Teaching Strategies
In beginning this unit, teachers should teach students the basic graphic novel terminology such as: panels, gutters, word bubbles, motion lines, etc. (one can use the terms that were listed in the Background and Content Section). Using this vocabulary, teachers should give comic strip examples for students to look at and annotate. The teacher should model and walk students through identifying the different parts of a graphic novel as well as showing them how to annotate it. Once students have learned the basics on how to read graphic novels, the teacher should then introduce students to speculative fiction and the sub genres of dystopian and utopian fiction. Within this introduction, students should be taught the following vocabulary: censorship, propaganda, surveillance, oppression, totalitarianism, transhumanism, etc (one can use the terms that were listed in the Background and Content Section). The teacher can now show students examples of dystopian & utopian comics. The goal with this activity will be to have students identify futuristic and dystopian traits found in through the illustrations, text, or visual dynamics.
Some examples that teachers could use would be comic strips from the following texts: Judge Dredd and American Flagg. In connection to students learning more about the speculative fiction genre, students could be shown clips from the TV shows, Black Mirror (“Nosedive”) and The Twilight Zone ("The Midnight Sun"). Teachers may also want to have students read 1-2 short stories to prepare them for the main text of this unit. A couple of text pairing suggestions before reading Parable of the Sower: Graphic Novel Adaptation are, Bloodchild by Octavia Butler (to get students familiar with Butler’s writing style), “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin and the Bible story of “Parable of a Sower”.
Students will then transition into the following weeks by starting to read Parable of the Sower: Graphic Novel Adaptation. Before fully reading the novel, one option is to introduce students to Octavia Butler and listen to her NPR interview, “Sci-Fi Writer Octavia Butler Offered Warnings And Hope In Her Work”. Students should have some basic background knowledge of the author before starting to read her book. In addition, teachers may want to introduce students to begin thinking about essential unit questions such as: What does "survival" mean to you? Do you think human nature is mostly good or mostly selfish? Why? What responsibilities do individuals have to their communities during times of crisis? What role does religion or spirituality play in how people deal with fear and hardship?
At the beginning of this text, teachers should practice a close read with students and give them guidance in identifying initial concepts like “Earthseed”. While students are reading this novel, students will focus on the themes of dystopia, community, survival, religion, identity. While teaching the graphic novel adaptation of this story, teachers can also have students compare parts of Octavia Butler’s original copy of the book, Parable of the Sower. Teachers can have students engage in activities such as double entry journals in which they will analyze quotes from the text. During reading, teachers could also have students pick out 2-3 nonfiction news articles to pair with sections from the graphic novel, explaining the correlation between both texts. Lastly, it is encouraged to have students engage in Socratic seminars, where they will discuss their own original questions about the novel, using critical thinking skills to make parallel connections to real world scenarios and events.
By the end of this graphic novel, students will write an essay where they will discuss one of the following prompts: How do the visuals in the graphic novel emphasize or complicate the message of this text? Do you believe that the graphic novel adaptation does the original version justice or does the graphics take away from the message? Write about 2-3 visuals that symbolize a specific message and how they are conveyed throughout the novel.
In conjunction with this graphic novel, students will be shown parts of the graphic novel, 1984: The Graphic Novel. Students will be exposed to different parts of this novel to learn more about censorship, freedom, and totalitarianism. Teachers can have students compare and contrast different visuals from 1984: The Graphic Novel to Parable of the Sower: Graphic Novel Adaptation, discussing their use of color, speech lettering, space, angles, and point of view. Also, have students reflect on how each novel uses their visuals to represent their differing messages. By the end of this unit, it is suggested that students have a final Socratic seminar where they will critically think about how both texts portray the future and which parts from each text are accurate representations of what is to come? The end goal of this unit is to have students strengthen their literacy through graphic narratives, analyze themes through different lenses, and expose students to an art form that gets them to critically think, connect and reflect.
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