Embedded Files
Big Idea
Big Idea
Story Traversal
Inquiry Question
Inquiry Question
How do we make ourselves understood?
Artistic Discipline(s)
Artistic Discipline(s)
Drawing, comics, trading cards, stop motion
Group Trading Card Collaboration
Stop Motion layout!
Comic based on a hard journey and weakness (from trading cards)
Looking at the class zine with all of the students' comics!
What learning standards were addressed in this project?
What learning standards were addressed in this project?
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
Describe how reasons support specific points the author makes in a text.
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
Please describe what you did and what you made for this project. What led you to do this project?
Please describe what you did and what you made for this project. What led you to do this project?
We wanted to explore communication and storytelling through mediums that 2nd graders may already know: trading cards and comics.
Students used mixed-media paper to create group trading cards. With the trading cards, students created portraits within the world of fairy tales. After practicing, they made their home-self and school-self trading cards, including abilities and weaknesses. They focused on color, emotion, character drawing, and symbols. After completing a trading card, they traded with a classmate to see if the elements we wanted them to focus on were understood. We knew we wanted to end the class with a book or a zine of their comics. Students used their trading card weaknesses as a starting point to develop their hard journey comic. They used emotion through character expression as well as having freedom with their drawings and comic panels.
What worked well and what didn’t in this project, and why?
What worked well and what didn’t in this project, and why?
Students did really well with their independent activities and peer reflections.
While students worked on their Self Trading Cards, they grasped the idea of showing a story about who they were at home and at school. Some students had a hard time identifying their weaknesses for their home self and school self.
Students initially had a hard time collaborating with each other during the first activity we worked on for our stop motion animation. Students had to take turns with different roles assigned in their groups. Some students had a hard time switching roles. It also took some time to create the stop motion animation and students had to be patient in that process. We thought it would be a quick activity, so some students felt a little rushed based on our lesson’s timing.
With their Hard Journey comic strips, students did really well with creating a story that included a weakness from their trading cards. However, some students had a hard time translating that weakness into their story. Some students also needed to add more text to communicate their story in a clear way.
What did you learn about yourself, your partner, and the students? How might what you learned impact your teaching practice?
What did you learn about yourself, your partner, and the students? How might what you learned impact your teaching practice?
Asya-
I learned that 2nd graders catch on pretty quickly to what we show them! They also may copy an art piece, so having multiple versions can help them choose how they create.
Having a structure for trading cards helped them feel free in what they created.
I learned that my co-teacher and I worked really well in areas where we needed to pivot or come up with an alternative idea. Leaving a lot of flexibility and patience really helped in planning and running the unit.
Aidan-
What I learned about myself: I learned that there are many different ways to have students demonstrate their understanding of a story and how to create their own story.
What I learned about my partner: I learned that my partner has many strategies to guide students in their story making process.
What I learned about my students: I learned so much about their lives at home and different stories from home!
How did the collaboration challenge your understanding of teaching, learning, and art-making?
How did the collaboration challenge your understanding of teaching, learning, and art-making?
Asya- I learned that having too many projects is not always better. We cut down one project, and still needed more time in the end. I learned that building in more time for students to make a sketch, talk to their peers about their idea is a better approach. Working with Aidan to create assessment activities helped us figure out where there was confusion in our presentation and what we could change next time. I also appreciated how students have their own styles and giving freedom for them to express themselves within a structure that they are comfortable in is a way for them to shine and be proud of themselves.
Aidan- I learned that we need to provide more time for students to work on certain projects. Asya helped us stay on track and not increase the scope of the projects since we had a limited time with the students. This allowed more time for the students on the projects we were working on. They were able to create quality art and not feel rushed. Asya helped me understand that art is a multistep process and that sometimes we need to realize that art expression by providing extra time on those projects.
What was your approach to assessment?
What was your approach to assessment?
After each project, we gave students time to reflect on their own work as well as their students.
For trading cards, we asked students to trade their home self or school self cards and see if they could identify the various parts, such as character design, name, emotion, and ability, and how those elements communicated a story.
Describe the story of your partner's trading card.
How does your partner's trading card tell a story?
What is the evidence?
For comics, we asked their peers to:
Identify emotion.
The evidence of how emotion is shown.
Identify the hard journey and evidence of why it was hard.
Documentation of assessment
Documentation of assessment
Sharing group trading cards to the class!
Students trading their school self trading cards.
A student completing an assesment of the story of this trading card.
We invited other classes to do a Gallery Walk. Students got to show their trading cards and comics! They were nervous and excited, since for many it was their first time sharing their work.
Think about what you had hoped to learn from this collaboration. What did you learn and how? Discuss how you supported each other’s goals.
Think about what you had hoped to learn from this collaboration. What did you learn and how? Discuss how you supported each other’s goals.
Asya- I really wanted the students to take home a self-published book of their work, but making a comic zine was a new experience for me. I appreciated Aidan's flexibility and patience with me figuring out how to complete this goal. Aidan and I worked well together because of the amount of planning and input we both gave each other. He really knows the students and what may be confusing for 2nd graders. This helped in planning lessons.
Aidan- I hoped to learn more about integrating art into the general education classroom within ELA. I learned that we don't have to be so rigid in our big idea and focus question. This process is fluid and is allowed to change based on what the students create. Asya and I supported each other by staying flexible and responsive to those changes. We always workshopped different ways to extend our students' creativity and story telling as well.
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