WWI: Poetry and Comic Books

Assignment –

Students will be creating an original WWI poem and visual.  This is a great cross-curricular activity between the humanities classes and is easily adaptable.  As my Language Arts partner was teaching similes in her course, I made it a part of the rubric to be included in the poem.  The poem must consist of a minimum amount of lines and stanzas – onomatopoeias, while encouraged, do not count as a line unto themselves.  I also require a minimum of three direct references to WWI – this is not a poem about any war, but about the Great War.  As the social studies teacher, I also help my students engage in annotating poems to further reinforce the humanities aspect.

As for the visual – students must draw their own creations to illustrate the events in the poem.

Students will then pair/share in small groups and I will then ask for volunteers to share with the entire class.  I will then put up the work around the classroom and in the hallways.

Resources:

Poetry Directions

WWI Poems to annotate

All Quiet on the Western Front

Pro-War Poem

WWI comics and graphic novels

In particular, my class will be using Joe Sacco’s The Great War. SaccoBook Trust me – buy this book!  Do a Google Image search – you will not be disappointed!

The book folds out to a HUGE “poster” running across the back of the entire room.  The drawing is annotated and I place summaries of what is going on in each panel and the students walk along for inspiration.

SaccoWall SaccoCloseup

Supplies – multiple comics, a WWI Bulletproof Bible (Slaughterhouse Five connection), posters around the room, construction paper, drawing implements

SaccoPosters SaccoSupplies

Teacher Powerpoint – given to the students over the course of a few days as they also complete research – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0q0hv_n2-9xanlsbWpYQmZmYjQ

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “WWI: Poetry and Comic Books

  1. Hi Art,

    I’m really excited about what you’re doing on this blog and am so thankful for all of the resources you’re posting for teachers interested in using or modifying your lesson plans in the classroom!

    Would you mind checking the Google Drive links on this page? I tried to go to each one and could not open the PowerPoint or resources you posted. I checked that I was logged into Google (I was), but still no luck. Any thoughts?
    -Helana

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