RELATED COURSE SITES:
“The Outsiders: A Hood Project” YA Spring ’15
“Monsters & Outsiders: A Hood Project” YA Spring ’16
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
I tried several versions of the Graphic Narrative Assignment. I used it in each of the t
hree YA lit courses, and also in the Spring 2017 Hybrid 2850 course. The first two years the workshop was run by a professional cartoonist, who I was able to bring via the support of the Paula Berggren Enrichment Fund. The dates
didn’t align with the cartoonist in the final year, and I tried to do
the workshop myself. I can say without a doubt, the workshop is better when run by the professional cartoonist. If you’re interested in reaching out to the professional cartoonist I used, you can reach out to Mindy Steffen and learn more about her work by checking out her website at “Mindy Indy.” I also left one of her cards with Lisa.
To give you a sense of the ways I incorporated this assignment, I’m providing two different assignment descriptions. The first is from the first time I taught YA in Spring 2015 and the second is from the 2016 YA course. Please know that in both classes the graphic narrative
workshop, like all the assignments, was part of a semester long project in which students curated their assignments for the creation of some public project of their choosing.
Spring 2016 Description: “Drawing Adolescence”
For our section on American Born Chinese we will have a graphic novel workshop (hopefully by a professional cartoonist). In the workshop you will learn not only about the content of the story of American Born Chinese but also about the graphic craft and the choices the author made visually that help us to think about the ideas of adolescence and monstrosity and how notions of race, ethnicity, class, and gender are negotiated through these categories. As part of this workshop, every student will create their own short graphic comic based on some aspect of their own life that explores the ideas of monstrosity and adolescence. For more information, including the assessment rubrics, click the following link:
Spring 2015 Description: “Creative Imitation Project”
A good imitation requires the closest form of reading. In this assignment you will by way of replicating form explore how a particular form lends itself to thinking about and conveying ideas about adolescence and monstrosity. You have the choice of thinking through the monstrous juvenile either by writing a poem or creating a comic (or a scene of a graphic novel). This is a form driven project, which means you must use one of the texts from class as a model. If you are doing a graphic project, then American Born Chinese will be your model. If you are doing a poem, you may pick from any of the poems on the syllabus. While you are writing your own poem or creating your own graphic story, you are paying close attention to how the text from the syllabus works, and you will replicate that form [NOT THE CONTENT] as you express your own content and play with your own words and images.
Just as with any other assignment, being more focused and precise is better. For example if the first line of the poem is a metaphor, the first line of your poem should be a metaphor. But even more so, if the first line is a bodily metaphor then perhaps you might try a bodily metaphor for your first line. I do not expect that you will be able to follow every single part of the form exactly because you are not writing the same poem or making the same graphic story, and as such you might have to make some different decisions than the original. However the point of the assignment is to explore the relationship between these forms and expressing ideas of monstrosity and youth. If I see no formal relation between your piece and your model, you will not receive full credit.
Because I am interested in you critically thinking about the choices you make and the effects certain formal choices have on the way meaning is conveyed (and because we are not all seasoned poets or artists), you will also turn in a 1-2 paragraph reflection in which you tell me what your model was (if it’s ABC then you should tell me what scene), but you should also talk about how you followed the form in your own work. The purpose of this reflection is to one help you articulate your choices and to make sure that even if your skillfulness hinders my ability to discern how you’re following the model, you can at least tell me what you were going for.
You Should Turn In:
* 1-2 paragraph reflection. [This reflection should identify the specific poem or part of ABC you used as a model and should explain your choices, meaning how you tried to follow form and where you intentionally decided to break with form and why.]
AND EITHER:
* a 4 page graphic story = it can be a single graphic story, a comic strip, or a scene from what would be a larger graphic novel if you were to do one. [Due Wednesday April 29th at 5pm]
OR:
a 3-4 page poem [Due Friday, May 8th at 5pm]
NOTE: That if you do the graphic project then you have an earlier due date and a later due date if you do the poem. The purpose is so that people who chose to do the poem have some time in which we talk about the poem in class before their project is due. If you are doing the poetry project, you should not wait until the last minute to start this poem.
Rubrics for “Creative Imitation Project”
Imitation
Do you identify a model text? Does your project follow the major formal elements of your model text? Does your project also follows some of the more minor formal elements of your model text? Do your breaks from the form of the model seem purposeful (aka in service to what it is your poem particularly wants to do)?
Project
Does your project seem complete? Does your project think through some aspect of the relationship between monstrosity and adolescence? Does your project presentation seem clean and thorough (meaning is it free of typos and does it look like it wasn’t thrown together at the last minute)?
Reflection
Does your reflection clearly explain where and how you tried to follow form and the reasons why you decided to break from the form in the places in which you do not follow the form? [note: Anything I can’t readily see from just looking at your project, I expect to be clarified in this reflection.]
TIMELINE:
PEDAGOGICAL TIMELINE:
The timeline for the students with this project is not quite as extensive as others. Ideally you host the workshop over two class periods. In preparing the students for the workshop, you can do the following:
1) Make sure students are aware of the workshop early on in the semester, and that a large part of their grade can be satisfied by being present for the workshop days, which is not only one of the criteria, but also provides them in class time to work on the narrative.
2) When you discuss the graphic narrative you’re reading on the syllabus try to make connections about how the author’s the visual and textual rhetoric work for the author’s literary goals and how the students might use similar rhetorical choices.
3) A week to a week and a half before the workshop have students, storyboard their three panel graphic narrative. I gave them the specific prompt of making a narrative that deals with the ideas of adolescence and monstrosity using some autobiographically related material. I specify that autobiographically influenced can mean that they are telling a story about something they witnessed rather than something that happened to them.
4) Pass out supplies at the beginning of the first workshop day. Some supplies students can take home, but let them know that they are responsible for bringing it back for the second day.
5) Remind students when their graphics are due and that you expect a 1-2 paragraph explanation of their choices.
6) After the workshop ask select students to share, and post their work.
7) If you’re integrating this assignment into a larger end-of-semester assignment, make sure students understand due dates, and help them think about ways they might integrate one or more of their group member’s graphic into their project.
ORGANIZING TIMELINE:
This project does require some front and back end work on your part.
1) Contact professional cartoonist before the semester begins to check her availability and lock in some potential dates. Because of the way the Berggren Fund works, it’s not totally possible to know ahead of time that you will have the funds before the semester starts. Still you need to contact the artist ahead of time because scheduling is tricky and also because you want to have the most up-to-date rates when you apply for the Berggren Fund.
2) Apply for the Berggren Fund. I’m attaching a copy of my application form, largely because it gives you an estimate of cost. I requested funds to cover 1) the cartoonist’s rate, 2) a copy of the course text for the cartoonist 3) a pack of colored dry erase markers for the cartoonist’s presentation on the white-board and 4) supplies for the students, some of which were shared, but many of which were for the students to keep. A copy of my application is available here: Curseen_English 3045_Berggren Enrichment Fund Application_Spring 2016
3) If your application is approved, you should try to do the shopping for the supplies about a week before the workshop. Keep in mind that depending on where your class is scheduled, you might be hauling the supplies up to 14th floor of 17-Lex. I put all my supplies in one of the box the printer paper comes in.
4) Take pictures during the workshop and of students’ final project to share both with the students and also with the Berggren Fund committee when you submit your final report.
5) Submit receipts for reimbursements. You will need a list of the students in attendance for the workshop.
6) A report is due at the end of the semester. A copy of my report is available here: PBFund Class Activity Report_Spring 2016
EXAMPLES:
I have made a site displaying work from the Spring 2016 class. The site is called This Monstrous U:
