Identity, Memory, Storytelling, and Listening

In this lesson, students will explore how memories are shared through storytelling and how listening and interpretation help shape meaning and understanding.

Guiding Questions

• How do stories help us understand both ourselves and others

Materials

• excerpt from ‘A Kind of Resistance’
• student journals or loose-leaf paper

Lesson Activities

Introduction

Have students respond to one of the following prompts in their journals.

Journal Prompt 1: Think of a moment when something changed for you—a place, routine, or situation. What do you remember most about that moment, and why do you think it stayed with you?

Journal Prompt 2: Think of a time when someone really listened to you. How did that change the way you felt about your story or yourself?

Journal Prompt 3: Think of a time when you listened to someone else’s story. What helped you understand their experience better?

Turn and Talk (Optional) – Students may discuss the following questions:

• Why do you think certain moments stay with us longer than others?
• Why do you think listening matters when someone is sharing a personal story?

Connecting Personal Experience to David’s Story

Briefly, introduce the story and provide general context. Explain that the memoir was created through a collaborative process, where memories were interpreted and represented visually. In the introduction, emphasize that stories gain meaning through both sharing and listening. Teacher framing could include:

“Just like the moments you wrote about, David’s story is built from memories that shaped who he became. Today, we’re going to look at how his identity comes through graphic storytelling. David’s story didn’t appear on its own. It was created in collaboration with an artist who listened to his memories and helped translate them into images. That means this memoir is not only about remembering—it’s about being heard. In this unit, we’re not just learning how to tell our own stories. We’re also learning how to listen carefully, respectfully, and thoughtfully to the stories of others. Understanding someone’s story takes just as much skill as sharing one.”

Introduction to Analysis

Project this page: Page 27 – A Kind of Resistance. On the first read, remind student to focus on Noticing. Prompt students to notice:

• emotions.
• visual details.
• words or details that stand out.

Guided Analysis

Have students work individually or in pairs to respond to the following questions:

• What do we learn about David from this moment?
• What does this panel tell us about how David’s story was created?
• What role does David play in this moment? What role does the artist (Miriam) play?
• How does this panel show that storytelling can be a shared process?

Class Discussion

• Debrief the guided analysis. Potential discussion prompts include, “What responsibility does a listener have when hearing someone’s personal story?”

Narrative Collaboration Video

Watch the following video: If We Had Followed the Rules, I Wouldn’t Be Here, Miriam Libicki & David Schaffer

Full Film: https://holocaustgraphicnovels.uvic.ca/films/index.html

Discussion Questions:

• What stood out to you most in the film?
• What new information did you learn about how the graphic memoir was created?
• What does the film suggest about trust between a storyteller and the person sharing their story?
• How does the film show the difference between remembering an experience and representing it in art?
• Why might some details be emphasized, changed, or simplified in the graphic memoir?
• What challenges might arise when turning memories into images?

Conclusion

In wrapping up the lesson, remind students that stories don’t exist on their own. They are shaped by memory, but also by listening, trust, and interpretation. David shared his experiences, and another person listened carefully and helped turn those memories into something we could see and understand. The students are now stewards of these stories.

Discussion or Journal Prompt:

• How might David’s story feel different if it had not been listened to carefully?

A reminder for next class, the class is going to look closely at the choices that were made when David’s story was turned into a graphic memoir—how images, spacing, and visual details help readers understand experiences that are hard to put into words.

Additional Resources

Biography of David Shaffer – Biography_D_Shaffer