Lesson Overview:

In society, we communicate information/ideas through various mediums (words, symbols, illustrations, etc). When analyzing comic strips, it is noticeable that each has a different style, point of view, setting, plot, and summary, communicated not only through words, but through illustrations. By creating comic strips, students communicate ideas that cannot be expressed through words alone.

Length of Lesson:

Three to four 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 3-4.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will accomplish the following:

• use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner.
• compare and contrast different backgrounds, shapes, colors, expressions, and literary elements.
• describe how different expressive features of illustrations and organizational principles of comic strip frames cause different responses.
• critique comic strips using selected literary elements, illustrations, and ideas to communicate meaning (refer to Part II: Creating Comic Strips).
• compare and contrast comic strips from several eras and from various authors from different geographical locations.
• discuss different responses to each comic strip.
  
• identify connections between using comic strips in lieu of book reports to summarize a story/idea.

Supplies:

• White drawing paper
• Colored drawing paper
• Transparent overhead paper
• Sample comic strips from various eras and countries (see handout in "Other Materials" section below)
• Red, blue, yellow, black, and white crayons
• Red, blue, yellow, black, and white colored pencils
• Red, blue, yellow, black, and white colored pens
• Lined paper
• Scratch paper
• Pencils

Instructional Plan:

Introduction:(10 minutes)

Teacher will ask students the following questions:

• "Who can tell me what a setting is in a story?"
• "Who can tell me what the point of view is in a story?"
• "Tell me the summary of a story or its literary style."

Guide student responses as necessary. In "Three Little Pigs," for example, the setting is the pigs' houses in the woods on a nice warm day; the point of view is in 3rd person, omniscient; the summary is that a hungry wolf chases three pigs who hide in a straw, wood, and brick house to evade the wolf's hungry clenches; and the literary style includes personification, imagery, metaphors, symbols, mood, humor, rhyme, rhythm, repetition, alliteration, onomatopoeia.

Procedures:

Part I: Evaluating Comic Strips (One class period)

Create and display an overhead of various comic strips and query students to discuss as a whole group the literary elements of the various comic strips (setting, point of view, summary, and literary style). Include strips from various eras (1950's to the present) and from various countries. (Refer to the "Other Materials" section for examples of comic strips and for a vocabulary list of literary elements.)

Query students to discuss the illustrations of each comic strip as a whole group. Focus on character expressions, backgrounds, use of shapes (notice how figures look square, rectangular, circular, oval, triangular), color (notice the use of primary colors, tertiary colors, shading, and how color can create figures), the proportions of figures, and the borders of the strips' frames. Compare and contrast the illustrations and the words used to communicate meaning.

Have students compare and contrast various comic strips from different eras and compare those written by authors from various geographical locations.

Reorganize the frames of a comic strip. Query students to discuss as a whole class: "Is the meaning the same? Is sequential order important?"

Part II: Creating Comic Strips (2-3 class periods)

Students obtain white paper and pencils for practice. Using the overhead projector, draw basic shapes (square, rectangle, circle, oval, and triangle) and create simple figures using these basic shapes (use a square to create a house; use a rectangle to create a truck; use a circle for a teddy bear; an oval for a pig; a triangle for trees). Students practice the same or similar ideas on their paper.

Draw basic lines on the overhead projector (thick, thin, straight, curved, and jagged) and create simple figures using these basic lines (as borders for each frame, a mountainside image, or a skyline image). Students practice the same or similar ideas on their paper.

Demonstrate the use of colored pencils, markers, and crayons to create figures utilizing only the primary colors and black and white for shading purposes.

Have students create their own 6-8 frame comic strip in response to one of the following:

1. Pretend you are an ant. Describe and draw what you would see.
2. Draw a scene describing the happiest day of your life.
3. Draw a scene describing the silliest thing you'll never forget.
4. Draw a scene of your life at age 30.
5. Draw a scene from your favorite daydream.

Students write down on a piece of paper the response to the following: "What scene will you choose for your comic strip? What medium will use choose to color your comic strip? What paper color will you choose as the background for your comic strip?" Prepare appropriate supplies as requested by the students.

Display an overhead for students that explains the comic strip requirements, as follows:

1. Name and date on the back.
2. Choose and use one point of view.
3. Choose and use at least 5 literary styles.
4. Frames must be sequential and summarize an idea or scene.
5. Four different types of shapes per comic strip frame.
6. Two different types of lines per comic strip frame.
7. Complete sentence or thought per comic strip frame.
8. Connections between frame meanings, words, and illustrations.
9. Use of only the primary colors and black and white for shading.
10. Backgrounds must be completely colored in (no paper color showing within each frame).

Demonstrate for students how to fold paper into 6 or 8 frames. Words and illustrations should be completed prior to coloring the frames.

Have students create their own comic strip based upon the previous requirements.

Closure:(25 minutes)

In groups of 4-5, students will share and critique each other's comic strip (what are the settings, summaries, points of view, literary styles, character expressions, backgrounds, use of colors, shapes, etc.) Students also respond to what they like or dislike about each comic strip. Students choose a recorder to take notes from the group discussion. Students choose a speaker to talk in front of the class about each comic strip. Each group displays their comic strips and speaks about their evaluations of their peers' work.

Initiate a whole-class discussion: "Could you create a comic strip instead of a written book report to tell me about a story you have read? When would using a comic strip be better than writing a book report to summarize a story?" Listen to students' responses.

Clean-up:

• Students wearing blue top/dress: pick up and organize colored pens on shelves.
• Students wearing red top/dress: pick up and organize colored pencils on shelves.
• Students wearing yellow top/dress: pick up and organize crayons on shelves.
• Students wearing black top/dress: pick up extra papers.
• Students wearing white top/dress: pick up comic strips.
• Students wearing other colors top/dress: pick up other utensils used for comic strips.

Assessment:

To assess student learning:

• Observe students using art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner.
• Listen to students’ different responses as they compare and contrast different backgrounds, shapes, colors, expressions, and literary elements.
• Listen to students describe how different expressive features of illustrations and organizational principles of comic strip frames cause different responses.
• Critique students' comic strips in its selected use of literary elements, illustrations, and ideas to communicate meaning (refer to "Part II: Creating Comic Strips").
• Listen to students compare and contrast comic strips from various eras and from authors origination from various geographical locations.
• Listen to students discuss and appreciate different responses to each comic strip.
• Listen to students identify connections between using comic strips in lieu of book reports to summarize a story/idea.

Extensions:

Students create comic strips using the Comic Creator interactive.

Sources:

Print:

• Cornett, Claudia; The Arts as Meaning Makers: Integrating Literature and the Arts Throughout the Curriculum; Prentice Hall; 1999.

Authors:

• Chico State, University
  CSU Chico
  Chico, CA