writing
book called "Of Primary Importance," by
She talks about how the best writers are the one's that
know themselves well and are able to tell stories
about their life experiences.
In an attempt to help 2nd
graders understand themselves better, we made
self-portrait collages the 1st week of school.
For the next couple weeks students took turns
telling stories about their pictures. They excitedly
told stories of fishing trips, Disney World, family
traditions, and their "favorite things."
The next step is turning these oral stories into written
stories. The students self-portraits will be hanging on the walls
of our classroom for the rest of the school year!
We like to say that our classroom is "wrapped in writers."
I think this is a great idea! I hope your students get a lot out of it!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very neat idea. I am certain that this spark an interest in writing.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to add an audio component too. I think they would enjoy recording some aspect of their life as an audio portrait. Not their voice, but the sounds they hear daily. Then they could try to guess whose audio portrait it is while listening. This would also help them to see they share more similarities than differences.
ReplyDelete