I got this question from a teacher about individually created images:
Q. Today is Individually Created Images Day and they are having a blast! I know the next step is to get them into gradually increasing in size groups to vote on the best ones. What do I do once we have a winner? Or whatever one I choose?
A. They go from groups of two to groups of four, each time choosing the best one. You will end up with the final choice of the two remaining at the end of the elimination process, and you choose the one for the story. Have each group assign 4 points for the image and 6 points for the six points on the back story and the characters advance through the process of groups of 2, then 4, then 8 students, etc. Assigning points out of ten to determine the final two “contestants” for the story that day allows you to choose the winner of the final two best ones that advance to the “finals”. This must be done by points and not by whimsy, which of course we know can immediately get kids upset if they don’t think it’s “fair”.
Then give the character chosen for the story that day to the artist (who needs to consult it for her work when she draws the story) and off she goes.
If you give them class time to draw, and this is really important, give them the whole period. Ten minutes is not enough. The images must be part and parcel of each kid’s soul, as it were. Once the best images emerge, you will see the other kids working on their images intensely at home over hours to get them into the story.
