Problem-Based

Lesson Plan
Title of Lesson:
Teacher:
School:
Grade Level[s]:
Date to be Taught:

ARTE &'(

The Sequence of Narratives

(Comic Making)
Tyler Riordan
PVO South
First Grade
April 23rd, 2015

Big Idea that drives Lesson/Unit:

Comics Can Tell a Short Story via Drawings
Comics are a way of storytelling that many students already know and enjoy. They might not always
realize its storytelling though! Because of their short format, comics are ideal for students learning the parts of
a story (i.e. beginning, middle, end), and how to show their stories through art instead of words or
performance. Because this is a familiar medium, it allows kids to play with an idea they are often already
comfortable with, which lets them work more creatively without fear of following an unknown format that
they might not entirely understand.
Key concepts about Big Idea:
All stories/narratives have a beginning, middle, and end
When telling a story in pictures, its important to consider where the characters are (location)
You can easily show the passing of time in a comic strip
Comics are great ways to tell short, simple stories
Fine Arts Goals Met by the Objectives:
25.A.1d Visual Arts: Identify the elements of line, shape, space, color and texture; the principles of
repetition and pattern; and the expressive qualities of mood, emotion and pictorial representation.
25.A.2d Visual Arts: Identify and describe the elements of 2- and 3-dimensional space, figure ground,
value and form; the principles of rhythm, size, proportion and composition; and the expressive
qualities of symbol and story.
25.B.2: Understand how elements and principles combine within an art form to express ideas.
3-4 Essential Questions:
How can the location change the story?
How do you show time in a drawing?
Can stories still make sense if you tell them out of order? Why/Why not?
Vocabulary Acquisition:
Comic: A series of small drawings used to tell a short story, often humorous.
Setting/Location: The place a thing or event happens.
Mood: How the place or character feels.
Panel: The box a comic is drawn in. Comics are often made of many panels.

Key Artistic Concepts:

Setting (the place an event occurs) can tell you a lot about what is happening in the story
By showing the same character doing different things in different panels, you can easily show the
passing of time
Not all stories need words to show what is happening
Comics are easy ways to tell simple stories

Problem-Based Lesson Plan

ARTE &'(

Artmaking Materials Needed:

Several sheets of white paper, with three boxes/panels drawn large on each paper
Markers
Colored Pencils
Regular Pencils
Crayons
A hat or bin with simple story starters in it, i.e. The cat went to the zoo, The boy played all night,
etc

Contemporary/Historical/Multicultural exemplars:
Select Calvin & Hobbes comic strips
Newspaper comic strips
Assorted textless comic strips
Procedures:
INTRODUCTION: (3 minutes)
o Introduce vocabulary
o How many of you have read comics before? Where? In books, newspapers?
o Have you ever made comics before?
o Comics can show time by what the character is doing, or how the setting changes.
o Not all comics need to have words to tell a story!
o (Hist/MC/Contemp examples)

DEMONSTRATIONS: (2 minutes)
o We will be creating comics that tell a short story.
! Description of what comics are and the parts of a story (beginning, middle, end)
! Demonstration of how character and setting can change to tell the story
o Show teacher exemplars
! 3 sample comics

DESIGN/WORK SESSION: (10-15 minutes)

o Students will be creating a comic from a prompt drawn from a hat. Allow 5 - 10 minutes to
read/think about the prompt, and draw the comic.
o Have students think about color and setting, and how that affects the story.

CLEAN UP: (2 minutes) To take place before preparing for sharing segment. (put markers, crayons,
pencils, etc. back into baggies and away, extra paper out of the way, etc.)

SHARING SEGMENT: (8-10 minutes total)

o Invite a few student volunteers to show their comic to the class
! Ask the class what they think the story was
! Have student tell the story and explain their comic

CLOSURE: (3 minutes)
o Student input on what they liked/ learned about the topic
! Ex. Something they learned about showing time in drawings/comics, something
about how stories can be told, something about what makes up the parts of a story
and how you can show that in art.