A Creative Way to Showcase Students at the Beginning of the Year

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The first week of school is a busy time for teachers and students. It’s also a time to get to know your students and their personalities. But at the same time, we do have to teach the Common Core State Standards. So how do I connect the two? With iPortrait puppets and tablet selfies! I used the Back to School iPortraits during the first week of school.

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I recently updated a product that I had in which the students had to write a short description of themselves using their character traits and then draw a self-portrait. Originally the template for this included a Polaroid snapshot. Okay, you’re probably wondering what a Polaroid snapshot is. You might want to Google it…LOL. Yes, I’m that old. So I updated the entire product to now use a tablet template. The cool factor just went up with my students!

Teacher Made Examples

As you can see from my examples, they turn out very cool. I copied my examples onto card stock and laminated it. I also showed my students the Barack Obama example as well. I copied the student’s template onto card stock as well (back to back with the description and selfie). They started with a sheet that lists character traits that are positive, negative and neutral. We went through most of the list and discussed meanings and gave examples. Then I had the students pick one from each column. They listed their traits on the planner and then had to write 1-2 sentences giving evidence for that trait.

Character Traits List and Planner

Once this was done, it was now time to transfer it to the tablet template. I had the students write it all down in pencil, then trace with a pen. Then they worked on their selfie. This particular card stock was not that thick, so I had them use crayons. Once both sides were completed, it was time to trim the tablet. I plan on hanging them above the student’s desks or making them into a book. I definitely want to display them for Back to School Night!

Student Made Examples

There’s an option in the product for the student to also do an iPortrait on a classmate from class. Sort of like an interview then they go through the same procedure and present their classmate with the completed iPortrait. It’s a great way to get students to know each other on a more deeper level.

Again there are options to print the template in white, black or green. Next year, I’ll be doing these in green!

Three versions are included

I also had the students make a little Character Traits puppet to hang on our Class Wall. On this wall I have them all so that they see we are a community. This template for the puppet is included in the Back to School iPortraits product as well. I used my iPad and an app called TurboCollage to print out the students head shot. I gave them each a copy of it and they trimmed it and glued it to the puppet.