Need for Project
From the American Psychological Association: “Self-esteem and perceived competence are necessary for students to take risks in their learning and to bounce back after failure or adversity. Low self-esteem or lack of confidence leaves students doubting their ability to succeed, making them hesitant to engage in learning or take appropriate academic growth risks. Self-esteem is often built and buttressed through estimable acts and achievements—even small ones.” Most high school students need to write statements of purpose for their college applications and one of the common prompts for the essay is, “Reflect on a time when you overcame a challenge.” This prompt can be disheartening for students who have an inordinate amount of challenges in their life (poverty, violence, trauma), many of which are systemic and there is no clear path towards overcoming. However, by learning to recognize resilience and achievement in their everyday lives, students can potentially develop the self-esteem needed to bounce back after failure, persist in the face of adversity, and take academic or creative risks.

Superhero stories typically follow the hero’s journey as described by Joseph Campbell in his seminal 1949 book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The hero is separated from their world, overcomes challenges and is initiated into a new role, and then returns to their world transformed. The superhero story arc is very similar and they all have an origin story. Superheroes can become superheroes in a few ways - through a chance accident (a spider bite), or a magical object (a ring), or being “chosen” (the chosen one). There are a few other archetypal origin stories, but for simplicity’s sake, this lesson plan has the above mentioned options. In this lesson, students are asked to reflect on their own strengths, and to imagine one of these strengths as their superpower. This is not an ability to fly or shoot lasers from your eyes, this is the power of making your friends laugh, or being really good at math, or always helping out around the house. For this short lesson plan, students will imagine their superhero origin story — Who were they? What were they doing? Where were they when they were “transformed?” How were they transformed? Who did they become? They will then storyboard this using Storyboard That, a simple app that provides backgrounds, characters, and objects to play around with.

Audience
This lesson is designed for 9th to 10th-grade students in any academic setting. The lesson could be expanded upon (i.e. developing a complete storyboard with a conflict, a villain, climax, resolution, etc.) or used as a stand-alone activity. It could also be integrated with other ELA units or used as an arts integration project within a narrative writing unit.

Learning Goals
Through this simple lesson plan, students are engaged in visual storytelling, developing an understanding of narrative structure and character development, while at the same time cultivating an awareness of their own strengths and resilience.

Learning Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.C: Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.D: Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.

MA:Cr1.1.I: Use identified generative methods to formulate multiple ideas, develop artistic goals, and problem solve in media arts creation processes.

MA:Cr2.1.I: Apply aesthetic criteria in developing, proposing, and refining artistic ideas, plans, prototypes, and production processes for media arts productions, considering original inspirations, goals, and presentation context.

Theoretical Framework
Campbell, J. (2004). The hero with a thousand faces. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.

Chung, S.K. (2007). Art Education Technology: Digital Storytelling, Art Education, 60:2, 17-22.

Hokanson, B. & Fraher, R. (2008). Narrative Structure, Myth, and Cognition for Instructional Design. Educational Technology.

Stokes, S. (2002). Visual literacy in teaching and learning: A literature perspective. Electronic Journal for the integration of Technology in Education, 1(1), 10-19.