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COMICS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, AND “THE METAMORPHOSIS”:

A TWO-WEEK UNIT BY IAN FRAZZETTA AND COURTNAY KRUEGER

Table of Contents

Unit Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2Unit Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Day 1 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5Day 1 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-8Day 2 Lesson Plan and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-11Day 3 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13Day 3 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Day 4 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Day 5 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Assignment: “Your Own Metamorphosis” and Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-18Day 6 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-20Day 6 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21-22Day 7 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23-25Day 7 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-28Day 8 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29-30Day 9 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Day 10 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Summative Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33-34

Insert: Reprint of “Amazing Spider-Man” #3

Unit: Graphic Novels and “The Metamorphosis”

Unit Goals: It is important to understand that there are many ways to express ideas, emotions, and concepts, which do not necessarily follow the traditional form. In this unit, students will be introduced to sequential visual storytelling (comics and graphic novels) as a form of literature. They will be asked to consider what this means about literature in general before learning more specifics about comics, graphic novels, and Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” in the process. “The Metamorphosis” was chosen because there is a graphic novel interpretation of this short story, and both versions are short enough to be read and understood by high school students over the course of two weeks. Students will learn the skills necessary to read graphic novels, as opposed to traditional texts, and will compare, over the course of the unit, how ideas, emotions, and concepts are expressed differently in both formats. Finally, students will address issues appropriate to “The Metamorphosis”, including alienation, family duty, communication, and what constitutes “humanity.”

Standards Addressed: 1. Students read and understand a variety of materials.2. Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.3. Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure,

punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.4. Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and

viewing.6. Students read and recognize literature as a record of human experience.

Unit Objectives:

Content: Students will explore the concept of “literature” and what forms of expression

qualify as examples of literature. Students will review the concepts of similes, metaphors, extended metaphors, and

symbolism in literature. Students will consider what constitutes “humanity,” and what separates humans

from animals. Students will consider the importance of communication and point of view in

“The Metamorphosis”.

Skills: Students will learn the literary skills necessary in order to read comic books and

graphic novels as literature. Students will be able to recognize and independently reproduce non-verbal forms

of communication such as facial expressions, body language, and artistic elements that convey mood and emotion.

Students will draw their own mini-comics in response to a prompt about their own ideas and emotions.

Students will create written examples of extended metaphors and symbolism. Students will develop their own classification system for humans, animals, and

monsters, applying it to Gregor Samsa.

Assessment:Formative Assessments: Over the course of the unit, students will complete many in-class assignments. Students will draw and explain facial expressions to convey emotion, write narratives based on the graphic novel, write group poems centered on extended metaphors, draw up a classification system for humans, animals, and monsters, and write a letter from the perspective of another character in “The Metamorphosis”. Bringing all these assessments together should give me a decent picture of where each student stands at the end of this unit.Post-assessment: The final assessment in this unit consists of two parts. For the first half of the final assessment, students will be given a day of class time and a week of their own time in order to write their own mini-comics in response to “The Metamorphosis”. This gives ample opportunity for students who are poor test takers to take their time and produce the best they can. The second half of the assessment must be completed in a single class period, so it should challenge students in a more traditional manner. This half of the assessment was developed in order to assess students on various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. There are questions that assess knowledge, comprehension, analysis, and evaluation. Since the first half of the exam assesses application and synthesis of the material, this entire assessment should cover all the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. In addition, the entire assessment covers different learning types, as there are visual and artistic elements, short factual answers, labeling, and short analytical essay responses to be made.

Instruction:

While there is some direct instruction from the teacher in this unit, students are the primary sources of knowledge. There are many days of group work in which the students produce the knowledge and materials that guide the rest of the lesson. Because many of the concepts we will be addressing in this unit are complex and subjective, little lecture is needed. I plan to get the lessons started with quotes, questions, and modeled behavior examples, and then step aside as the students construct meaning.

Materials and Resources Needed:TV and DVD player, “Amazing Spider-Man #3” reprints, “The Metamorphosis” graphic novel and short story, overhead transparencies, overhead projector, handouts, whiteboard and markers, pen/pencil and paper, computer lab

Teaching Logistics:One lesson will take place in the computer lab, so I will need to reserve the lab for that day. The rest of the lessons take place in the classroom with standard classroom materials, and I will be providing handouts and overheads.

UNIT CALENDAR

Day 1: Ian Day 2: Courtnay Day 3: Ian Day 4:

Courtnay Day 5: IanIntroduction to Sequential Visual Storytelling (AKA “Comics”)

Gateway activity: a scene from “Spider Man 2”

Comic book terminology and reading order.

Reading “Amazing Spider-Man #3” and discussion.

Differentiating between comics and graphic novels.

Homework: Finish reading the comic and reply to the prompts (we will discuss this tomorrow).

Graphic Novels as Literature, and the skills necessary to read them

Discussion of what constitutes “literature” and how graphic novels fit into this.

Facial expression activity – expressing emotion without text.

Homework: Read part I of the graphic novel.

Art, emotion, and theme in “The Metamorphosis” graphic novel

Warm-up: “Graffiti Wall” on themes in “The Metamorphosis”

Analysis of artwork in the graphic novel and Graffiti Wall on themes and emotions this artwork evokes

“Think, Pair, Share”: What is really happening in “The Metamorphosis”?

Closing without closure

Homework: Read part II of the graphic novel.

Graphic novels and traditional literature – making meaning in different ways

Comparing a section of the original story to its corresponding section in the graphic novel.

Writing a narrative based on another section of the graphic novel.

Homework: Read part III of the graphic novel.

Assessment: Your Own Metamorphosis

Students will have the entire period to begin writing and drawing their own mini-comic in response to our lessons on graphic novels and “The Metamorphosis”.

This assessment will be due next Friday, when students take the second half of their exam on this unit.

Day 6: Ian Day 7: Ian Day 8: Ian Day 9: Day 10: Ian

CourtnayExtended Metaphors

Review of similes and metaphors

Example of an extended metaphor (Polanco’s poem, “Identity”)

Writing your own (brief) extended metaphor

Extended metaphor in “The Metamorphosis”

Homework: Read section I of the short story

Communication in “The Metamorphosis”

Response to quotes on communication in the short story

Attempting to communicate with barriers

Discussion and debriefing of communication exercise

Homework: Read section II of the short story

Has Gregor lost his humanity?

Group discussions on the characteristics of humans, animals, and monsters.

Consensus on classification rules and application of them.

Individual, written reactions to the classification process and result.

Homework: Read section III of the short story

The Family’s Perspective

Students will write a letter from one of Gregor’s family members to another, describing how the whole “metamorphosis” has affected them.

Homework: Study for tomorrow’s exam and finish “Your own Metamorphosis”

Summative assessment on the unit.

Turn in “Your Own Metamorphosis” assignment and take the in-class portion of the exam.

DAY 1: Introduction to Sequential Art (A.K.A. “Comics”)

Goals: My goals for the first day in this unit on graphic novels are to get my students excited about the unit ahead and to make sure they are familiar with the logistics of how to read a comic book or graphic novel. For some people, reading comics is simple and obvious, but I even had a classmate in my Literature for Middle School and Secondary Teachers class ask me how the sequence goes, so I believe that a brief lesson on how to read comics is necessary. In order to reinforce this lesson, students will then begin reading a comic book in class. In addition, I will explain the distinction between a comic book and a graphic novel and assign questions about today’s reading that will get my students thinking about the status of comics and graphic novels as literature.

Standards Addressed: 1. Students read and understand a variety of materials.2. Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.3. Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure,


viewing.

Materials: “Spider-Man 2” DVD, laptop, projector; slides of comic terminology, a sample page from Amazing Spider-Man #3, and a sample page from “The Metamorphosis” (to be projected from the laptop as well); notes on the distinction between comics and graphic novels, homework questions about the reading.

Today’s “Story”:

Introduction: 5 minutesThis is the gateway lesson to a unit on graphic novels, specifically “The Metamorphosis”. As such, my first goal is to get my students excited about what we will be doing for the next two weeks. I plan to get the ball rolling with an exciting scene from “Spider-Man 2”, which will be playing while my students enter the classroom. There will also be a stack of comic books on my desk to pique their curiosity. When everyone is seated and the bell rings, we will watch the rest of the scene from “Spider-Man 2” and then I’ll stop the video. After the collective groan, I’ll let my students know that they will have plenty of time to get to know Spider-Man and other comic books better in the next two weeks. To keep my students’ interest going, we will start with a simple Q&A session. I’ll ask questions like: “Who has seen ‘Spider-Man’ and/or the sequel? Did you like either? Is anyone looking forward to ‘Spider-Man 3' this summer? (I know several high school students and adults who can’t wait. Venom will be in it!) Who has read any Spider-Man comic books, or any other comic books for that matter?” Then I will let my students know that we will be reading a comic book today and a graphic novel this week.

Comic Book Terminology and Reading Rules: 10 minutesBecause not everybody has read a comic book before, I’ll cover some terminology and then quickly demonstrate the order of the frames in a comic book and how to read them. I’ll start by putting up the “Comics Terminology” image I have and then I’ll cover the terminology in it. From now on, I’ll be free to use this terminology when referring to frames, word or thought bubbles, and so on. Next, I’ll move on to a typical comic book page and show how comics, just like other books, are generally read from top to bottom and left to right, one frame at a time. Inside each frame, the text is generally read from top to bottom and from left to right, as well. In order to re-engage anyone who thought this was too obvious or boring, I have a difficult excerpt from “The Metamorphosis” graphic novel to read next (pages 26-27). Even for veteran comic book readers, some pages aren’t immediately obvious. I’ll tell my students that I have read a lot of comics in my time, but even I had difficulty with this page from the graphic novel we’ll be reading. I’ll put up these pages from the graphic novel and give the students a minute or two to read them over, deciding on the proper order. After they’ve had time to look the pages over, I’ll ask if there are any volunteers who would like to take us step by step through these pages. If there are none, I’ll call on a student who said they had read comics during the Q&A session, or a student who looked bored when I demonstrated the order of a typical comic. I’ll have that student tell me where to start and where to go next, then move from student to student for each next “step” until we’ve gone over both pages. This will demonstrate that it is not always obvious how to read a graphic novel, and I will let everyone know that if they’re confused for any reason that they should not be afraid to ask me or a classmate for help.

Reading “Amazing Spider-Man #3”: 25 minutesAt this point, I will hand out the comics that were on my desk all this time. While I’m handing them out, I’ll let students know that this particular comic contains the original battle between Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man, which served as the inspiration for the movie “Spider-Man 2”. An original copy of this comic in good condition just sold for $1,995.00 on eBay (11/10/06). Of course, these are just cheap reprints, but the story is

unchanged. My students will have the next 20 minutes to start reading the comic and ask any questions they have while they’re reading. After the 20 minutes are up, we’ll spend 5 minutes talking about the comic and the students’ reactions to it. Their homework assignment for the night will be to finish the comic and write a brief plot summary (to ensure they read it), as well as their response to these questions: Did you enjoy reading the comic? Why or why not? Should we spend class time reading comics? Why or why not? Do you consider a comic book to be “literature”? Why or why not? We’ll discuss these themes in more detail tomorrow.

Distinction Between Comics and Graphic Novels, Wrap-up: 10 minutesStudents may notice that I keep throwing around the terms “comic” and “graphic novel” as if they are not the same thing. Now I’ll explain the distinction. I’ll take any ideas my students have on this distinction, then deliver some direct instruction about the differences between a comic and a graphic novel from my notes. This distinction seems quite arbitrary at times, especially when some graphic novels are just a collection of comics bound together. I want to leave this distinction open-ended for students to think about it. At this point, I’ll take any last questions before dismissing class.

What Distinguishes a Graphic Novel From a Comic Book?

There is some debate on this topic, but the general consensus is that the term “graphic novel” indicates a format, not a genre. In other words, what separates a graphic novel from a comic is not necessarily the content, but how it is presented.

For starters, graphic novels are “square-bound”. Comics are usually short, so they are small enough to be stapled together. Graphic novels are generally longer, so they have a thicker and harder spine to which their pages are glued.

Graphic novels present a complete story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, as opposed to comic books, which often tell a “story arc” over the course of several issues containing recurring characters. You will often see “Continued in our next issue!” on the last page of many comic books, but you shouldn’t see that in a graphic novel.

However, graphic novels often deal with more “mature” themes than you will find in comic books, and some people argue that more care is taken in their artwork, which further separates them from comics.

Finally, some people think that “graphic novel” is just a marketing term created in order to sell comics to a new audience:

“The term graphic novel was coined as a marketing term to seperate [sic] itself from being categorized with other ‘funnies’ or children’s comic books. The term gained popularity after it was used on the cover of Will Eisners’s ‘A Contract With God, and Other Tenement Stories’, in 1978.”From “Your Guide to Comic Books”, by Aaron Alberthttp://comicbooks.about.com/od/glossary/g/graphicnovel.htm

“It’s a marketing term. I mean, it was one that I never had any sympathy with. The term ‘comic’ does just as well for me. ... The problem is that ‘graphic novel’ just came to mean ‘expensive comic book’ and so what you’d get is people like DC Comics or Marvel comics — because ‘graphic novels’ were getting some attention, they’d stick six issues of whatever worthless piece of crap they happened to be publishing lately under a glossy cover and call it The She-Hulk Graphic Novel, you know?” Alan Moore, as quoted at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_novel

What do you think? Should there be a distinction between graphic novels and comics? If so, where do we draw the line? Does a graphic novel have to deal with mature themes and have “better” artwork? Is a collection of “Batman” comics a graphic novel? What about a collection of “Calvin & Hobbes” comic strips? Which of these would you consider “literature”?

Stay tuned for our next class, where we will discuss these issues further!

DAY 2: Traditional Literature vs. Sequential Art

Goals: My goal for today’s lesson is to discuss what constitutes literature, and how graphic novels fit into this category. We will discuss definitions of literature and what kinds of things fall into these definitions, as well as why all this is important when reading a graphic novel as literature. Also, I want the students to recognize facial expressions as a tool for reading graphic novels.

Standards Addressed: 1. Students read and understand a variety of materials.2. Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.4. Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and

viewing.

Materials: “The Metamorphosis” graphic novel, whiteboard and markersOverheads of “The 77 Moods of Akbar and Jeff” and “Emoticons”

Today’s “Story”

Discussion: 20 minutesFor today’s lesson, I will start by asking the students to think about the following questions: “What is literature?” and “How can literature be defined?” They will break up into small groups and come up with possible definitions, and they will also create a list of types of literature (short stories, novels, comics?, etc.). Next, we will come back together as a group and write them on an overhead to see what they came up with. Another feasible question for this discussion would be “Do graphic novels count as literature?” (I think that many students would not have originally thought about graphic novels as literature until yesterday’s discussion.)

After coming up with the list, we will focus on graphic novels as literature, and the next part of the discussion will be answering the question “What skills do you need to understand a graphic novel as opposed to a traditional novel and vice versa?” (character body language, facial expression, sequence, etc.- reading ART instead of text).

Facial Expressions Activity: 20 minutesAs an example of a skill you need in order to read graphic novels as opposed to traditional texts, we will take some time to look at facial expressions. I’ll start with a funny overhead that shows how obvious a lack of facial expression can be:

From the above artwork, aside from humor, what can we infer about the expressions, or should I say expression, given? The most common answer would most likely be, “not much, they are all the same” but even the smallest changes in the pictures can really help the reader get clues to what the “text is referring to”. In the last box, the artist drew the hat coming off of the character’s head in order to show motion. His hat flies off his head as he recoils in surprise. Of course, some kind of expression in his face would help to establish this, but it is these types of small, yet valid, differences that are the key to reading into a graphic novel. Now take a look at the next set of images to see emotions shown in a more typical fashion:

The art above clearly shows emotions that we can all recognize, (as I am sure some of you have used while instant messaging your friends). As a group, let’s go through and clearly define what each emoticon is representing. From these images, what can we infer? Some possible answers are that color has an effect, the slant of the eyebrows like this / \ shows sadness or being preoccupied, and the slant of the eyebrows like this \ / shows anger or mischief. The mouth also tells a lot about what the character is feeling. What does a straight line for a mouth represent? What can you tell by their eyes?

For this activity, I will assign each of you three of the emotions listed on the Akbar and Jeff overhead, and using the emoticons as inspiration, you will come up with facial expressions that would fit that emotion.

Closure: 10 minutesAs a class, each student will choose one of their expressions to share. This will scaffold Day Three’s lesson in which we will look at the graphic novel and discuss the emotions represented through its art.

DAY 3: Art, Emotion, and Theme – What’s “Really” Going on in “The Metamorphosis?”

Goals: My first goal for today is to get my students thinking about how the art in this graphic novel expresses themes and emotions without necessarily using any text. We will explore this together with a “graffiti wall” activity in response to some of the art. After we have explored how some of the major themes and emotions in this graphic novel are expressed through its art, we will discuss what is “really” happening in the graphic novel. Students will “think, pair, share” in response to my prompts, which have been written in order to get the students thinking about the story in a non-literal manner. I plan to end without closure, challenging the students to think about how they can interpret this story as they continue to read.


viewing.

Materials: “The Metamorphosis” graphic novel, whiteboard and markers

Today’s “Story”:Warm-up: 5 minutesIn order to get my students ready for the graffiti wall activity, we’ll start today’s class with a brief warm-up exercise. I will ask students to think about their reaction to the section of the graphic novel they read last night for homework, and sum it up in one word or phrase. I’ll go first, in order to model what I’m looking for, and I’ll explain why I chose that specific word or phrase. Students will then have a couple moments to think about their reaction, before I go from student to student and have them tell me their word or phrase as I write it on the board. I will also stress that it’s perfectly fine to repeat what someone else has said if you feel the same way. At the end of this warm-up, we’ll have a graffiti wall of reactions to the reading, and students should have an idea of how this activity works.

Graffiti Wall and Discussion: 20 minutesThe art on pages 12-15 of this graphic novel (included below) is particularly expressive. Here, Kuper uses his artistic license to convey themes and emotions in the story in an original way, and I want students to think about how this is done. There are four major illustrations in this section that I will ask my students to think about, forming a word or phrase that describes the theme or emotion these pictures evoke. The whiteboard will be divided into four sections, each section corresponding to an illustration I selected. Students will come up and write a word or phrase in each section which reflects their reaction to the illustration. When everyone is finished, we’ll take a look at what is on the board, noting which words or phrases are repeated and which ones aren’t. This activity

will therefore be the springboard for a discussion on the themes and emotions in this section of the graphic novel. I hope to discuss how Gregor feels about his job, his life, and the people around him, and how all of this contributes to Gregor’s deteriorating mental state.

Think, Pair, Share: What is “Really” Happening? 20 minutesNow that we have discussed the emotions we think Gregor is feeling, and have spoken a bit about his deteriorating mental state, I want students to think about what is “really” happening in this story. For this next exercise, I will have students “think, pair, share” in reaction to the following prompts: Are we supposed to believe that Gregor has somehow transformed into a giant bug? Does Gregor even believe this at first? Why do the other characters react to Gregor as they do? How does the story build tension about what has happened to Gregor before his “big reveal” on page 25? What has “really” happened to Gregor? In order to facilitate the “think, pair, share” exercise, I will pair students up and give them the prompts. Students will be instructed to think about their responses individually, then share their responses with their partner, before finally deciding with their partners how they will share their conclusions with the rest of the class. Students will then break into pairs and share ideas. After they have been given time to do that, they will share with the rest of the class. For the sake of time, I probably won’t have every pair share their responses to every prompt; each pair will get to share one or two responses.

Closing Without Closure: 5 minutesFor today’s lesson, I want to end without closure. I don’t want to dogmatically state that Gregor is not a bug, and is going insane. I want students to work that out for themselves. Hopefully, some of the “think, pair, share” groups will have brought this possibility to everyone else’s attention, as my prompts were designed to push them in that direction. Depending upon how the sharing went, I will suggest that there is a non-literal way to interpret this story, and leave students to think about that as they read the rest of the graphic novel.

DAY 4: Interpreting the Graphic Novel from a Literary Point of View

Goals: My goal for today’s lesson is to have the students learn to understand what is going on in the graphic novel by reading from the original text, and comparing the two. This will help the students to write their own narrative about a section of the graphic novel that I have chosen for them to deconstruct, and put into words.


viewing.

Materials: “The Metamorphosis” graphic novel, whiteboard and markers

Today’s “Story”

Reading and discussion: 10 minutesModel for today: “The Metamorphosis” was originally written as a short story before Kuper made his graphic novel interpretation of it. I will read a section from the original story, and while I am reading the students will be following along with the same part of the graphic novel. They should be asking themselves how the themes, thoughts, and emotions that Kafka expresses in the short story are dealt with in the graphic novel. How does Kuper put these words into art?

Activity: 30 minutesOn pages 42-45, look at what is going on in the story. Write a narrative from these pictures as to what is going on at this point in the story. While writing your narrative, what emotions and what actions are going on with the characters? How do you come to these answers? What facial expressions, and other visuals lead you to this conclusion? At this point, you have read two-thirds of the graphic novel, and you know what is going on due to class discussion, and also by activities that we have done thus far. What other clues can you go off of when writing your narrative?

Wrap up and Closing thoughts: 10 minutesFrom today’s activity, I want you to think about what is really going on in the story that helped you write your narrative. Going off of the lessons on facial expressions/body language, and the sequence of those things within the story, get ready to put this all together in your own storyboard.

Day 5: Your Own Metamorphosis

Goals:Today, we will tie the lessons on graphic novels and “The Metamorphosis” together by beginning to write a mini-comic about our own metamorphosis. Students will have the entire class period to begin this assignment (included below with an example), which will be due in one week. It will serve as one half of the final assessment on the unit. This particular half of the assessment is meant to focus more on what students learned about expressing ideas and emotions through art than the second half, which will deal with details and themes from the story itself.

While I was thinking about how to assess what my students learned from their lessons on graphic novels, I knew it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to create a multiple-choice exam. The challenge was to come up with something that was creative, allowed for artistic expression but wasn’t totally dependent upon it, could allow me to assess what my students learned about visual storytelling, and wouldn’t take forever for them to complete. I think this assessment accomplishes these goals. It’s an interesting assessment because it gives them a lot of options, and it can assess many things all at once. What have they learned about sequential visual storytelling? Do they understand the elements of this format well enough to create it on their own?

Standards Addressed:1. Students read and understand a variety of materials.2. Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.4. Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and


Your Own Metamorphosis

Gregor’s metamorphosis into a bug reveals a lot about how he feels. If you had a strange dream and transformed into something, what would it be? Take some time to think about how you feel about your life right now. It doesn’t have to be negative. Maybe you feel great, so you transform into a hawk and fly around. You don’t even have to transform into an animal. Maybe you feel like people walk all over you, so you transform into a doormat. The point is to think about how you truly feel, and then pick an appropriate symbol.

Once you’ve chosen your symbol, draw at least three frames of a mini-comic including one close-up and one long shot, detailing your own metamorphosis. Remember to use some of the techniques we discussed in class in order to communicate through your art (sequence, facial expressions, emanata, framing, backgrounds, mood/theme, etc.). You are free to use narrative boxes, speech and thought bubbles to bring some text into your comic. You may choose to focus on how you feel about your transformation, how others react to you after the transformation, how things change after your transformation, and so on. Be creative and have fun with this! It might be a good idea to storyboard your mini-comic before you sit down to make the final version. That would be just like writing a rough draft before completing a paper.

Once you’ve completed your mini-comic, write a short narrative explaining it. Why did you choose that particular symbol? Why did you choose to present it in the particular scenario you selected? How does your artwork express the emotions behind your transformation?

DAY 6: Extended Metaphor

Goals: I will begin this lesson with a review of simile and metaphor. High school students should be familiar with these figures of speech by now, but a brief review never hurts. After the review, I will get my students thinking about extended metaphors by having them read a poem that uses an extended metaphor, then by writing their own short poems in a similar style. Finally, I plan to connect all this to “The Metamorphosis” by asking students to consider the extended metaphor in the story, especially how Kafka develops the metaphor and why he chose it.

Standards Addressed: 1. Students read and understand a variety of materials.3. Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure,



Materials: “The Metamorphosis” short story, transparency of notes and poem, overhead projector

Today’s “Story”:Review: 10 minutesToday’s lesson begins with a review of similes and metaphors. I will put my transparency (included below) on the overhead as I review these concepts, involving students along the way by asking them to come up with their own similes and metaphors. Students will be motivated to come up with decent metaphors because I will tell them that we will be using their metaphors for a class assignment in a few minutes. Next, we will briefly discuss the differences between similes and metaphors. Why do we differentiate between the two? What’s the difference between comparing two things with “like” or “as”, and comparing them with “is”? When would you use one form over the other? Why? Finally, I will introduce extended metaphors, using a poem to demonstrate the concept (also included below).

Extended Metaphor – “Identity”: 10 minutesAfter reviewing similes, metaphors, and extended metaphors, students will read Julio Noboa Polanco’s “Identity” for a clear example of an extended metaphor. There are both similes and metaphors in this poem, so students will be asked to differentiate between the two. More importantly, the poem uses a vivid and descriptive extended metaphor in an obvious manner, which should help students to recognize such a metaphor when they see it and understand how and why it is used. Students will read the poem from the overhead, and then we will discuss it, following the prompts I gave them before they read the poem. I find that every time I read a piece of literature, I take something different away from it, depending on what I was looking for when I read it. I plan to give the prompts first so that students know what to look for before they start reading.

Write Your Own (brief) Extended Metaphor: 20 minutesAt this point, students should have a good idea of what an extended metaphor looks like. It’s time to reinforce that knowledge with some application. Using the metaphors they came up with earlier in class, students will get into groups of four or five and choose one metaphor. Each student will then write a brief stanza for a collective poem, extending the metaphor. I’m not looking for publication-quality poetry here (hence the short time frame). All I want to do is get students thinking about how they would develop extended metaphors in order to apply what we just learned and to make them more receptive to the extended metaphor in “The Metamorphosis” itself. After about 15 minutes, I’ll ask students to start wrapping their poems up. They will finish their stanzas and decide how to order them before turning them in. For the sake of time, I’ll accept a sheet of paper from each student with their stanza on it, as long as they are ordered properly for the poem as a whole. I will review their poems after class, and then I will read some selections at the beginning of the next class period.

Extended Metaphor in “The Metamorphosis”: 10 minutesNow that my students are pretty familiar with extended metaphors, I will ask them to get out their graphic novels and think about the extended metaphor in the story. Recall that on Day 3, I ended without closure, asking students to think about non-literal ways of interpreting the story. Now it’s time to discuss what they’ve come up with, especially in light of what they just learned. Students will still be in the groups they got into in order to write their extended metaphor poetry, so I will just turn these groups into small discussion groups.

Simile, Metaphor, and Extended Metaphor

As you will recall, similes compare two things which are apparently unlike each other by using “like” or “as” in the comparison:

“Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get.” (Forrest Gump)

“I am constant as the northern star.” (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)

In contrast, metaphors compare two things by saying that one IS the other:

Traffic is murder.

Life is a journey (or a beach, a mountain, a race, etc.).

The major difference between these two figures of speech, then, is the severity of the comparison. It is a bit softer to say that something is like something else than to say that something is something else. Metaphors tend to evoke stronger images because you think of more than just a comparison between two things – you think of one becoming the other. This is even more pronounced in an extended metaphor, which explores a metaphor and its many aspects throughout a literary work.

So what’s the point? Why not just make an ordinary comparison? Similes and metaphors grab your attention and engage your imagination; they are interesting and cause you to think about similarities you may not have noticed otherwise, while giving us new ways of looking at the world.

Consider the extended metaphor in the following poem. First, separate the similes from the metaphors. What makes some of the figures of speech metaphors, as opposed to similes? How is the imagery stronger as a metaphor than it would be as a simile? Next, identify the extended metaphor. What is gained by extending the metaphor, instead of just stating it once and moving on? What does this specific extended metaphor tell you about the poet’s feelings about himself and others?

(The poem is on the next page.)

“Identity”

Let them be as flowers, always watered, fed, guarded, admired, but harnessed to a pot of dirt.I would rather be a tall, ugly weed,Clinging on cliffs, like an eagleWind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surfaceOf stone,To live, to feel exposed to the madnessOf the vast, eternal sky.To be swayed by the breezes of anAncient sea,Carrying my soul, my seed, beyondThe mountains of timeOr into the abyss of the bizarre.

I'd rather be unseen, and ifThen shunned by everyone,Than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,Growing in clusters in the fertile valley,Where they're praised, handled, andPluckedBy greedy, human hands.

I'd rather smell of musty, green stenchThan of sweet, fragrant lilac.If I could stand alone, strong and free,I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.

- Julio Noboa Polanco

Now it’s your turn. You can develop any metaphor into an extended metaphor, but let’s take “Life is a race” as an example. If you were going to write a poem about life being a race, how would you extend the metaphor? In what ways is life a race? What are the more specific similarities between the two? What characteristics do they share? Use your imagination and don’t be afraid to transform life into a race as you write your poem, just like Polanco transformed himself into a weed in his poem. Notice how Polanco uses descriptive language and involves many senses, giving the reader a sense of how it would feel to be a weed. Try to do the same thing in your poem – immerse the reader in the world of the metaphor.

DAY 7: Communication

Goals: Communication (or a lack thereof) is a major theme of “The Metamorphosis”. Many of the Samsa family’s problems could have been solved if there were better communication among them. This claim can be directly supported by quotes in the short story. We will start this lesson by briefly discussing some of the quotes from the short story that deal with communications issues. Then we will move on to a fun and interesting activity that should really get students thinking about communication. Specifically, they should realize how hard it must have been for Gregor to try to make his needs know when no one understood him, and how hard it must have been for his family to deal with someone that had become unintelligible. The loftier goal of this lesson, and arguably of the short story itself, is to get the students to think about these issues next time they’re in a situation in which communication is lacking. What can they do in order to communicate better? What should they expect from others in terms of communication? How can they make those expectations known?

Standards Addressed: 4. Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and


Materials: Group role assignments, scripts, and discussion questions; “winning” envelopes hidden strategically in each group’s territory.

Today’s “Story”:Warm-up: 10 minutesWe will start today’s lesson with a couple of quotes from the story (written on the board):“No request of Gregor's was of any use; no request would even be understood.”“Since they could not understand him, no one, not even his sister, thought that he might be able to understand others, and thus, when his sister was in her room, he had to be content with listening now and then to her sighs and invocations to the saints.”“‘If he only understood us,’ repeated the father and by shutting his eyes he absorbed the sister’s conviction of the impossibility of this point, ‘then perhaps some compromise would be possible with him.’”I plan to lead a general class discussion on the lack of communication in this story by introducing these quotes. Through the discussion, I hope to cover the following points:The lack of communication in this story is a two-way street. Gregor assumes no one could ever understand him, and his family assumes that since they cannot understand him, he cannot understand them. We know that Gregor can understand his family, and he may not be completely unable to express himself. Unfortunately, Gregor and his family do not realize all this, and the communication barrier is never overcome. What could have changed for the better if they did learn to communicate?

Attempting to Communicate In Spite of Barriers: 30 minutesThis activity requires the class to break into small groups and act out a scene as Gregor and his family. I have included the assignment as I would hand it to the students, as well as the discussion questions, below (“Communication Activity”). The time allotted for this activity includes the in-class setup time (breaking into groups, choosing roles, etc.), the time for the actual activity itself, and the time it takes to reorganize the room so that we can leave the classroom orderly for the next block. The activity itself is a sort of “double-blind” communication experiment. Each group will choose a member to be Gregor, and the rest will take various roles as family members. Gregor gets different directions than the rest of the family. For Gregor, the task is to get his family to find an envelope that has been hidden in the classroom without using his voice or his hands (since Gregor couldn’t communicate that way in the story). For the family, the assignment is to act out their script while ignoring Gregor’s intrusions. In order to “win” this game, Gregor must get his family to find the envelope with his limited ability to communicate, even though they are not interested in listening to him.

Logistically, I would break the students up into about five groups, depending upon the size of the classroom and the number of students. Let’s say we have a medium-sized classroom and 25 students. In that case, I would create five groups of five students, with one group in each corner and one group in the center. I would plant the winning envelope in an appropriate place for each group (within their territory but somewhat concealed), so it is possible that all five groups could win, especially if one group saw another group find their envelope. Even in that case, each group would still need Gregor’s help in order to find their envelope, since only he knows its location. In addition, I have instructed each “Gregor” not to spoil it for the other teams if their team should win. Hopefully, their sense of competition and fair play will guide them.

I am very interested in trying this activity out in an actual classroom because I am not sure exactly how it will work out. My guess is that it might be a little too difficult to “win” the game because I have told the family members to ignore Gregor. However, the script is a bit short, so students should finish reading it before the five minutes are up. They might think something is odd if their teammate representing Gregor is still trying to get their attention when they’re done talking. Maybe then they will figure out what is going on. When the five minutes are up, if no one has “won”, I plan to give them a hint at how to win and let them have some more time. Ideally, I’d like to have at least one group win. Then we would move on to the discussion portion of the exercise. Groups who successfully finish the activity early can move on to their discussion questions while they wait for the rest of the groups, or watch the other groups try to win, too. I suspect they’ll be more interested in the latter, but I’ll leave both options open to them.

Discussion and Debriefing: 10 minutesWith the game officially over, groups will discuss the questions I included in the handout (see below). Basically, these questions ask them things like why they did or did not win, how they could do better next time, and how this relates to the story. They are also asked to think about what the characters could do differently, and if there was ever a time when

they, personally, failed to communicate well and it caused them to miss out on something. These questions should give students plenty to talk about, and help make this theme quite clear to them. I will debrief as time permits, sharing good responses that I overheard from group discussions and tying up any loose ends as class comes to a close.

Communication Activity

Gregor’s Part

You are Gregor. As far as you can tell, you’ve become a bug, which means that your family doesn’t understand your vocalizations and your hands don’t work like a human’s hands anymore. Therefore, you cannot give verbal instructions or use your hands in order to make yourself understood (for the sake of the exercise, you’ll have to remain silent and keep your hands behind your back). How will you communicate?

In this scenario, your family is discussing how poor they are now that you aren’t working, and they are unsure how they will be able to feed themselves this week. You happen to remember that you once stashed away some money in a book on the bookshelf, but your mind is not what it used to be, so you don’t even remember which book it’s in. (In fact, I have put an envelope into a book on the bookshelf. If you can get your teammates to find it, you “win”.) Your job is to get your teammates to find the envelope in the book, without making ANY vocalizations and while keeping your hands behind your back at all times. You have five minutes. Good luck!

Oh, and if your team does find the envelope, try to keep it a secret so that you do not ruin it for the other teams.

When you’re done, discuss the activity with your group. Were you successful? Why or why not? Every time Gregor’s family saw him, they reacted violently or ran away. Would you have been able to communicate like you just did, if your teammates reacted violently or ran away as soon as you tried to communicate with them? ________________________________________________________________________

The Family’s Part

You are Gregor’s family. Ever since Gregor changed, he has been acting like a madman and hasn’t even spoken to you. You don’t know why you even bother to take care of him anymore. He’s so ungrateful. Furthermore, since he stopped working, you’ve had to work your fingers to the bone just to feed yourselves. All this, and you are still taking care of Gregor. Tonight, you are discussing how you will make enough money to feed yourselves this week. If Gregor butts in, you don’t want to have anything to do with him. He has already caused you enough trouble. Just read the script below in order to complete the exercise. The entire activity should take about five minutes.

When you’re done, discuss this activity as a group. What was Gregor doing while you were reading your script? How did you react? How were you supposed to “win” this game? How were you supposed to know that? Did you win? Why or why not? Can you think of a time when you failed to communicate properly and it caused you to lose out? Share it with your teammates.

Script for Gregor’s Family(For larger groups, parts can be added for the roomers. In this case, each group consists of five students: Gregor, Mother, Father, Grete, and Servant. Gregor, of course, has no lines because his job is to get his family to the money without speaking.)

Father: Now that we’ve just finished our meal, we need to discuss something important. I’ve looked over our funds, and I’m not sure we have enough money to eat for the rest of the week.

Grete: Oh, Father! Say it isn’t so!

Mother: I was afraid this would happen soon. Without Gregor bringing in his dependable paycheck, our savings could not last forever.

Servant: Does this mean you can no longer afford to provide my room and board?

Father: If we don’t come up with something soon, we won’t even be able to feed ourselves. I’m afraid we would have to let you go.

Servant: But where would I go? What would I do?

Father: I’m sorry, but that isn’t our concern. We have to fend for ourselves!

Grete: Well, I may be young, but I might be able to obtain a position as a salesgirl. I wouldn’t make much money, but it would be better than nothing.

Mother: And I can still sew well. What if Grete worked at a clothing store and we sold my garments there?

Father: And I could return to the bank I used to work at and see if they have any openings. There probably won’t be an opening for my old position, but there must be something I can do.

Servant: I like working for you. You’ve all treated me so well. Maybe I could hire myself out for odd jobs to make a little extra money so that we can stay together.

Grete: You would do that just to stay with us? Oh, thank you!

Mother: Yes! With four incomes, we might be able to support ourselves.

Father: Don’t set your hopes too high. Like I said, I probably won’t be able to return to a good position, and salesgirls and seamstresses don’t make all that much money. Even with our servant hiring their labor our, we still won’t be making that much money. Things will be very tight and we will have to make a lot of sacrifices.

Grete: I could take French classes and even study to be a…a…stenographer! Yes, that’s it! Stenographers make good money!

Mother: Dear, it would take a year for you to train in French or stenography in order to make more money. We need to figure out what we can do now.

Servant: I hate to say it, but Gregor’s room and board are not free. Perhaps you could rent out to other boarders.

Father: We can’t just throw Gregor out, but we could all sleep in the same room and rent the other room out. That would bring in some extra income. But our boarders must never see Gregor. Surely, they would leave if they did. And what has he been pestering us about all this time? Gregor, stop this at once! You’re to blame for all this!

(Time at rehearsal: 2 minutes exactly. This should leave extra time for unsuccessful “Gregors” to get their teammates to the envelope.)

DAY 8: Gregor Samsa – Human, Animal, or Monster?

Goals: “The Metamorphosis” reminds us that it is difficult to decide precisely what constitutes “humanity.” Gregor and his family struggle with this problem throughout the story, unsure whether Gregor has lost his humanity and become an animal, or even a monster. The goal of this lesson is to get students thinking about this difficult distinction, and to recognize how subjective it can be. By requiring my students to come up with a technical classification system and stick to it, I hope to leave them unsatisfied. I want them to ask themselves if you can just make rules for “humanity” and apply them blindly. Is “humanity” more subjective than that? Is there something essential in all of us that is impossible to lose? Or can we lose it, and then be classified by some set of rules? Whatever students decide, I think this will provoke an interesting debate in class.

Standards Addressed: 2. Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.4. Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and


Materials: Dry erase board, markers, pen/pencil, paper

Today’s “Story”:Classification Rules: 15 minutesAgain, we’ll start the day with some quotes on the board:“You must try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor...If it were Gregor, he would have long ago realized that a communal life among human beings is not possible with such an animal and would have gone away voluntarily. Then we would not have a brother, but we could go on living and honour his memory. But this animal plagues us.”“I will not utter my brother’s name in front of this monster, and thus I say only that we must try to get rid of it.”I will divide the class into three discussion groups, who will discuss the characteristics of humans, animals, and monsters, respectively. Each group must come up with a thorough list of what qualities a member of their assigned classification should have. What separates a human from an animal? What is a monster? Students will be instructed to write these characteristics as rules that can easily be applied to any questionable subject, like the classification rules in biology. For example, a mammal has fur, and non-mammals do not. In a similar fashion, what does a human have that animals do not? What does a monster have that animals do not? Unlike biology, I am not looking for physical characteristics here, but mental, emotional, social, and other less tangible ones.

Application of Rules: 15 minutesWhen the groups are finished tabulating their rules, I will have them tell me their rules, one by one, as I write them on the board. Anyone can challenge the rules as they are written on the board, but once a consensus has been made, the rule stands. We will

proceed in this fashion until all our rules for humans, animals, and monsters have been created. Then, we will apply these rules to Gregor. We will take a vote as to which classification Gregor deserves according to the rules. Students will be reminded that we’re not going with our “gut feelings” here; we are simply applying the rules. It will be interesting to note that even when we’re simply applying set rules, there will be some debate as to which ones have been met, which haven’t, and what that means for Gregor. Maybe he’s a bit of all three categories. In that case, he’ll have to be classified as the one he shares the most characteristics with. Some students may not like the process or the result, and that is actually what I hope, because it will make for some interesting responses. Response: 20 minutesStudents will be asked to respond, individually and in writing, to the following prompts after we have classified Gregor:

Why did we classify Gregor as we did? Do you agree with our verdict?

If you are not happy with the decision, write a rebuttal. Tell me what classification you think Gregor deserves and how the rules need to be changed in order to reflect that. Make sure you have reasonable justifications for this. You can’t just change Gregor’s classification because it didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to; show that the system is flawed and suggest how to change it.

If you are happy with our verdict:Those who thought Gregor is a human, tell me why some people think he’s an animal or a monster. What mistakes are they making? How could you convince them that he is, indeed, still human?

Those who thought Gregor is an animal, where exactly is Gregor on this continuum – closer to human, dead center (simply an animal), or on the verge of becoming a monster? If Gregor lived a while longer, where would he continue to move on this continuum? Why? With this in mind, how should others treat him? Is there any way to redeem him or should people just get rid of him, as his sister suggests?

Those who thought Gregor is a monster, what could he do to become more human? Is this possible for him? How should others treat him – is there any way to redeem him or should they just get rid of him, as his sister suggests?

Student responses will be collected at the end of class.

DAY 9: The Family’s Perspective

Goals: My goal for today’s lesson is to have the students write a letter to a fictional family member that helps shape the review for the test.



Materials: “The Metamorphosis” graphic novel, whiteboard and markersComputer lab

Today’s “Story”Writing a letter to a family member Activity: 40 minutesFor today’s activity, we will be going into the computer lab. I will have the students write a letter from the point of view of one of Gregor’s family members. They will have to write the letter to another family member (this member can be made up) explaining all that has been going on in their lives. Because this can potentially be a “review” of the novel for the test, I would include all of the relevant “happenings” that occurred in the story. Remember to write as the character, and use this to help form your letter. How did what happened to Gregor directly affect the character you chose? What was their original relationship, and what was their relationship like at the end of the story?

Wrap up and Closing thoughts: 10 minutesFrom today’s activity, I want you to review the original text, and go back to the graphic novel to ensure that your understandings of the two coincide for the test. Be sure to review all of the materials from each lesson as a study guide.

Day 10: Summative Assessment

Goals:The first half of my summative assessment is the assignment we began last week, “Your Own Metamorphosis”. Students will be expected to turn this assignment in at the beginning of class. For the rest of the class period, students will take the exam I have included below. This particular exam was developed in order to assess students on various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. There are questions that assess knowledge, comprehension, analysis, and evaluation. The other half of the exam (“Your Own Metamorphosis”) assesses application and synthesis of the material, so together, this entire assessment should cover all the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. In addition, the entire exam covers different learning types, as there are visual elements, short factual answers, labeling, and short analytical essay responses to be made. Finally, students were given an entire week in order to complete the first half of the exam, both in class and at home. This gives ample opportunity for students who are poor test takers to take their time and produce the best they can. The second half of the exam must be completed in a single class period, so it should challenge students in a more traditional manner.

In addition to the two-part exam, there are many other assessments that have been turned in along the way. Students have drawn and explained facial expressions to convey emotion, written narratives based on the graphic novel, written group poems centered on extended metaphors, drawn up a classification system for humans, animals, and monsters, and written a letter from the perspective of another character in the story. Bringing all these assessments together should give me a decent picture of where each student stands at the end of this unit.

Standards Addressed:2. Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.3. Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure,



Section 1: Short Answers

Comics/Graphic NovelsList three distinctions we discussed in class between a comic book and a graphic novel.

Label the parts of the comic/graphic novel page circled in red below and number the text in the order that it should be read:

“The Metamorphosis”List two contributing factors to Gregor’s mental instability that we learn about in the beginning of the story.

Why did Gregor’s sister want to move the furniture out of his room?

How did Gregor respond to the furniture moving, and what does this tell you about him?

Why do you think Grete’s attitude towards Gregor changed towards the end?

What two things do Gregor’s family members plan to do now that he is dead?

Section 2: Short Essays (answer one from Group A and one from Group B)Group A:Do you agree with the distinction between comic books and graphic novels, or do you think it is contrived? Why?

Are graphic novels a form of literature? Why or why not?

Group B:Is Grete right to say that Gregor has become an animal, or even a monster? Why or why not?

Do you think that Gregor’s family treated him reasonably? Why or why not? What should they have done differently?

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