Teaching Puzzle Prompt #2

Iris Kuo
Purpose:
Friere and Seligs ideals may not be one-hundred percent compatible, but they both touch
on the current education systems lack of narrative and exploratory power. Most students enroll
in kindergarten (or perhaps preschool), and if all things go well, they go through a traditional
schooling track until theyre spit back out at the high school (or perhaps college/graduate school)
end. These students may have grown taller and become more academically proficient in the twoplus-two-equals-four sense, but this doesnt necessarily translate to emotional enlightenment, nor
does it mean theyve learned to share their life journey with peers. The purpose of this teaching
activity is to explore ways to awaken the reflective spirit and draw out the storytelling bard in all
of us so that a person doesnt view learning as restricted to the classroom, but as a powerful
experience that is applicable to all walks of life.
Context:
As a student who was enrolled in International Community School over in Kirkland, I
never had a purely Literature or Writing class, let alone a joint Literature and Writing
class. Rather, I had a Humanities class, and it was required for all six years of my junior-high
school life. We went through the standard five-paragraph essay as you would expect, but
eventually, the teachers gave us assignments that forbid us from using that format, or at least
required a different template for whatever essay we had to write. Beyond literary essays, I
remember writing an op ed satire piece on the SAT, drafting a short story about a delusional
author, and even drawing a comic that used poetry quotes to comment on American patriotism.
Most of all, I remember all the artistic freedom I was allowed. Reading journals consisted
of both writing and drawing responses to literary texts. Group projects involved multiple essays
plus an artistic interpretation. Other times, the assignment was up in the air, and you could
choose whatever multimedia approach you preferred. We were finishing up Hamlet at the end of
my senior year, and the final project was exactly this type of project. I created a hanging mobile
that split Hamlet in two and used little baskets as scales to represent the different moral
dilemmas he had to face throughout the play. When it was time to present our projects in class, I
couldnt believe how many interpretations my classmates had come up with. They were all
unique, and they all reflected a bit of the creators personality.
I have constructed my lesson plan with these experiences in mind. My students are
attending their first Literature and Writing class in a small high school that values the arts just as
much as the sciences. They are all creative thinkers, most likely well-equipped with essay
writing skills, but dont have as much experience with storytelling or using other means to

explain their thoughts. However, these students are easily engaged and are always eager to try
new things. This enthusiasm will hopefully form the basis of my lesson.
Materials Needed:

7 sheets of large construction paper

Markers/colored pencils/crayons

Method:
As an artist who has always been fascinated by colors and the ability of visuals to
transcend language boundaries, I strongly believe that visual art is intimately intertwined with
literary art. There is a reason we grow up by observing the immediate world around us first, and
then slowly move towards picture books, elementary readers, chapter books, young adult
literature, and eventually scholarly text. There is also a reason why many of us thrived on early
Sunday cartoons, and why comic books and graphic novels continue to be read and adored by
fans of all ages. Since we were children, we have been learning about fictional characters and
fantasy worlds through pictures. It is often those pictures that speak more than words themselves.
I think that as we grow older and trudge through traditional schooling, we forget our roots.
To address this issue, I would like to encourage my students to think about a personal
experience, either from recently or long ago, that has stuck with them for whatever reason. It can
be a loving fondness for it, or even pure hatred. The point is to translate these emotions into a
visual format by drawing it out in whatever way theyd like. It can be as a single image, as
multiple images, or as a comic, as long as they dont use any words. I will also participate in the
activity to encourage a dialogue between teacher and student.
I will give my students 5 minutes to complete this, and then have them pass the pictures
to the person sitting next to them. Every person will now take turns crafting a narrative (in
roughly one minute) to go with the picture theyve received. The point is not to guess what the
original story was, but to create a new one based on what they see in front of them. The goal of
this activity is to encourage both visual and spoken ways of storytelling while showing that a
single source material can produce a variety of interpretations, just as how every person
experiences the world differently.
Results: