Why Comics? KS2 English Writing Lesson Plan

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Why Comics? KS2 English Writing Lesson Plan

Why Comics? Key Stage 2 (age 7-11) English Writing Lesson Plan: Exploring Identity

IntroductionLooking to engage your students in contemporary human rights and social issues? Based at SOAS University of London, Why Comics? Education Charity brings contemporary humanitarian and social issues into the classroom (such as racism, conflict, migration, trafficking and climate change) through interactive literary comic books based on real-life testimony.

Our free easy-to-use KS2-5 resources build empathy and enhance learning for 7-18-year-old students and teachers alike, alongside UK national-curriculum relevant lesson plans to support multiple subjects.

Each sample UK National Curriculum based Lesson Plan is provided as a Word.doc – so you can use it as a building block. Please feel free to adjust the content to suit your teaching style and students’ needs, all the content is only suggested.

Our innovative resources help enhance learning to support multiple subjects (such as English, ESOL, Personal, Social, Health and Economic [PSHE] education, Citizenship Studies, Art, Media Studies and Geography). Our support materials are intended to inspire teachers and enhance teaching practices and different ideas.

Why Comics? resources are embedded with a wealth of age-appropriate contextual multimedia (such as news articles, maps, videos, infographics and reports) to educate and inspire pupils across a wide demographic.

Our materials encourage learners to make connections between their own lives and the lives of others throughout the world, promoting critical and reflective thinking on vital global themes. In this way, Why Comics? can help combat racism and intolerance in schools.

Already, over 600 schools in 27 countries have provided detailed feedback on our free interactive educational resources to overwhelmingly positive feedback. From September 2017, our materials will be disseminated to over 25,000 schools worldwide.

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Suggested Why Comics? KS2 English Writing Lesson Plan

Please help us by filling out a short anonymous SurveyMonkey questionnaire after you have used our materials for our funders. This helps ensure that our great resources remain free.

Please email info@whycomics.org for more information. Thank you.Why Comics? Charity number - 1172791

Table of ContentsIntroduction.....................................................................................................................2UK National Curriculum English Requirements:..................................................3Suggested Why Comics? English Lesson Plan............................................................................4

Aims:..........................................................................................................................4Learning objectives:..................................................................................................5

Lesson plan:.....................................................................................................................5Follow-up Lesson plan........................................................................................................6Feedback....................................................................................................................6Future Plans.....................................................................................................................7

Who backs Why Comics? - About PositiveNegatives...............................................................7

UK National Curriculum English Requirements:[Source: UK Gov KS2 English Subject content and assessment objectives]

Pupils should be able to write down their ideas quickly. Their grammar and punctuation should be broadly accurate. Pupils’ spelling of most words taught so far should be accurate and they should be able to spell words that they have not yet been taught by using what they have learnt about how spelling works in English. During years 5 and 6, teachers should continue to emphasise pupils’ enjoyment and understanding of language, especially vocabulary, to support their reading and writing. By the end of year 6, pupils’ reading and writing should be sufficiently fluent and effortless for them to manage the general demands of the curriculum in year 7, across all subjects and not just in English, but there will continue to be a need for pupils to learn subject specific vocabulary. They should be able to reflect their understanding of the audience for and purpose of their writing by selecting appropriate vocabulary and grammar. Teachers should prepare pupils for secondary education by ensuring that they can consciously control sentence structure in their writing and understand why sentences are constructed as they are. Pupils should understand nuances in vocabulary choice and age-appropriate, academic vocabulary. This involves consolidation, practice and discussion of language.

Pupils should be taught to plan their writing by: identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other

similar writing as models for their own; noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary; in writing narratives, considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have

read, listened to or seen performed.

Pupils should be taught to draft and write by:

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Suggested Why Comics? KS2 English Writing Lesson Plan

selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning;

in narratives, describing settings, characters and atmosphere and integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action;

summarising longer passages; using a wide range of devices to build cohesion within and across paragraphs; using further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader (for

example, headings, bullet points, underlining).

Pupils should be taught to evaluate and edit by: assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing; proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning; ensuring the consistent and correct use of tense throughout a piece of writing; ensuring correct subject and verb agreement when using singular and plural, distinguishing between the

language of speech and writing and choosing the appropriate register; proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors; perform their own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume, and movement so that meaning is

clear.

Please note teaching notes are in purple.

Suggested Why Comics? English Lesson Plan Here is a suggested KS2 English lesson plan consisting of two sessions, aimed at improving descriptive writing skills. Students will draw inspiration from reading a comic covering issues of identity. In these lessons, students will practice building a narrative, describing settings, characters and atmospheres and integrating dialogue to convey personality. Students will also learn the importance of planning, drafting and evaluating their writing. The lessons will explore the issue of identity, told through Daria, Julius, Zein, Sagal or Shamso’s eyes. Both lessons are 45 mins long, consisting of a reading in class, followed by group discussion and an assigned homework. The class can either read the comic collectively via projector, or at home via the web (www.positivenegatives.org/comics/).

Descriptive Writing about Identity

Aims:This session will cover descriptive writing and will explore the theme of identity.

• Students will read a literary comic • Students will learn about identity• Students will produce a short story from the perspective of a comic character whose identity is

changing or being questioned• Students will learn about descriptive writing, utilising settings, characters, atmosphere and

dialogue• Students will practice planning, drafting and evaluating their work (paying particular attention to

grammar, spelling and vocabulary)

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Suggested Why Comics? KS2 English Writing Lesson Plan

Learning objectives: By the end of the session, students will be able to:

• Give reason of what identity is, and discuss how identities can differ • Produce a descriptive short story using a comic as inspiration• Understand how to effectively utilise settings, characters, atmosphere and dialogue in descriptive

writing.• Understand how to plan, draft and evaluate their own writing

Lesson plan:1. Read through the comic as a group - Project the story in class and go through the comic panel by

panel. Ask different pupils to read out each page. If there is time, you could explore several of the additional resources in the interactive boxes dispersed throughout the comic. (20 mins)

2. Classroom Discussion – Discuss identity as a class: (20 mins) What makes up your identity? How do identities differ? How would you feel if someone questioned your identity or your identity began to change?

Teacher’s notes[Source: heartkidssmartkids.com ]

Here are some useful questions to help students understand what makes up their identity

Who are you? What words best describe you? What are you really passionate

about? What are your most important

values? What are five things you can't live

without? What are your likes and dislikes? What are your favourite things (e.g.

books, foods, toys), and why do you like them?

What makes you happy? Sad? Angry? etc.?

When are you at your best? Who or what inspires you? What do you enjoy doing? Why do

you like doing these things? What do you think is unique and

special about you? What are you most proud of? What can you do really well?

What are your strengths? What are your challenges? What would you like to be better at?

For what purpose do you want this? What are your greatest

accomplishments? Who are your loved ones in your life?

How are they special to you? How do they support you?

How are you similar/different to other people? How do you feel about your differences?

Does being different from others make you better or worse? Why?

How would other people describe you?

How do you want others to see you? How is this different from who you are?

When do you feel most like yourself? How does it make you feel to hide

your real self?5

Suggested Why Comics? KS2 English Writing Lesson Plan

Why is it so important to be yourself? What circumstances or events have

helped shape who you are? Can you change your identity? Who could you be if there were not

limits and you knew you couldn't fail? Who do you need to be to get the

results you want?

What will you gain or lose when you have this identity?

What is holding you back from already being this person?

What and when is your first step in making this change happen?

3. Assign the class a homework – Ask the students to plan a short descriptive story imagining that they have swapped identity with the main character in your chosen comic. They should plan the story remembering to include the following: WHERE (the setting), WHO (the involved characters), WHEN (the time of day, past/present), HOW (the atmosphere, the character’s feelings), WHAT (the events) and WHY (explain causes and results). (5 mins)

Please help us by filling out a short anonymous SurveyMonkey questionnaire after you have used our materials for our funders. This helps ensure that our great resources remain free.

Please email info@whycomics.org for more information. Thank you.

Follow-up Lesson planPlease refer to the Aims and Learning Objectives outlined in the previous session.

1. Summarise the previous lesson. Recap on the comic and what the class discussed. (10 mins)2. Classroom Activity – Ask the class to write a first draft of their short descriptive story. Make sure

they use the notes they have developed as homework from the previous session to describe WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, HOW, and WHY. (30 mins)

3. Assign the class a homework – Ask the class to evaluate their short descriptive story, checking spelling, grammar and vocabulary and bring it to the next lesson. (5 mins)

FeedbackPlease help us by filling out a short anonymous SurveyMonkey questionnaire for our funders. This will help keep our great resources free. We will be happy to hear about how it works in the classroom, and are keen to receive any comments or feedback.We are particularly interested if you would like to receive more resources like this. If so please include on the SurveyMonkey questionnaire which topics you would like us to cover (e.g. Divorce, Migration, Racism/Prejudice, Cyber/Bullying, Identity, Memory, Racism, Conflict, Natural Disasters, Human Trafficking/Slavery, Asylum/Refugees, Homelessness, Climate Change, Remittances & Migrant Workers, and Drug Trafficking & Addiction).

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Suggested Why Comics? KS2 English Writing Lesson Plan

We are also interested to have feedback from pupils so if it is possible, please pass on the SurveyMonkey questionnaire link to them as well. Many thanks again, your help is most appreciated.Future PlansOver the coming year, we’re intending to expand our bank of database for KS2 (age 7-11) and KS3 (age 11-14) and KS4-5 (age 14-18) and their teachers, and produce national curriculum based accompanying lesson plans for multiple subjects. You can view all our resources on our Teachers Resources page. We will continue to design and test our resources to ensure that they are made by teachers for teachers. If you would like any more information or would like to be involved further, please contact info@whycomics.org. Thank you.With very best wishes,Dr Benjamin Dix

Director: Why Comics? Education CharitySenior Fellow: SOAS University of London

Web: http://www.whycomics.org/Email: info@whycomics.org Twitter and Instagram: @WhyComicsOrg Facebook: Why Comics? Education Charity

Why Comics? Education Charity is based at the Faber Building, SOAS University of London.Why Comics? Charity number - 1172791

Who backs Why Comics? - About PositiveNegatives The award-winning non-profit PositiveNegatives produce literary comics, animations and podcasts about contemporary social and human rights issues. We combine ethnographic research with illustration and photography, adapting personal testimonies into art, education and advocacy materials. Since 2012, PositiveNegatives has worked extensively for over four years for an array of international organisations such as United Nations (UN), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Open Society Foundations (OSF), The Nobel Peace Centre, The Guardian, BBC, and with leading academic institutions such as; Harvard South Asia Centre, SOAS University of London and University of Sussex.

Our work endeavours to combine literature, journalism and education. Visual story-telling engages audiences of all ages, backgrounds and levels of literacy. Approaching subjects like conflict and forced migration through the prism of personal narratives emotionally engages general readers and students alike. We have developed comics from research, policy papers and first hand testimonies for organisations such as these and many more. Each comic has reached millions of viewers, and many have been translated into multiple languages reaching diverse international stakeholders.

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