Teaching About Narrative Art
Students will be introduced to the concept of narrative art with a brief overview of the unit and where the class is headed.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- explain what narrative art is.
- analyze how narrative art can teach personal stories and history.
- reflect on their learning through journal prompts.
Introduction
Introduce students to the concept of narrative art, giving them a brief overview of the unit and where they are headed as a class
Lesson Activities
Video Viewing
Show the video on narrative art.
The video can be paused at any time to outline key concepts, or so students can respond to the handout questions.
Introduce Final Assignment
Graphic Narrative Page Response Assignment
Students will learn about narrative art and storytelling, and how these mediums can help us learn more deeply about history, and in particular, the Holocaust. Through reading and hearing Holocaust survivor testimonies by way of videos and graphic narratives, students will be prompted to reflect and create their own style of graphic novel page in which they divest into their understanding and connection to the stories they have heard/read about.
The purpose of this assignment is to teach students the value of personal story and narrative. It is to teach students how art can teach us about history and the importance of narrative art in telling story and creating understanding.
Each student, using their preferred media, will create a personal reflection in the style of a graphic narrative. The reflection will be 1–2 pages, with a minimum of 6 panels.
Conclusion
Personal journalling: Students should take 5–10 minutes to write a short reflection on their experiences in class. We will circle back to our reflections to create our personal-response graphic narratives.
End-of-Lesson Journal Prompts
For each lesson in this unit, students will have the opportunity to engage in reflective journalling. This practice aligns with taking a trauma-informed approach to teaching the Holocaust. The self-reflection journal prompts students will do at the end of each lesson will allow them to unpack and reflect on how they felt during that lesson, what they learned, what they may be curious about and more. When given the opportunity to self-reflect, students are encouraged to dive into their feelings, enacting brave spaces by writing out their thoughts and reflections.
The following are some journal prompts students can use to inspire their reflections if they find they are having trouble writing. These journal prompts are meant to be detailed so students can write detailed reflections.
- Write about something that grasped your interest in this lesson. Was it something new you learned? Was it something you wondered about after the lesson?
- What questions do you have after this lesson? Is there anything you are still curious about?
- How did what you learned today make you feel? Describe your emotions in detail.
- Did anything from today’s lesson connect deeply with you on a personal level? Why or why not?
