Can be used with students of all ages but is especially effective with upper elementary and middle school students
- Helps to develop students’ self-esteem
- Encourages reflection of self
- Reinforces descriptive vocabulary
- Reinforces reading and writing skills
Strategy steps
- Students develop a collage that describes him/herself using pictures and illustrations from magazines or illustrations that they draw themselves.
- Collages can include such things as interests, physical characteristics, feelings, skills, hobbies, dreams.
- Students write compositions about themselves to accompany their collages, describing themselves, emphasizing their skills, and other positive aspects.
- Volunteers share their compositions about themselves with classmates.
Options:
- Collect all of the collages and display them in the room.
- Have a student select a collage made by a classmate and using it, describe the student. Other students then guess who the student is.
Variation: Each student develops a collage of another student and writes a description of characteristics and traits portrayed in the collage. They may ask questions of each other to get more information.