Political Cartoons and Comic Strips

Table of Contents

Political Cartoons and Comic Strips Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Quick Ideas for Examining Political Cartoons and Comic Strips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Exemplar Lessons Bowery Boy Detective (K–2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Student Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Little Orphan Annie (3–5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Student Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Standard Oil (6–8). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Student Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 ABCs for Baby Patriots (9–12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Student Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

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#51478—Analyzing and Writing with Primary Sources

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Political Cartoons and Comic Strips Overview What Is Their Importance? Political cartoons and comic strips are primary source documents that give us a visual of life during the times in which they were created. Through these documents we learn how people dressed, how they talked, and the hot topics of that time period. Some of the primary sources included in the exemplar lessons are a comic book cover, Little Orphan Annie comic strip, Standard Oil political cartoon, and excerpts of cartoons from a children’s book during the age of British imperialism. These are only a very small sampling of what can be included in the category of political cartoons and comic strips.

How Have They Changed Over Time? Political cartoons and comic strips have changed over time. Long ago, these visual documents had more text and detailed images that told a story. Today, these images have grown simpler, but have no less satire. In one way or another, comic strip topics tend to reflect the concerns of the time. Whether students are analyzing cartoons and comics from long ago or current ones found in newspapers and online, inferential skills are still needed to decode the message being shared.

Where Can I Find Them? Political cartoons and comic strips are visual documents that can be found at the prints and photographs division of the Library of Congress, books, newspapers, and online databases in the form of digitized documents. Entire books at the library can contain vintage comic strips from long ago and can be used with a document camera so that all students have access to them.

Why Should I Use Them in the Classroom? Visual literacy is the ability to understand communications composed of visual images and the ability to use visual imagery to communicate to others. Political cartoons and comic strips from the past communicate concerns and ideals visually with us today. These documents are reader-friendly because they contain a short amount of text as well as visual images to support the text or dialogue. Sarcasm usually plays a big role, which is often a difficult concept for students to grasp. However, the visuals lend a large amount of support in understanding these documents. As students study these visual documents, they gain an appreciation of past societies, their struggles, and what they valued as a society. This knowledge helps students expand their global view of the past and the present, realizing that, while times and surroundings might change, in many ways what people value has stayed the same. At the same time, students become strong visual readers. Having strong visual literacy skills helps students decode information found in other visual images like charts, graphs, and maps.

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How Do I Use Them for Instruction? Comic strips and political cartoons are great documents to introduce students to a topic. Political cartoons require deep digging to get to the message of the cartoon. Comic strips are often more simplified and carry a dialogue that helps us to understand what is going on. Both of these types of documents can be acted out. Students can analyze these and then create their own in today’s language or images.

Scaffolding for Elementary Students

First, students should scan the image for the primary focus or main attraction. Grades K–2: Use very simple The creator of the image uses a primary focus or main attraction to cartoons. Consider cartoon grab a reader’s attention. It could be a characters that students are familiar caricature of a person or an object. Then, with first. students should examine the interaction with that primary focus. Is the person Grades 3–5: Guide these students doing something? Is the object doing through a think-aloud as you something or is something being done examine the cartoon or comic strip. with that object? Next, students should Then, give students a similar one to use clues to decide on the intended audience. Often, questions such as “Who analyze in small groups in the same would this appeal to?” and “What point way. of view is this taking?” help students determine the intended audience. Students can then determine the context of the document. Often, political cartoons and comic strips reflect an important news story or event during that time. These events give context to the visual image(s). Students should look for symbols within the cartoon or comic strip. What do these symbols mean? And finally, students should examine any other small themes within the cartoon. These little details often tell us more about the image.


Political Cartoons and Comic Strips Overview (cont.)

Students should be taught to examine the following:

1. Scan to find the primary focus. 2. Look at the interaction that is taking place with that primary focus. 3. Determine the intended audience. Ask, Who would this appeal to? • What point of view is this taking? •

4. Determine the context of the document. 5. Look at the other symbols that are included and determine their meaning. 6. Look for other small details that share important themes or information. © Shell Education


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Quick Ideas for Examining Political Cartoons and Comic Strips Ideas for K–2 Have students…

Ideas for 3–5 Have students…

• re-enact the image using • make suggestions for their physical bodies.

• write new dialogue to

replace any dialogue in the primary source.

• add new frames or

images to show what happens next.

• add new frames or

images to show what happened before.

• make new cartoons

about the same subject.

changing the language and symbols to reflect today’s society.

• write new or

replacement dialogue to more effectively show the author’s purpose.

Ideas for Secondary Have students…

• recreate the primary

source to make the same point using imagery and symbols from today.

• list the symbols used and describe each symbol with the emotions it evokes.

• write explanations that

• redraw the political

• write new captions to

• write letters to a

clearly explain the meaning of the primary source. accompany the image.

• compare and contrast

two similar cartoons or comic strips.

cartoon or comic strip from different historical perspectives. newspaper editor arguing with the point of view shared in the primary source.

• create political cartoons or comic strips that show what happens later.

• critique the primary source by writing critical reviews.

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Grades

K–2


Bowery Boy Detective Teacher Background Information

Overview Students closely read a comic book cover and answer questions about the text, supporting their answers with references to the text. Then students create comic book covers to show their opinion of what heroes mean to them, using the texts as references for creating their own ideas.

Standards • Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

• Write opinion pieces in which they

introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.

• Understand changes in community life over time.

Materials • Bowery Boy Comic Book Cover (page 176)

• Modern day comic book cover • Superheroes (page 177) • Looking at Comic Books (page 178) • Opinion/Argument Writing Rubric 1

Bowery Boy Comic Book Cover

• One of the favorite weekly series of stories for

boys in the early 1900s was the Bowery Boy Library. Ernest Avon Young, John H. Whitson, and W. Bert Foster were the actual authors, but the stories were all written under the pen name John R. Conway. The series was about Bowery Billy, a poor, homeless boy detective who solved mysteries in “the whirlpools and slums” of the great city of New York. The stories were about his resourcefulness and courage in the face of great problems. The Winner Library Company published the series. The first Bowery Billy story appeared on October 21, 1905, and the last one was published on September 14, 1907.

Reading Closely 1. Distribute copies of Bowery Boy Comic Book Cover to students.

2. Have students look at the comic book cover in

pairs. If possible, give students magnifying glasses to see the comic book cover up close.

3. Read the text aloud to students. Have the

students circle any words that are unfamiliar.

4. Begin the discussion by asking students to share

what they observed about the comic book cover.

5. Ask students to share words they circled and

discuss their meanings. Use the discussion questions from the Language section on page 175 to help facilitate this discussion. Allow students to make notes or draw pictures to help them remember the meanings of the difficult words.

(page 305)

• magnifying glasses (optional)

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K–2 Exemplar Lesson

Bowery Boy Detective (cont.) Using Text-Dependent Questions 6. Reread the comic book cover and do an

interactive read-aloud, noting the primary focus, the intended audience, and all of the symbols or important details that you see. Allow students to join in and say what they notice for the first time, too.

7. Continue discussing the comic book cover using the Key Ideas/Details and Craft and Structure questions on page 175.

8. Distribute copies of a modern day comic

book cover. Examine this together as a class.

9. Discuss the similarities and differences

between the two covers by asking students the first question in the Integration of Knowledge and Ideas section.

Writing for Understanding (Opinion/Argument)

1. Tell students that they will create a comic

book cover that shows their opinion of what a hero means to them. They can use words on this cover to explain what this hero does and says as well as pictures and symbols. They should use the ideas from the two comic book covers they’ve observed to help them create their own.

2. Meet with students to have them explain how they used the comic book covers in their own ideas.

3. Use Opinion/Argument Writing Rubric 1 to assess student writing.

10. Distribute copies of the Superheroes graphic organizer and have students record their comparisons in pairs.

11. Discuss the second question listed under

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. If desired, have students record their responses to this question using the Looking at Comic Books activity sheet.

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K–2 Exemplar Lesson


Bowery Boy Detective (cont.) Discussion Questions

Craft and Structure

Language

• How does the artist use suspense in this

cartoon to make us want to read the story?

• Answers might vary somewhat, but a blazed trail

Someone is holding on for life. We don’t know

Key Ideas/Details

• What did the artist want us to know about this

•

The artist wanted us to know that the story was

What is a “Blazed Trail”?

means to do something that no one else has done; it is something important.

What are some of the unusual things you noticed about this cartoon? What are you thinking about the cartoon?

Answers will vary. Some students might think it is a fight between the boys or an adventure story.

• How do we know that trouble is happening in this cartoon?

The boys are on top of a building and one boy

is pushing the other off. The text also says that Bowery Billy is clinging to the support while the other boy’s arms are pushing him.

• It says Man-Hunters and the author is a private

What clues tell you that this is a mystery story? detective.

• How do we know which boy is Billy? Billy is the one hanging on to the support. The text at the bottom tell us this.

• How do we know that this is an older cartoon? The date says 1906. The price is only five cents,

what is going to happen. People from down below see it and are either yelling for help or cheering the boy on. cartoon? How do we know this?

exciting. We know this because Billy is hanging off of the building and is in a struggle with the other boy.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas (Show both comic book covers.)

• How do these two examples show

superheroes? How are they alike and how are they different?

Answers will vary based on the examples. We know Bowery Billy is a hero because he is the topic and main character who takes on stronger people.

• What do these texts tell us about what people enjoy?

Answers will vary based on the examples. The

texts tell us that people like mysteries, adventure, and heroes. They like good vs. evil.

which is really cheap. The buildings and the drawing of the cartoon look old-fashioned.

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Bowery Boy Comic Book Cover

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Name:____________________________________________ Date: _________________________

Superheroes Directions: How do these two examples show superheroes? How are they alike? How are they different? Write or draw your answers in the boxes below. Alike

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Different


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Name:____________________________________________ Date: _________________________

Looking at Comic Books Directions: Look at the comic book covers. Answer the question. What do these texts tell us about what people enjoy? _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________

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Grades

3–5


Little Orphan Annie Teacher Background Information

Overview Students closely read a set of cartoon strips and answer questions about the text, supporting their answers with references to the texts. Then students write a four-frame cartoon strip that explains how hard times affect families today.

Standards • Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

• Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

• Understand the environmental and social impact of the Great Depression. Materials • Little Orphan Annie Cartoon Strips

Little Orphan Annie Cartoon Strips

• People of the Depression era sought various forms of entertainment that provided either escape from their lives or empathy for their situations. Comic strips like “Little Orphan Annie” showed a determined girl who could relate with the general public’s troubles. She pulled herself up by her bootstraps while also helping the people around her. People used entertainment to divert their attention from the poverty and sadness around them.

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

• This story is about a homeless boy who lives in

an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal trying not to be noticed, and is given hope when a trapped bird finally finds its freedom.

The Lost Boys of Sudan Video

• Uploaded to YouTube.com by KTEH on June 4,

2009, this video is a profile on Sudanese civil war survivors, Simon Deng and Peter Nyok, and their experience as “Lost Boys” during the Sudanese Civil War. This video can be found online by searching the key words Lost Boys of Sudan video.

(page 182)

• Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting • “The Lost Boys of Sudan” video • How to Survive (page 183) • Little Orphan Annie Questions (page 184)

• Informative/Explanatory Writing Rubric 2 (page 303)

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3–5 Exemplar Lesson

Little Orphan Annie (cont.) Reading Closely 1. Distribute copies of Little Orphan Annie Cartoon Strips to students.

2. Read each of the cartoon strips to the class,

pausing after each one so that students can make notes in the margins about what they observe in the text as well as what other information they need to know to make the content of the text understandable. Have them also circle any unfamiliar words or phrases.

3. Begin the discussion by asking students to

share what they observed about these three cartoon strips.

4. Ask students to share words they circled and discuss their meaning. Use the discussion questions from the Language section on page 181 to help facilitate this discussion. Allow students to make notes to help them remember the meanings of the difficult words or phrases.

9. Distribute copies of the How To Survive

graphic organizer and allow students to work in pairs to compare the sources and record their thoughts.

Writing for Understanding (Informative/Explanatory)

1. Tell students that they will be writing a

cartoon strip that tells how some families have hard times because either they don’t have places to live, money to pay for things, or other needs—let students choose or you choose for them. Their cartoon strip should be at least four frames and should explain what they have learned about this topic so that people will understand the problem.

2. Allow students to share their cartoons in small groups.

3. Use Informative/Explanatory Writing Rubric 2 to assess student writing.

Using Text-Dependent Questions 5. Reread the text aloud. Have students pay

specific attention to the language and the details in the image that tell about Annie’s life before meeting Daddy Warbucks as well as how Daddy Warbucks feels about Annie.

6. Continue the discussion using the Key Ideas/

Details and Craft and Structure questions on page 181 as a guide. Distribute copies of Little Orphan Annie Questions to students and allow them time to record their responses using evidence from the text and the discussion.

7. Read Eve Bunting’s picture book Fly Away

Home to students and watch the video “The Lost Boys of Sudan.”

8. Discuss the questions listed under Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

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3–5 Exemplar Lesson


Little Orphan Annie (cont.) Discussion Questions

Craft and Structure

Language

• What is the author’s intended purpose of this

•

The author’s intended purpose was to show that

What does it mean when the text says “you can’t care for an old duffer like me any more”?

He means that he is a washed up old man. Key Ideas/Details

• What are some of the unusual things you

noticed about this cartoon? What are you thinking about the cartoon?

Answers will vary. Students might say that they did not know that Daddy Warbucks lost all his money.

• Why did Daddy Warbucks lock the door and then pretend he didn’t know how it got locked?

He wanted to think things out alone. Some

students might know that he (like many men at that time) was contemplating suicide. (Teacher Note: Suicide is a sensitive topic that may not be appropriate to discuss with students. Although it is an underlying meaning that is present in this cartoon, it is not essential that students understand this point in order to comprehend the message from the comic’s author.)

cartoon? How do we know this?

even a rich man can become poor and have worries. The text says that a little job would mean more to him than all his money meant to him a few months ago. The author is showing him as a real person.

• How did the comic book format impact the purpose of the text?

The comic book format is nonthreatening as a

text and can reach more people. So people might read this and understand how this man is coping with losing everything.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas (Use all three sources.)

• How do the experiences of Annie and Daddy Warbucks, Andrew and his father, and the Lost Boys compare to one another? How are they alike, and how are they different?

Answers will vary, but students may say that

all three were homeless or were going to be homeless and they struggled for basic needs. They are different in their specific situations.

• What clues tell you about Annie’s life before

• What do these texts tell us about the people

We know that Annie has not always lived with

Answers will vary, but students may say that these

• What does Daddy Warbucks think about

• In what ways do these texts tell a story about

meeting Daddy Warbucks?

Daddy Warbucks, that she was poor before, and that she is a good student. Annie? How does this change over the course of the text? Explain your thinking using evidence from the cartoon.

At first, he thinks that he must protect her. By the end of the cartoon, he is sharing adult worries with her without being protective.

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and events during which they were created?

texts tell us that throughout history people have struggled with homelessness. survival? Cite evidence from the text.

The cartoon shows survival in the way that Daddy

Warbucks is searching for a job but not giving up in the last cartoon strip. The boy and his father talk about a day when they will have their own place like they used to before his mother died. They both work to save money. The Lost Boys of Sudan did not give up even though they had to walk thousands of miles and were rejected at various places.


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Little Orphan Annie Cartoon Strips

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Name:_____________________________________ Date: _______________________

How to Survive Directions: Use this chart to show how each primary source illustrates the theme of survival. Little Orphan Annie

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Fly Away Home

The Lost Boys of Sudan


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Name:_____________________________________ Date: _______________________

Little Orphan Annie Questions Directions: Read the text. Answer the questions below. 1. What are some of the unusual things you noticed about this cartoon? What do you think about the cartoon? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 2. What clues tell you about Annie’s life before meeting Daddy Warbucks? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 3. What does Daddy Warbucks think about Annie? How does this change over the course of the text? Explain your thinking using evidence from the cartoon. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

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