Clarification of 8th grade sculpture/clay elective

I teach clay in the fall and sculpture in the Spring. Those students presently in my clay class will continue working with clay through the second term until January. Those coming into my art elective in the Spring will be taking two semesters of sculpture, working in a variety of materials.

The first project of the second term is to create a self-portrait in metaphor. Students will brainstorm, listing a variety of traits that represent them, such as strength, honesty and loyalty. They will seek out metaphors that use these traits and create a self-portrait by building a sculpture that visualizes the metaphor. 

For example: They might want to talk about how strong they are. Perhaps they are as strong as a mountain, standing strong against a storm. How would they show this in clay? These sculptures usually come out amazingly well and show great insight into their personalities.