This is one of my all time favourite projects-
•Brief:- to create an abridged graphic novel of Frankenstein, made by students to be used as a key learning tool for students. Engagement, excitement (particularly from boys) and accelerated learning a must.
This is one of my all-time favourite projects I have worked on- how do you get students excited about a 200 plus year old text? The answer we found was to get 30 students together for 3 days, for a full-on experimental, experiential, cross curricular, multi-modal, immersive learning experience, delivered in character, bringing the world of the text alive for students to directly experience... and a smoke machine, to produce an abridged graphic novel informed by the text, using its original language in a way that would not dumb down, but enhance, the reading experience
here are a few select highlights from the feedback we got:-
Results for English coursework Frankenstein essay rose by
more than a third.
Students felt as if they had gained skills useful in the
real world and felt confident that they had also gained lifelong skills that
could be applied across school during KS4 and beyond.
Students felt as though they were making an important
contribution to teaching and learning in KS4, behaviour, productivity and
quality of responses was exceptionally high. This had a ripple effect across
the year with many students requesting involvement in the project (or one
similar) and copies of the work produced.
‘It’s amazing! When I was drawing it I never thought that it
could come out so well. I thought it might look cheesy, but it doesn’t look
like a school project at all, it looks like a real magazine.’
‘The workshop was a unique opportunity, it not only gives
other students a chance to benefit by reading the comic and understanding the
book, but it makes you feel good about yourself. It makes you reflect on the
combination of different learning and experiences, and sums up the memory and
experience of learning.’
‘I think comic books such as this are extremely beneficial
to learning because they bring you closer to the story... it is a lot more
interesting and visually stimulating. This will engage students who are
normally put off by normal reading. The comic book format makes it more
accessible to more people. It makes you want to read to the end, it makes
Frankenstein fun.’
The
fact that they were created by the students was a wonderful idea which really
made many students feel like their work is being appreciated and valued around
the school. I have heard many students asking to take them home or read them in
their own time – I think it is a brilliant way of getting students interested
in difficult texts.
My students LOVED the graphic novel; they were absolutely
engrossed by it and it has really helped them to engage with what is a very
challenging novel. As well as giving them an overview of the book as a whole
and helping them to think about themes and ideas explored in the novel, they
have found it particularly helpful in terms of finding quotations to use in the
Controlled Assessment. Students usually struggle to find quotations in what is
a dense novel and the graphic novel makes the process more manageable, and even
enjoyable! For me, the real strength of the graphic novel is that it uses the
language from the novel but makes it more accessible. Students
seemed genuinely to enjoy, and benefit from the graphic novel. They seemed also
to feel a real sense of pride that it had been produced within the school and
many of them asked if they could have a copy.
This is only a sample of what happened; for further details, please contact me via my Linkedin page (look for Matt Cooley Advanced Skills Teacher)
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