I gave the kids a picture of someone and told them to create a character out of him. Then I told them to imagine that he was a new student coming into our classroom. The results were very interesting. Some of the students had the guy pulling pranks, of course, but for others, the character was themselves. So revealing. I have a sex offender who is a very, very shy boy with minimal social skills. He wrote about how his character was trying to overcome shyness and meet girls. Another boy wrote his first impression of the teacher–me! He wrote that she was “cool, and looks like she’s in her 20′s”. He must want an A on that paper. 
