Teaching Resources for Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale
One Book / One Bucks County 2005
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Teaching Resources for Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale One Book / One Bucks County 2005 |
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Maus in the Classroom: Unit Two Interdisciplinary Webquest (Grades 11 to 12) Introduction: Art Spiegelman's graphic novel, Maus, has much to recommend it. It won a special Pulitzer Prize, it is a compelling story of the Holocaust and Holocaust survivors, and it is written in an appealing format that tells a story through words and graphics. But should it be used as a teaching resource in the classroom? After all, it looks like a comic book, and it uses humor and characters with animal masks to talk about serious subjects like the Holocaust and depression. Is it literary enough, artistic enough, historically accurate enough to meet the tough academic standards required by your school? And will it offend survivors of the Holocaust and their families? Task: You will be part of a committee appointed by the curriculum supervisor for your school. This committee will discuss whether Maus should be approved for required reading in your high school's English and interdisciplinary studies courses. First you will be assigned a role as an English teacher, a social studies teacher, an art teacher, or a Holocaust survivor. You and other classmates with the same role will work together to evaluate Maus and discuss its merits and issues as they relate to your specialty. Then, you will represent your specialty in an interdisciplinary group to further discuss and evaluate Maus for inclusion in your school's curriculum. Based on what you learn from your own research and the research and opinions of others, you will prepare an essay either recommending or not recommending Maus to the curriculum supervisor. Process:
Resources: English teacher group The job of the English teachers will be to evaluate Maus as a work of literature worthy of study in high school English or interdisciplinary classes. The following questions and resources will help you to focus on specific literary aspects of Maus. Your group can decide how you want to divide the questions. For each question, arguments and supporting facts should be recorded in the decision-making guide. You may make as many copies of the guide as you need to record all of your notes. One member of the group should be assigned to compile all arguments and supporting facts onto one easy-to-read copy of the guide. The group should feel free to discuss their findings, and all arguments should be supported with examples from the book or with critical analyses from the resources listed here. Be sure to document all sources used and use proper format when quoting sources.
The job of the social studies teachers will be to evaluate Maus for its historical accuracy. Art Spiegelman tells the story of his father and mother's experiences in Poland just as World War II was beginning and describes the German persecution of the Polish Jews both in the towns and cities of Poland and in the concentration camps. The following questions and resources will help you to focus on specific historic aspects of Maus. Your group can decide how you want to divide the questions. For each question, arguments and supporting facts should be recorded in the decision-making guide. You may make as many copies of the guide as you need to record all of your notes. One member of the group should be assigned to compile all arguments and supporting facts onto one easy-to-read copy of the guide. The group should feel free to discuss their findings, and all arguments should be supported with examples from the book and facts from resources. You may use any additional reliable resources you like to research the accuracy of Mr. Spiegelman's story. Be sure to document all sources used and use proper format when quoting sources.
The idea of telling the story of the Holocaust and other serious life experiences like depression and suicide in a comic book/graphic novel format might be offensive to some readers -- particularly those who have experienced them personally. In addition to the comic-style format, Mr. Spiegelman also uses humor in his story and often pokes fun at his father. As a Holocaust survivor or a relative of a Holocaust survivor, how would you feel about having the Holocaust presented in your community's high school in this format? Your group should also address the issues of stereotyping national groups by representing them as animals. Do you think this device would be a reason not to recommend Maus as a required book in the classroom? Your group can decide how you want to divide the questions. For each question, arguments and supporting facts should be recorded in the decision-making guide. You may make as many copies of the guide as you need to record all of your notes. One member of the group should be assigned to compile all arguments and supporting facts onto one easy-to-read copy of the guide. The group should feel free to discuss their findings, and all arguments should be supported with examples from the book and facts from resources.
Part of the appeal of Maus is its graphic format. Many students will like the book because of the pictures. But if the book is to be used as required reading, the art must be of excellent quality, and it should be an integral part of the message of the book. You will need to look at the various artistic devices that Art Spiegelman uses in Maus and try to come to some conclusion about how well the artist succeeds in using art to tell his story. Your group can decide how you want to divide the questions. For each question, arguments and supporting facts should be recorded in the decision-making guide. You may make as many copies of the guide as you need to record all of your notes. One member of the group should be assigned to compile all arguments and supporting facts onto one easy-to-read copy of the guide. The group should feel free to discuss their findings, and all arguments should be supported with examples from the book and facts from resources.
Evaluation: Your teacher will provide you with rubrics for evaluating your work on this project. The first rubric might include your individual work in your specialist group as well as your jigsaw group; the second rubric might evaluate your five-paragraph essay; and the third rubric could evaluate your reflection on the project. Perhaps your teacher will want to use other rubrics depending on the amount of time spent on this project and the teacher's educational goals for the project. Conclusion: The graphic novel is an increasingly popular literary genre, and the subject of the Holocaust and human rights violations are topics which have relevance in today's world. In Maus, Art Spiegelman has presented us with a unique approach to this important topic. This webquest and your discussions and reflections on the issue it presents will have provided you with an opportunity to get to know Maus well. If you would like to read other graphic novels, you might try browsing in your school or public library's graphic novel section, or got to the "No Flying, No Tights" web site for a list with reviews http://www.noflyingnotights.com/index2.html. To conclude, please take a few minutes to write a reflection on this assignment. You might want to think about the following to focus your thinking:
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