Graphic Novels: Using a Comic-strip Format to Tell a Story

Do you love graphic novels? Do you love to draw and write? In this elective, we will explore the format of graphic stories by reading selections from a variety of comics and graphic novels, covering an array of different storytelling styles. You will then have the opportunity to write your own graphic scene or story. For the graphic piece, you may draw by hand, use computer resources, or a combination of both. Students will work to develop characters, plot, and setting to write their own graphic story. This class will culminate in a final presentation of your graphic story to be shared with friends, families, and teachers.

Executive Function Skills

  • Planning and time management
  • Task initiation
  • Organization of ideas
  • Organization of materials
  • Self-monitoring and follow-through

MA Practice Standards and Frameworks

ELA Writing

  • Write narratives to develop experiences or events using effective literary techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured sequences.
  • Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
  • Use technology, including current web-based communication platforms, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.
  • Use technology to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
  • Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Art

  • Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
  • Describe and demonstrate influences of personal artistic style and preferences in media arts.
  • Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation. 
  • Utilize different approaches to share artwork.
  • Integrate multimedia components and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence and to add interest.