Element 5a

Description of Project
The Graphic Novel

Description of Project:
For a few years, I implemented a graphic novel unit in my creative writing course with
limited success. The students usually found the work engaging, but the final products were
almost always low quality. It is for this reason that I chose to work on it for my research based
curriculum unit.
The audience for this curriculum is myself and my personal students, but I believe it
could be incorporated into most creative writing courses at the high school level. My course is an
elective open to freshmen through seniors, though most take it as upperclassmen. Every
semester, I have a large handful of advanced students, a few students on IEPs, and a few students
who are chronic underachievers as well as your average students. I call this class a mixed bag,
and it is how I like it.
The graphic novel unit will be twelve 80-minute classes, including homework and class
work time. The unit will begin with an exploration and analysis of published graphic novels, and
end with the students creating their own graphic novels (which will integrate the key concepts
and elements discussed in the analytical stages). Because time is limited, students will read and
analyze excerpts from graphic novels, and will produce a small-scale novella of their own.
Their storylines will be a revised from a story they have previously written in class because a
goal of this project will be to show students how different forms can enhance the purpose of a
piece of writing.