Saving a project

Not too bad, she got the basic idea

Another ok one

The majority turned out like this.

Sometimes, I have the best ideas but they are torn to shreds by my students.  This is one of those times.  My thought was, that I would give them a variety of materials, and we would look at photo-montage/collage as a self-portrait technique.  In my head, the students would create "posters" about themselves as a beginning of the year intro.  I took their pictures, thinking they would have fun embellishing them with colored pencils/scrap materials, and the posters would be a sort of self-portrait, inside and out. And, it would give me a chance to work with them on emphasis, balance, and craftsmanship.  Don't think they got that memo.  Despite my best efforts, this project did not turn out as planned.  I was determined to make this a valuable use of time and material though, so I decided to have them work on their critiquing skills.  At the end of the 2nd session, I paired them up, gave them a think sheet, and had them evaluate each others' poster, after a clear conversation about constructive criticism and not bashing a classmate's effort.  At the beginning of the 3rd class, I had them read the critiques of their own poster, and use markers to try to make any fixes or changes that may have been brought to their attention.  Then, I had them self-evaluate using the same think sheet.  So, even though I feel that in general, this project was not my most successful, I think the honest conversations afterward maybe made a tanked project worthwhile.