Monthly Archive for March, 2009

Exploring Graphic Novels

In preparation for your Alice comics, we discussed the format of the graphic novel.  A graphic novel is a novel that uses images and words to tell a story. Someone added, “It is almost like a movie split into several parts.”

Similarities between a regular novel and a graphic novel:

  • Both tell a (fictional or non-fictional) story
  • Both have characters (like actors in a movie)
  • Both have a plot and a setting
  • Most of the time, they both have words
  • Both have creators

Differences:

  • Graphic novels use pictures!
  • Graphic novels use captions to describe what is happening (settings, background information, or to help express the passage of time).
  • They also use speech bubbles when characters are speaking to one another.
  • Thought bubbles communicate characters’ ideas.
  • Sometimes, speech bubbles are drawn in a way to represent emotions, like surprise, anger, excitement.  Sometimes different kinds of speech bubbles are always used with the same characters to represent their personalities. The size, shape, and design of bubbles help to communicate emotions and traits.
  • You can show sound effects with images (and words) in a graphic novel.
  • Different colors can also convey emotion.
  • Pictures and words are enclosed into panels, which may take many forms and sizes. The space between the panels is called the gutter.
  • We looked at several examples of how graphic novels mark the passage of time and motion.
  • We also examined how to represent the five senses and emotion.

Pilgrim Jeopardy!

Yesterday we worked with a denser secondary source to learn even more about those Mayflower folks!  Ms. Stokien demonst for you just how to read the first section and then you will be working on your own and in a group with the rest of it. The hard part will be the reading —being sure you completely understand all of it. The fun part will be preparing for our class’s Pilgrim Jeopardy game!

Part 1

As a class, work with Ms. Stokien to develop strategies to read and annotate the packet.

Part 2

You will be assigned a group to prepare questions for the Jeopardy Game.

1.  With your group members, go through your section and read it carefully (annotate and underline as necessary) and be sure EVERYONE in your group understands the whole section. If you are doing this during Lab and some of your group members are missing, go ahead and do it on your own and then go back over it with your group members when they are available. You must ALL be experts on your section for the game.

2. Once you’ve finished reading, as a group, come up with AT LEAST SIX good questions and answers from your section (and write them down on scrap paper).

Example:

Question: What was the third religious group to form (in England) and what was their main goal?

Answer: The Puritans/Separatists who wanted a more “pure” form of religion.

3. Check your questions/answers with Ms. Stokien or Ms. Edinger.

4. Write each question on a card (question on one side and answer on the other).

5. Decide on point value for each question. (Hard, Medium, Easy).

Part 3

As an individual, carefully read the rest of the packet so you know it and can play the Jeopardy Game. You may get questions from other sections than your own.

Part 4

Play Jeopardy!

Illustrating Mourt’s Relation

Now that you are expert translators of this very old publication of 1620, each of you is going to illustrate a small section of this journal. You have Pilgrim Voices, a book where the creators have carefully combined parts of Mourt’s Relation and On Plymouth Plantation (William Bradford’s memoirs and the other major source about the Pilgrims) and illustrated it beautifully, They researched the illustrations from primary sources and so you can use them as secondary sources for your own.  Above is the first page of Mourt’s Relation that we translated together yesterday.

Now that you’ve translated several more pages you are read to try something else.  Each of you has been given one quote to illustrate. Be sure to write the quote on the drawing and where it is from. For example:

“… there was the greatest store of fowle we euer saw.” (Mourt’s Relation)

You can also see what some of a previous house did here, here, here and here.

Once you have finished your drawing (and had it checked by me) please scan it and put it on your blog. (You should know how to do this, but if you forgot go here for reminders.)

Here are your assignments:

Here are the sections (but they are from a version with the corrected spelling/capitals so use the one we annotated so you can get that old spelling!)

  1. Wednesday, the sixth of September, the winds coming east north east, a fine small gale, we loosed from Plymouth, having been kindly entertained and courteously used by divers friends there dwelling. (jl)
  2. and after many difficulties in boisterous storms,
  3. by God’s providence, upon the ninth of November following, by break of the day we espied land which was deemed to be Cape Cod, and so afterward it proved. (ar)
  4. And the appearance of it much comforted us, especially seeing so goodly a land, and wooded to the brink of the sea. (pm)
  5. It caused us to rejoice together, and praise God that had given us once again to see land. (pm)
  6. And thus we made our course south south west, purposing to go to a river ten leagues to the south of the Cape (db)
  7. but at night the wind being contrary, we put round again for the bay of Cape Cod; and upon the 11th of November we came to an anchor
  8. the bay, which is a good harbor and pleasant bay, circled round, except in the entrance which is about four miles over from land to land, (vsf)
  9. compassed about to the very sea with oaks, pines, juniper, sassafras, and other sweet wood (sh)
  10. it is a harbor wherein a thousand sail of ships may safely ride (ap)
  11. there we relieved ourselves with wood and water, and refreshed our people (ds)
  12. our shallop was fitted to coast the bay, to search for a habitation (zt)
  13. there was the greatest store of fowl that ever we saw (sp)
  14. And every day we saw whales playing hard by us, of which in that place, if we had instruments and means to take them, we might have made a very rich return, which to our great grief we wanted. (am)
  15. For cod we assayed, but found none, there is good store, no doubt, in their season.
  16. Neither got we any fish all the time we lay there, but some few little ones on the shore. (nl)
  17. We found great mussels, and very fat and full of sea-pearl, but we could not eat them, for they made us all sick that did eat, as well sailors as passengers; they caused to cast and scour, but they were soon well again. (dw)
  18. The bay is so round and circling, that before we could come to anchor we went round all the points of the compass. We could not come near the shore by three quarters of an English mile, because of shallow water, which was a great prejudice to us, for our people going on shore were forced to wade a bow shot or two in going a-land, which caused many to get colds and coughs, for it was nigh times freezing cold weather.
  19. This day before we came to harbor, observing some not well affected to unity and concord, but gave some appearance of faction, it was thought good there should be an association and agreement that we should combine together in one body, and to submit to such government and governors as we should by common consent agree to make and choose (hf)

Setting Sail with the Pilgrims!

On the 15th of December they weighed anchor to go to the place they
had discovered, and came within two leagues of it, but were fain to bear
up again, but the 16th day, the wind came fair, and they arrived safe in
this harbor. And afterwards took a better view of the place, and resolved
where to pitch their dwelling; and the 25th day began to erect the first house
for common use to receive them and their goods.

William Bradford
Governor
Plymouth Plantation

We Americans all know about the Pilgrims.  Weren’t they those people in the funny hats who left England and then had a big feast with the Indians? With lots of turkey and pumpkin pie?  Those Pilgrims?  Those Indians?  That celebration?  That story?


Well, um, no.  In this unit you are going to be serious historians, finding about the real Pilgrims behind the myth (and they are nothing like the cartoon ones above). The Pilgrims were immigrants with similar reasons for coming to America that people still have today.  You have already looked closely at contemporary immigration by way of your oral history project.  You created thoughtful questions for your subject about his or her immigration experiences and crafted the resulting interview into a picture book.  Now you are going to attempt to do something similar with a real person from over 250 years ago!  Since the Pilgrims aren’t here to interview, you will have to get your information some other way.  Learning ways to do that will be a major part of your work in this assignment.  As well, you will become a Pilgrim expert, ready to travel back in time to visit Plimoth Plantation itself!

So to begin, what do you already know about these folks?

  • They came on two ships but one sank.
  • They came to the East coast of America.
  • When they were on the Mayflower, they wouldn’t eat during the day b/c of bugs on the food.
  • They was a great sickness that killed 42 of the Pilgrims.
  • They dressed differently than we do.
  • They didn’t only wear black; they wore purple and brown clothes.
  • At first, they thought the Indians were savages.
  • They started Thanksgiving.
  • Indians and Pilgrims taught each other things.
  • At first, Indians and people living their didn’t like the immigrants.
  • They had a big peace with the Indians and a feast.
  • There was a battle w/ the Indians when they first arrived.
  • They landed close to Massachusetts.
  • At first, the Pilgrims had trouble growing crops like corn.
  • The first Indian who came to the colony was Samoset.
  • There is something called Plymouth Rock.
  • The Indians taught the Pilgrims to use fish in their planting.