EXPLORING PERSONAL NARRATIVE

A Drawing/Illustration Minilesson Activity

Kathy Jhugdeo

Purpose

The goal of this minilesson is to allow students to use their creativity to produce a drawing or illustration that represents them. Through this activity, students will be able to explore their individuality and uniqueness through drawing. By learning how to express themselves in creative ways, students are learning that writing is not the only form of self expression in the ELA classroom. The Drawing/Illustration Minilesson Activity will serve as the culminating activity to wrap up our study of personal narratives. Students will use their drawing/illustration to accompany their personal narrative and will use it as an artifact in their Reading/Writing Portfolios.

Objectives

NCSC: 7^th grade

Competency Goal 5: The learner will respond to various literary genres using interpretive and evaluative processes.

5.02 Study the characteristics of literary genres (fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry) through:

• Analyzing ho the author’s choice and use of a genre shapes the meaning of a literary work.

NCTE/IRA: Grade 7

Standard 12: Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g. for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information)

Time Required: 30 minutes

Activity: Students create drawing/illustrations to represent personal narratives.

Follow Up: Drawing/Illustration as artifact in Reading/Writing Portfolio

Materials Needed:

Drawing paper (legal document size)

Crayons

Markers

Colored pencils

Students may also use their own materials

Script:

(You should have all materials set out on a table for students to have easy access to.) Good morning class. Yesterday we discussed our minilesson activity that you would be participating in today. I hope that you have come to class prepared today. You should have brought with you a copy of your personal narrative. Today, you will be creating a drawing/illustration to accompany your personal narrative that will serve as an artifact in your Reading/Writing Portfolio. (There may be some students who did not bring their personal narrative.) You will be given a sheet of drawing paper and I have also provided many different kinds of drawing supplies to help you create illustrations. Before we start working on our illustrations, I want to ask you a question: What do you think your illustrations should represent? (Possible answers include: I should draw a picture of me, they should represent something I like, they should represent things I like to do or my hobbies.) (Clarify for students explicitly the purpose of the illustration activity.) This illustration activity is to specifically represent your personal narrative that you have written. You may want to draw a scene from your narrative or a draw a specific event. I want you to be really creative and fun with this assignment, but please do not merely have illustrations that do not have any connection to your personal narrative. ( Allow students to have 30 minutes to work on the activity, and if they have not finished they may take their drawing/illustrations home and finish them.)

Follow Up: Thank you for working so hard on your drawing/illustrations of your personal narrative. You will now be able to use these as an artifact in your Reading/Writing Portfolios. I hope that you have enjoyed this activity. Activities like this one, usually seem less difficult than they really are. I hope that you have learned more about yourself through this activity. I also hope that this activity has helped you experience a different way of self expression that is equally as challenging as writing.