Graffiti Wall: Discussing and Responding to Literature Using Graphics

Overview

Featured Resources

From Theory to Practice

 

OVERVIEW

This lesson is used for discussion of a novel read by the whole class. Working individually and in groups, using symbols, drawings, shapes, and colors, alongside words and quotations, students construct a graphic of their section of the novel using an online tool and on newsprint or butcher paper with crayons or markers. When all groups have completed their graphics, they will present them to the class, explaining why they chose the elements they used. Finished graphics can be displayed on a class bulletin board, on walls, or on a Web page. Finally, students will write an individual essay analyzing one element of the novel.

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FEATURED RESOURCES

Literary Graffiti Interactive: Using this online tool, students draw images about a text they are reading. They can also write a summary of the text, an explanation of their drawing, and how the drawing is significant to the text.

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FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

Claggett (1992) states that "the use of graphics will help students make meaning as they read, write, and act, [which] is firmly rooted in current thinking about how the mind works." She adapts "Jung's concepts of the four primary ways that we make sense out of the world" (paraphrased as "observing, analyzing, imagining, and feeling") to describe aspects of a balanced approach to learning. Claggett further states that "through the use of graphics, students have opportunities to experience all four functions as they interact with the books they are reading and the essays, stories, and poems they are writing."

Teaching students to visualize what they are reading and create graphic symbols helps them develop as readers. Furthermore, sharing their individual responses in cooperative group activities deepens their understanding and skill as readers and writers.

Further Reading

Claggett, Fran, and Joan Brown. 1992. Drawing Your Own Conclusions. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

 

Armstrong, Thomas. 2003. The Multiple Intelligences of Reading and Writing. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

 

Dale, Helen. 1997. Co-Authoring in the Classroom: Creating an Environment for Effective Collaboration. Urbana, IL: NCTE.

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