Social Issues and Zines – 5th Grade
In this unit, students created zines that convey personal values and beliefs through an imagined superhero. Students were asked to think about a problem they see existing in the world around them and to create a superhero and superpower to solve it. We brainstormed as a class together, then students drafted their ideas onto a graphic organizer (worksheet below).
We spent 3 class periods working on the storyboards for the zines. I reviewed the content before each class and printed out supplemental material that might be helpful for students to cut and paste into their zines. We looked at examples of comic book and graphic novel illustrator styles to get inspired, and we considered how our reader would interpret our story.
Before the last day of the unit, I made a copy of each student’s storyboard before we cut and folded them. Students kept their original, and after a gallery walk in the room, students had the opportunity to trade their additional copy of the zine with each other.
Here are some of the finished products! Photos include some zines pre-folded and others folded.
