In this lesson, students will examine the various components of a graphic novel, using Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel as a model text. After analyzing graphic novels as a storytelling genre, students will adapt a scene from a novel of their choosing into a graphic novel spread.

SUBJECT:	English / Language Arts The Arts
GRADE LEVEL:	Middle School High School
OBJECTIVES:	Students will learn about the arts of graphic novels. Students will create a sample graphic novel page spread.
MATERIALS:	Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and Danica Novgorodoff (Atheneum 2020) Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum 2017) Long Way Down Unit organizer View the PDF Introduction to Storytelling, Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/pixar/storytelling/we-are-all-storytellers/v/storytelling-introb) Access to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse worksheet View the PDF Toy Story storyboard image for the claw machine scene (https://medium.com/@kerryhitchner/toy-storys-story-1b57b9803cd0) Storyboarding, Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/hass-storytelling/storytelling-pixar-in-a-box/ah-piab-film-grammar/v/storyboarding-scene)
TIME NEEDED:	One week

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURE

Day 1

Hand out unit organizer. Explain that they will keep this and use it every day. It will be the basis for their daily grade.

Warm up: Project this Twitter thread

Christie DeHart:
@se4realhinton Please consider writing a graphic novel version of The Outsiders. My students love your novel, and I know I could engage more readers who are reluctant and striving with a graphic novel version. Thank you for this beautiful work!

S.E. Hinton:
No The Outsiders is the first book many people read in their life & it shows them they CAN read a book. Not that they can turn the pages on a graphic novel.
(https://twitter.com/se4realhinton/status/1316197957394477058)

Ask students to respond to DeHart's idea and Hinton's response. Discuss student responses and why Hinton might have responded that way. Provide more context on this thread by letting students know that Hinton's comments ignited a debate online over the use of graphic novels in the classroom; with some asserting the value of their use in promoting reading, others insisting that novels are preferable to graphic novels, and still others expressing that reading in any genre should be encouraged. The next day, Hinton Tweeted the following:

Totally changed my opinion on graphic novels today, & should have said many teachers have told me the Outsiders was the 1st book some of their students had completed.
(https://twitter.com/se4realhinton/status/1316498739457073155)

and

In case you haven't noticed, I am reconsidering it & apologize to all fans of graphic novels.(https://twitter.com/se4realhinton/status/1316463479302299648)

Mini-Lesson: Storytelling

Watch Khan Academy's "Introduction to Storytelling" and have half of the students (in small groups) discuss how they think this relates to Hinton's response to someone wanting her to retell her story. Have the other half of the students discuss why Reynolds might have wanted to retell his story in graphic novel format. Pair up groups from each discussion and have them share their group's conclusions.

Each paired group should create a poster with one side labeled "Storytelling in Words" and the other, "Storytelling with Art." For each side, students should fill out possible advantages and disadvanges for each type of storytelling.

Exit ticket: View pages 2–6 of A Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel. Students should write a paragraph about what they think they know about Will, making sure to reference text and images.

Homework: Read Chapter 1

Day 2 (with art teacher)

Warm up: Project an image from a Spiderman comic book. Ask students to write at least five sentences answering these questions:

• Is the image an example of art?
• How is the image telling a story?

Mini-lesson: Art of the Graphic Novel

The art teacher should select a few pages from the graphic novel to discuss with the class in terms of style, medium, color, and other artistic elements.They should refer back to the warm up. The art teacher might also want to bring in other artists or graphic novels to explore the idea of art as storytelling (Warhol, Lichtenstein, Picasso).

Activity: Watch the opening of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Prepare the students to watch the Columbia logo carefully (you will want to show it more than once). Have the students fill out the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse worksheet, then discuss the different styles of art featured there. Next, watch the scene from 11:34–12:07, where Miles creates his graffiti and fill out the worksheet for that section. If time permits, you could also watch 31:40–32:59 and discuss how another form of art, music, is used to tell the story. Paired groups from Day 1 will gather and discuss what they learned about art and storytelling and add to their posters.

Exit ticket: Ask students to think of a novel or story that they would like to adapt into a graphic novel. Why do they think that story would work as a graphic novel? Can they think of a story or novel that might not work for an adaptation? What makes it challenging to adapt?

Homework: Read Chapters 2–3

Day 3

Warm up: Read the text of Chapter 4 and compare it to the corresponding pages of the graphic novel (48–59). How does the impact of the story change from novel to graphic novel? What does the art add?

Mini-lesson: People in Art

The art teacher can lead a discussion of the human figure in art and how to stage a work with multiple people in it.

Have students guess how many people are going to end up in the elevator; then ask, "How can the artist accommodate more people in each image?"

Activity: Have students go back to their paired groups and brainstorm a list of novels to adapt into graphic novels. Each group should vote on their top three to add to a class list. Students must have at least two reasons each novel would be good to adapt. Create a class list and vote on it. Teachers can suggest some novels as well or assign novels for differentiation purposes. In case of a tie, students must support why their book should be on the list. The purpose is to have students consider what content lends itself to graphic novel adaptation.

Exit ticket: Students should decide which book they want to adapt into a two-page graphic novel spread. They should explain why their choice will make a strong adaptation, and which scene from the book they will adapt.

Homework: Read Chapters 5–6

Day 4

Warm up: Project the Toy Story storyboard image, and have students analyze it. What is the image from? How is it different from the finished product? If students have not seen the movie, you may want to show them a scene or just ask them to imagine what changes might happen.

Mini-lesson: Watch part or all of the Khan Academy's lesson on storyboarding to give students the idea that storyboarding doesn't have to be too detailed, just a visual outline of the scene you want to present. The video does use vocabulary related to filmmaking that students may not be familiar with, but let them know that the main point is the planning of their scene.

Activity: Students begin storyboarding hand sketches of their adaptation. Their final project can be any medium; but for this draft, they should do it by hand—remind them this is merely the planning stage.

Exit ticket: Completed storyboard

Homework: Read Chapters 7–8