Testimonies and Storyboarding
Students will engage with testimony materials and begin working collaboratively in groups to research and plan their graphic narratives. Students will use a storyboard for planning and drafting.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- create graphic narratives using historical testimony.
- build a draft of their project.
Guiding Question
- How do we create historical graphic narratives while honouring the testimonies of the individual’s stories we are telling?
Preparation
- Handout: Storyboard Template (1 per student)
- projector to project the Narrative Art and Visual Storytelling Artists’ preliminary sketches
- Tablets, computers, or means for students to individually listen to testimonies (optional use of personal devices)
- collection of historical testimonies (for example, Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre)
Introduction
Explain Storyboards
Using the storyboard template handout, students will make rough sketches and notes on plans for their comic books. Project But I Live’s preliminary sketches to show examples of this process. Explain that this is meant to be a draft template of students’ stories to help organize students’ ideas. The storyboard will be used to give feedback and guidance on the projects.
Lesson Activities
Testimony Viewing
Show students how to use the website to access the testimony. Assign or allow groups to select a survivor’s testimony.
- If you are using the VHEC Testimony collection, we recommend the following testimonies as they are easy to find and navigate: Paul H, Martha S, David E, Jannushka J.
Work Time
The remainder of the class is a work block to develop storyboards.
Conclusion
Set up meetings with each group to review their storyboards before beginning the next step of the project.
Support Materials
Narrative Art and Visual Storytelling Artists’ preliminary sketches
Collection of historical testimonies (for example, Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre)
