Calvin & Hobbes Lesson

Calvin and Hobbes—Comic Strips and Imagination 

Topic: Developing Imagination via Comics

Rationale 
Bill Watterson’s, Calvin and Hobbes, is a classic comic strip that ran from 1985-1995 that Calvin and Hobbes is set in the contemporary United States in fictional suburban area. The comic depicts Calvin's fantastic adventures and his friendship with Hobbes, and also examines Calvin's relationships with his family and classmates. Hobbes' dual nature is an interesting motif for the strip—Hobbes is a live anthropomorphic tiger in Calvin’s eyes, yet all the other characters see him as an inanimate stuffed toy. Though the series does not specifically name political figures or current events, it does however explore broad issues like environmentalism, public education, philosophical quandaries, and the flaws of opinion polls.

Objectives

Students will understand:
1.) How to write/illustrate a simple comic strip.
2.) How to think about a complex idea and present it in a simple manner. 

3.) How to use their imagination to understand a complex issue. 

Introduction/Inquiry Question(s) 
1.) What sort of sources do you use to get your news? 

2.) What is the purpose of comics/cartoons? 

3.) How can I make thinking about current events more interesting?

Sequence of Activities 
Introduction 

1.) Ask students how they know what they know about current events. 

2.) Show a handful C&H comic strips—Ask if they think that the comic strips have anything to    do with the news or if they are a news source. 

Activity
1.) Distribute handout with various C&H comic strips (10 comics total); 

2.) Assign appropriate number of students to each comic so there is 1 student for each character in the comic; 

3.) Instruct the students to create their own version of the comic that they can act out as if it were a play; 

4.) Each group performs their rendition for the class. 

Closure/Assessment—Keep the same groups from the previous activity
1.) Direct students to online comic generator if computers are available (if not, distribute paper/have students take paper out of their notebooks) 

2.) Instruct groups to brainstorm a current issue in French culture 

3.) Create a 2-5 panel comic strip that comments on the current issue of their choosing 

4.) Have each group exchange their comic strip with another group 

5.) Attempt to figure out what current French issue the comic is talking about 

Materials/Resources 
- Handout with 10 C&H comic strips
- Computers w/ internet access
- C&H Search Engine—http://michaelyingling.com/random/calvin_and_hobbes/
- On-line Comic Generator—http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/