Graphic Novels: A New Way to Teach Literary Analysis
Help me give my students the chance to read Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, a graphic novel about a young girl's experiences during the Iranian Revolution of the 1970s.
My students are Pre-AP freshmen, many of whom are labelled as gifted learners, meaning they think differently than other students I teach. While some of my students love to read, some of them have never finished a book in their entire lives! We often have rich debates on a variety of topics. As a classroom community, we keep open minds to points of view that are different from our own and we also strive to seek out these differing opinions.
Our school is in a rural area and my students come from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds.
In my Pre-AP class, I utilize as much of their diversity as possible and also want to expose them to other cultures and communities outside of our classroom.
My Project
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi will provide my students the ability to explore visual texts and also be exposed to a culture, experience, and perspective on life and the world that is different than their own.
Teaching this graphic novel will enable me to introduce literary analysis through an engaging text that is accessible and rich in symbolism, character development, and complex themes.
I will use this text to structure a new type of annotation for my students: doodle annotations! By allowing my students to utilize drawings and words to express their critical thinking, I am tapping into their creative skill sets. We will also connect this text to ourselves and our own understandings of the world.
At the end of this unit, students will create their own page of a graphic novel based on their own experiences.
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