1. Foundations: Graphic Narratives and Trauma Informed Pedagogy
The lessons in this section introduce skills and strategies for reading and working with graphic narratives. These lessons may be taught individually or as one unit.
Why Graphic Narratives?
Graphic narratives do not tell us the answer. Through visual narratives, they offer another way to develop multimodal critical and media literacy skills, which are a necessity for success in the 21st century . Additionally, reading and writing graphic narratives can motivate struggling students and reluctant readers. Graphic narratives, as opposed to films or academic texts, allow the reader to pause and reflect, to move backwards and forwards in the narrative.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- examine the historical events surrounding the presented graphic narratives.
- explore the conventions used in graphic narratives.
- practice close reading text and image.
Guiding Questions
- How can graphic narratives help us understand history?
- What is the importance of perspective in non-fiction graphic narratives, and how does perspective affect the reader’s experience of a text?
- How do mood and tone influence our reading of a graphic narrative?
Sequence
- Lesson 1: Trauma-Informed Pedagogy
- Lesson 2: Reading Graphic Narratives
- Lesson 3: Non-Fiction Graphic Narratives
- Lesson 4: Judging a Book by its Cover
- Lesson 5: Mood and Tone
