Incorporating Comic Strips into a World History Lesson Plan

It was getting pretty late and I was down to the wire while writing a lesson plan for the following day’s class on Ancient Mesopotamia. The idea to assign the classes to draw a comic came quite naturally after staring at a series of reliefs of the royal Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal and a Sumerian bird-headed man. I knew a story was hidden beneath the mythical creatures and beasts—and I wanted to see it expressed in comic form.

The following morning, I prepped the lesson by cutting pieces of computer paper lengthwise (the same way I used to prepare Bristol paper). And I gave some useful tips like using a light blue pen or colored pencil or a very light pencil make it easier before inking with black. As an incentive, I rewarded any completed comics the opportunity to display their finished comic strip on the overhead projector for the whole class to see.

Comic strips are understood and accepted for a very large and universal audience. The ability to flesh out a complete comic strip under a tight schedule is a rare skillset. A very small percentage of the comics submitted had illustrations, writing, and a story plot that met all the required elements of comedy with a natural flow.

I was pleasantly delighted at the final comic strips produced at the end of the lesson. The bravery for most creators to show their final work with the entire class also correlated with the total time and attention to detail spent on the final project.



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