Preparing a Visual Representation
This lesson plan aims to represent, in narrative or visual form, the agency and resistance of a Jewish individual during the Holocaust, using graphic techniques and literary devices identified in Miriam Libicki’s graphic narrative.This lesson completes Unit 4 by bringing together the teachings of the previous two lessons, requiring students to complete a project that combines a) an aspect of the graphic narrative (story, character, or environment); b) techniques and devices used in graphic narratives; and c) research on an individual to demonstrate historical thinking competencies.
Students will draw on their learning from the first two lessons to demonstrate their competencies in three areas: specific reference to evidence; understanding of significance; and capacity to empathize with, and understand, different perspectives. Researching a Holocaust victim through relevant primary source evidence will help a student understand a victim’s unique perspective and experience. Through this process of experiential research, students will be better equipped to translate their learning into graphic narratives.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Select and demonstrate effective use of specific graphic techniques and narrative devices that represent the lived experience of the individual Holocaust victim.
- Identify and express how this experience provides evidence of agency and resistance by the individual.
- Use graphic narratives techniques and devices to create a visual narrative or representation that focuses on the poignant aspects of story, character, or environment.
Guiding Question
- How does artistic expression provide insight into personal experience?
Preparation
As discussed in Graphic and Literary Techniques, teachers may want to explain the requirements of the project at the end of Lesson 1, so students can think about the final project as they learn more about survivors of the Holocaust, unless the teacher has decided to break up the lessons within a larger unit.
Lesson Activities
Project Work
Students are required to create a representation of the agency and resistance demonstrated by the individual they have chosen to research. Students may choose between two options: writing and illustrating a short multi-panel graphic narrative, modeled on Miriam Libicki’s process, or creating a collage, painting, or graphic diagram which expresses an example of agency and resistance. They may choose from several different mediums, depending on their artistic confidence and individual preferences: they may complete their projects by hand, or by using a graphic design program or other kind of computer software.
First, students should choose their individual, whether an individual previously selected by the teacher in Jewish Youth: Agency and Resistance, or another they have been approved to research. Then, they should identify how best to illustrate that individual’s agency—through a focus on story, character, or environment. Then they must identify and incorporate five devices and techniques studied in Graphic and Literary Techniques (or another number of techniques, as decided by the teacher). If they choose not to create a narrative representation, they are free to illustrate their knowledge of techniques by using other graphic approaches that do not require plot, that are non-diegetic.
The teacher may choose to assign a short written description in which the student must explain the reasoning behind their techniques and devices, and their strategy for representing the agency of the individual they have chosen.
This project is designed to allow students to independently refine their graphic narrative techniques from a variety of different vantage points, gradually allowing them to build confidence in making their own design decisions. This structure also allows for significant differentiation in the classroom, letting learners practice perspective and historical empathy using their individual learning strengths. This project could also be assigned in other subjects, including language arts or English.
Extension
Depending on the make-up of the class and/or the preferences of the students, the project could be combined with a fair, gallery walk, or series of individual or group presentations, in which students share the highlights of their learning journeys.
