Snapshot of Me as a Character

Yesterday I subbed for my CT.  This is the second time I've subbed all day, completely alone.  It went well.  During the first part of the block, I had students draw a picture of themselves in their writer's notebooks.  Of course when I first mentioned that we were drawing I received a variety of responses--"What?", "Nooo!", "I can't draw!", and "Yes!"  It was quite amusing.  Once I told them they would have most of the period to draw, they calmed down a little bit.  In their drawings they had to be doing something, and they had to label traits about themselves (appearance, actions, speech, thoughts/feelings, what others say, setting).  All of these traits are ways authors characterize a character in a book.  This lesson provided an opportunity for my students who like to draw in class to use their skills to really learn something in language arts.  After they finished labeling and drawing, I gave them 5 minutes to write a story about their drawings.  After the first class, I learned to have them turn their drawings over so they wouldn't be tempted to draw during this time.  Once the five minutes were up, I asked for a few volunteers to come up, display their pictures on the projector, and read their stories.  Some of the drawings were amazing.  I have a lot of creative students in my classes.