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| An example of the comics students created during last year's Revolutionary Comic Book project. |
By Apurva Makote
The 8th graders at STEM are working on a project
for U.S History. The purpose of the project is to depict the American
Revolution in comic book format.
“This is
one of the 'original' projects [at DRSS], meaning that it has been a staple in the 8th
grade since the school has had an 8th grade class,” says Ms. Durkee, 8th
grade U.S History and high school government teacher.
“While I can’t speak to why
it was created, I can speak to why it’s stayed a staple project and that’s
because of the enthusiasm the students at DRSS have for comic books.
Superheroes, Manga, and other comic stories are found everywhere in DRSS, and so
applying that fun hobby so many students have to a project just makes sense.” Students
in the past have displayed their comic books at the Gem City Comic Con.
There are 3 parts to the comic book:
- The causes of the American Revolution
- During the War
- After the American Revolution
Students started the project by first learning about the different
causes of the American Revolution. Then the students chose one of the cause
event for their comic book. They wrote a script and created images of the cause
even.
Right now the students are learning about the different battles that took
place during the war. The students are writing the script for the battles that
they chose. They will later create images that go along with the script.
Moving
forward, the students will learn about what happened after the war and do the
same process of writing a script, revising the script, and creating images for
that section. “I hope that students realize that history is complicated and
real. Many approach history thinking that it’s a bunch of old stuff that
doesn’t impact them,” explained Ms. Durkee “I like to think that this project
proves that notion wrong in that the humanness that was our country’s founding
is still very much a part of our politics and world today.”
