Week Six Activity

As I looked for lesson plans, I looked for something that I would find interesting to do. I came across a lesson plan for analyzing comic book characters. At first, I wondered if the lesson would fit the criteria of "media literacy". Then I read the lesson and learned how it dealt with stereotyping and gender representation. Having decided it was an appropriate lesson, I realized I didn't have a comic book -then true 21st Century learning and collaboration came into play. An online friend directed me to ComicBookRack for an eComic Reader and lent me a digital copy of a comic book.

Comic Book Characters Lesson

 

Level: Grades 5 to 7
Author: Adapted with permission from Snakes and Snails, by the Toronto Board of Education.
Overview
In this lesson, students look at how male and female characters are depicted in comic books. Using a Comic Book Analysis sheet, students will record the attributes of male and female comic book characters. As a class, students will record common attributes on a master sheet and discuss what messages about men and women are reinforced. In groups, students will be asked to design and create a non-stereotypical comic book character.
Learning Outcomes
Students will:

• recognize that the media construct reality
• understand that the representations made by the media are not always accurate
• understand how their own gender perceptions are affected by the media

For this assignment, I read The Amazing Spider-Man #625.
The assignment required an analysis sheet be completed that discussed the characters. I recreated the analysis sheet as a Google Doc. It can be viewed here. Since I was doing this project as an individual, I included both male and female characters in my analysis sheet.

Once I was done with my analysis of the comic. The lesson plan suggests that students draw or create their own non-stereotypical character. For this part of the assignment, I went to HeroMachine and created my own character.
My character is average build, plain looking and doesn't have long luxurious hair. She is wearing jeans and tennis shoes. I would have liked to put a bigger shirt on her, but the offerings were limited. HeroMachine is a fun online tool and I could have spent hours creating and coloring characters.

This lesson meets the Framework for 21st Century Learning in a variety of ways. The analysis of the comic book covers the core subject of Reading. Critical thinking and collaboration are covered in the analysis worksheet. Creativity and Media technology skills are incorporated into the character creation.