More on "Best Part of Me"

This is yet another posting on "Best Part of Me". But this time, let me explain the process that students went through in creating these beautiful poems.

The Best Part of Me activity is not an original idea from us, Mahea, Vivian and I. In fact, we copied the idea from the book, "The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About Their Bodies in Pictures and Words" by Wendy Ewald. We had the students talk about the photos from the book first, then we read the corresponding writing to them. From there each student came up with two examples of their best parts. We modeled how to write it using four parameters; describe, function, why, and details. Then students wrote their own best poems for their best parts. The next day, students were asked to narrow their best parts to only one and visualize how they'd like to capture their best part on photo. Once they described the exact lay out and setting of their desired photo, we took the pictures for them. We then helped students edit their writing. The students "Best Part of Me" pages look like this:

The Best Part of Me
By Nataly

The best part of me are my eyes.
Because they are dark black like a dark black dog.
With my eyes, I see myself and EVERYTHING around me!
My eyes are the best part of my face.
They reflect my Mexican heritage.
My eyes show my feelings.
They laugh, cry, smile.
I love my eyes!

From here, we had the students turn their writing into a slap book. We learned how to make it from our graduate book-making class. I enjoyed learning and making it very much myself, but it was even more rewarding watching how engaged the students were during this hands-on activity. Their books were beautiful and creative!

Here's how they look,