Author:
Ron Chesmore
Subject:
Graphic Arts, Literature, World Cultures
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration, Homework/Assignment, Lesson, Lesson Plan, Reading
Level:
Middle School
Tags:
  • Comic Maker
  • Legends
  • Myth
  • Myth and Culture
  • Native American Arts and Culture
  • Native American Legends
  • Native American Literature
  • Storytelling
  • License:
    Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike
    Language:
    English
    Media Formats:
    Downloadable docs, Graphics/Photos, Video

    Education Standards

    Creating Native American Myths and Legends Using Pixton Comic Creator

    Creating Native American Myths and Legends Using Pixton Comic Creator

    Overview

    Creating Native American Myths and Legends is a five-part lesson plan asking students to research a traditional or modern Native American myth or legend story and then turn that story, or create an original story into a Pixton graphic cartoon representation. The lesson provides an overview of the basic elements of myths and legends so that students are aware of the structure and key components of each as it relates to Native American storytelling. While traditional methods of Native American storytelling rely heavily on oral storytelling, modern graphic novel collections of stories such as Trickster: Native American Tales are providing a new way of recording traditional stories and providing an outlet for new creations for modern Native American artists and storytellers. The project follows an adapted inquiry model and uses the graphic cartoon generator software website Pixton.com, as well as GSuite for Education.

    Overview and Lesson: Native American Myths and Legends

    Teacher: Use the Native American Myths & Legends Lesson Slides to provide an overview of the elements of both types of stories. 

    Creating Native American Myths and Legends is a five-part lesson plan asking students to research a traditional or modern Native American myth or legend story and then turn that story, or create an original story into a Pixton graphic cartoon representation. The lesson provides an overview of the basic elements of myths and legends so that students are aware of the structure and key components of each as it relates to Native American storytelling. While traditional methods of Native American storytelling rely heavily on oral storytelling, modern graphic novel collections of stories such as Trickster: Native American Tales are providing a new way of recording traditional stories and providing an outlet for new creations for modern Native American artists and storytellers. The project follows an adapted inquiry model and uses the graphic cartoon generator software website Pixton.com, as well as GSuite for Education. 

    Step one in the process of creating your Pixton comic representation of a Native American myth or legend is to view the attached lesson slides to understand the elements of myth and legends stories. 

    Investigate

    Teacher: Students should have time to browse the many links on the Wakelet site to view examples of myths and legends, so as to give them ideas and vision for the project. 

    Step two in creating our own Native American myth or legend is to investigate and search for examples of such stories in the following Wakelet site documents. These resources will help you understand the elements and story structures of Native American myths and legends, exposing you to a variety of different stories from diverse Native American cultures. It provides websites with links to stories by Native American tribal group/nation, subject, and type of story (myth or legend). Several YouTube videos of stories read-aloud from picture books to oral storytellers weaving their tales will not only entertain you but will demonstrate how to tell these stories and inspire your creativity.  

    Synthesize

    Teacher: Students should be given ample time to draft the basic story elements for their myth or legend project, before using the Pixton comic creation tool. This will give them a good outline for creating the final product. 

    Step three in creating your own Native American myth or legend is to organize your ideas in a graphic organizer (attached). Included is a list of writing prompts for story ideas, as well as the scoring rubric to help you know how your story will be evaluated. This graphic organizer will help you to clarify the important elements of your story: 

    1) What is the story trying to explain? 

    2) Who are the main characters and what types of characters are they? (Human, non-human, spirit-being, etc.)

    3) What is the setting of the story? 

    4) What is the plot of the story (beginning, middle, and end)?

    5) What is the theme and/or lesson/moral of the story? 

    6) An explanation of the "creative way" the myth explained the natural phenomenon, or how was the hero/heroine able to solve the problem in the legend? How did the hero/heroine make the world better at the end of the legend? 

    Once this is complete, you may begin creating your Pixton cartoon/graphic myth or legend in the next section.

    Make sure that when you title your myth or legend that you give credit to the original storyteller, author, or Native American culture if you adapted it from one of theirs. For example: If you created an adapted story from one of Robert Lewis', include this under your title: Adapted from a story by Robert Lewis.

    Express

    Teacher: 

    Tutorial video: Have students watch this tutorial video of how to set up and use the features of the Pixton site. Acquiring a class subscription to the annual all-access plan (for single teacher licensing) or getting a school-wide license is preferred. This allows teachers and students unlimited, all access to Pixton's creator tools. 

    Sharing the projects: Create a class Wakelet for sharing their projects with one another. Go to this Wakelet link to create your class Wakelet and send the link to your students. You will have to set up a teacher account if you have not used Wakelet before.  

    In step four, you will use the Pixton.com comic story creator site to create your own Native American myth or legend story in a graphic novel/comic format. Select "students" and your account will be linked to your school Google account. When you are finished with your creation, ask your teacher for the Wakelet link to post your Pixton story to share with the class. 

    Watch the Pixton introduction video to learn how to use this creation tool. This tutorial gives you the basics of how to set up your avatar, and how to start using the comic creator tools. The basic version of the software is shown in this tutorial, but you will most likely be using the full school version which will provide all access to Pixton's tools. 

    How to make a comic with Pixton

     

     

    Reflect

    Teacher: Reflection is the last step in the process of completing the project. You may make this a mandatory step toward project completion, reflected on the rubric score, or award bonus points for completing the reflection. 

    Lastly, open up a Google doc and share it with your teacher. Step 5 requires you to reflect on the quality of your work in this project by answering the following questions in a paragraph or two. 

    About yourself: 

    What is the most important thing you learned in this project? 

    What do you wish you had spent more time on or done differently? 

    What part of the project did you do your best work on? 

     

    About the project: 

    What was the most enjoyable part of this project? 

    What was the least enjoyable part of this project? 

    How could your teacher change this project to make it better next time? 

    Other comments?