Comics Lesson: Indigenous Superheroes
Lesson Plan
1 hour 40 minutesGrades11, 12English Language Arts
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Written by Hannah Loera
About this lesson
In this lesson, students learn about Indigenous sustainability practices, create Indigenous superheroes, and write a comic strip that represents a key message of an Indigenous climate leader.
Inquire: Students draw on their prior knowledge of compelling storytelling and 7th generation climate heroes.
Investigate: Students watch a video to learn more about Indigenous sustainability practices, and brainstorm the characteristics and practices of Indigenous climate leaders.
Inspire: Students create a fictional comic strip to spread the message of 7th generation thinking and Indigenous climate heroes.
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Positives
- This lesson aligns with Hawai'i's Nā Hopena A'o HĀ-BREATH Framework.
- Students have the autonomy to explore climate activists that they find interesting.
- Students use creativity and imagination to develop new stories.
- Students feel connected to the youth activists they are researching because they are young people from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
- Students will feel inspired to take an active role in their future.
- Students can choose to present their information in a digital or hand-drawn format.
Additional Prerequisites
- This is lesson 2 of 2 in our 11th-12th grade Climate Superheroes unit.
- Students should have an understanding of basic story structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution or denouement.
- Teachers should be familiar with the following ōlelo (Hawaiian language):
- Ahupua'a: watershed
- Kupuna: elders, experts, wisdom carriers
- Makai: ocean
- Mauka: mountain
Differentiation
- Students can share their comics in a physical gallery walk for an added movement break or a shared slideshow for movement-impaired students.
- Teachers can use the following scaffolding options as needed:
- Read aloud the article and accompanying written resources.
- Provide sentence stems for students to guide them through the comic writing section.
- Allow students to complete the written portion through the Google Docs talk-to-text feature.
- Ensure closed captioning is enabled for all videos.
- Teacher can assign the following enrichment options:
- Students can conduct additional research on their climate heroes to add more depth to their comic books.
- Consider selecting students to present to Community Based Instruction courses or partnering with elementary school classes to have students share their comic books.
- After creating their comic book, students can consider adapting their story using a second medium of their choice (hand-drawn comic book, oral recording, digital comic book, movie, etc.).
From the scientist review
The need to include Indigenous peoples' stories, thoughts, sustainable solutions, and voices in international climate debates is emphasized in this lesson as well as their involvement in the battle against climate change. It is crucial to highlight the work that Indigenous climate activists and leaders are doing in their communities to combat climate change, and this is something that should be emulated. This lesson passed our science review after the lesson materials were fact-checked.
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About the teacher writer
Hannah Loera
Special Education English Teacher
Hannah Loera is a special education and English teacher with over 20 years of experience in education. She holds an undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from Truman State University and a Master of Education in Instructional Leadership from Chaminade University. Hannah is certified to teach Special Education (Grades 6–12) and Secondary English (Grades 6–12)
