We have a slightly longer normal morning meeting time on Friday (8:45-9:05), so we used the time for a fun warm-up. Students were given the following sheet:
It was a simple and somewhat silly exercise that generated a torrent of ideas and discussion. Some were bizarre, some were clever, some were subversive of the entire activity, and a couple were all of the above.
Here's a small sampling:
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| The Psychic Eye, created by Aristea. The Psychic Eye is apparently levitating the car above an empty pair of boots. |
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| Henry A. created Invisi-Man, a clever way of getting out of drawing a superhero. Upon further questioning, Henry informed us that Invisi-Man has average strength, but the car is actually a prop made of Styrofoam. |
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| Melissa's Shnozzilla, a giant, armless, anthropomorphic nose, definitely fell into the bizarre (but certainly well thought out!) category. |
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| Bob, by Noah. Bob has no superpowers, but he can operate a crane, which evidently suits his needs just fine. |
Though this seems like a pretty light activity, these low-stakes, highly-creative and open-ended projects help reluctant writers to begin to think about character and story in a fun, non-threatening way. Sharing their heroes with the class was enjoyable for everyone, but it also served as a sneaky way to warm them to the concept of peer review: When a hero was presented or an origin was explained, the class inevitably had questions for the author. Fun, gentle prodding encouraged each student to playfully try to explain the holes in their hero's story.
We had writing time later in the afternoon, and one of the options given was to write a story involving their hero from the morning. Some students made this choice and began developing a narrative for their characters. In at least one case, one student was surprised to discover that his superhero would actually work better as a super villain!
Discussion ideas for home:
Ask your student who their hero was.
Who was their hero's arch-nemesis?
What was his greatest weakness?
Even if they don't have immediate answers, you might have success if you playfully prod them to come up with something on the spot!
These are all so clever! I think Noah's is my favorite; he's really thinking outside the box! I also love that Henry's invisible man has average strength, and the car is a prop. They are really going around convention and expectations, and it's exciting that they each came up with something so unique.
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