Denver Comic Con 2018 Panel Spotlight: ‘To Boldly Go’ - Making Meaning by Making Comics

Written by Tim Girard

‘To Boldly Go’ - Making Meaning by Making Comics
​Sunday, 6/17/18 from 12:00PM - 12:50PM Room 304 - Education
 
Reading and creating comics encourages students to delve into concepts and perspectives beyond their immediate experience. A panel of elementary through high school teachers will present curricula and teaching using comics as a way for students to understand both straightforward content and abstract concepts.
 
Panelists: Rebecca Sheinbaum, Mark Parmet
 
Rebecca Sheinbaum and Mark Parmet, teachers at the Denver Jewish Day School, shared with us a lesson plan that incorporates comic book creation into their classroom. The first step in a project like this is to decide what concept you want to explore. The topic that they chose was, ‘What does bravery mean and look like in different contexts?’ They wanted their students to explore some of the ways that you can be brave when you aren’t a ‘hero,’ like standing up for someone for example. Each grade did a 6-week-long project based around bravery. In addition to allowing the students to explore their own stories of bravery and share with their class, it also provided a ‘How to be Brave’ manual for the younger grades. The students picked anyone throughout history to be their hero, and then told the story through their eyes, in comic book form. This type of engaging project helps avoid the all-too-common ‘grade and chuck’ problem (when students just throw away their homework immediately after getting it back), because they are creating something of value that they are proud of and want to share with others. In preparation for this project, the presenters went to Mile High Comics and looked for comics that were about bravery. They also brought guest speakers on bravery into the classroom, such as veterans and Holocaust survivors. They used the Storytelling Through Comics curriculum from Pop Culture Classroom, which provided them with resources for building the elements of a comic book like a character map, story arc, storyboard, etc. The students were able to choose if they wanted to create their comic by hand or using the online comic creating program Pixton. When they were finished, the students even created a trailer to advertise their books. Through this project, the students came to their own understanding of what bravery means to them.
 
To demonstrate how this type of project would begin, Rebecca and Mark separated the audience members into groups and tried a sample of the lesson plan. Everyone thought of their own ideas, then met with their groups to present them. The audience members were given handouts to fill out with important questions like: ‘What do you want students to think about? What ideas to you want students to explore? What do you want students to know? What do you want students to be able to do? How do you imagine a student sharing their understanding of the above VISUALLY? (For example, a comics nonfiction narrative, expository guide, fable, short story, etc.).’ There was also a project design overview (adapted from BIE.org) to fill out, including the ‘Project Summary’ (focusing on the student role, what the issue/problem/challenge is, what creation/action needs to be taken, and the purpose/beneficiary), what the ‘Entry Event’ is (going to a comic book store with the students for example), the ‘Products’ (what specific content and success skills to be assessed will be the responsibility of an individual as opposed to the entire team), ‘Making Products Public’ (how will they be made public and who will the students engage with during and at the end of the project), ‘Resources Needed’ (on-site people and facilities, materials, equipment, community resources), ‘Reflection Methods’ (when and how individual, team, and/or whole class will reflect during and at the end of the project: journal, learning log, focus group, whole-class discussion, fishbowl discussion, survey, etc.).

​Under strict time limits, each person in the group would take turns going through the four-step process:
 
Presentation (1 minute): Present your idea and your goals, being as specific as possible so that the other group members can address any issues they may have.
Questions (30 seconds): Share question(s) and concerns you want feedback about (‘How do I create entry points for struggling learners?’ ‘What’s a good launch event?’ ‘How can I include student voice and choice?’ etc.).
Feedback (2 minutes): The group answers the presenter’s questions and offers suggestions. The group shares what they like about the project, then answers questions posed by the presenter (‘I wonder if it would help to try…’ ‘I wonder if they have thought of…’).
Follow-up questions (2 minutes): Presenter reflects on feedback (elaborate more, address questions and suggestions, and then ask more questions to elaborate) then asks follow-up questions to the group (‘What’s a good entry point for my age level of students?’ ‘How can my concepts/content translate into visual representations?’ ‘How can I ensure that all students can use their strengths and remediate their weaknesses?’ ‘How could I incorporate standards across subjects/disciplines?’ ‘How effective is my plan?’). Finally, taking into account all of the feedback, consider your next steps.

For access to a Google Drive folder with these materials and more, go to bit.ly/makingmeaningbymakingcomics.

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