Re: Literary Cartoons

["Adams, Cheryl" <AdamsC@CALVERTNET.K12.MD.US>]

The discussion about the importance of students learning nursery rhymes
reminds me of an activity that I used in elementary school. For years I
collected cartoons, including political cartoons, that were based on nursery
rhymes, folk tales, and literature that the writer assumed the reader would
be familiar with in order to appreciate/understand the humor. I laminated
them, put them in envelopes and passed them out to groups of 5th graders. I
asked them to identify the piece of literature that the joke referred to and
how prior knowledge of the literature added to the humor. The point of the
exercise was to use higher level thinking skills to connect literature to
humor/cartoons and to see the importance of knowing and remembering
childhood literature throughout ones' life. Students were encouraged to
write and illustrate their own literary cartoons, and I prize the gems I
received from them which were displayed for all to enjoy. I challenged the
students to find literary cartoons and bring them to me. I received many
that way but also many that weren't literary cartoons at all. Some students
had trouble combining the concept of literature and cartoons.

I assumed the students (no immigrants) would breeze through the exercise but
what I found was how poor students were at identifying the literary
allusions (Pied Piper, Midas and the Golden Touch, etc.). Librarians and
teachers are an extremely important link to passing on our collective
cultural heritage which has to be balanced with teaching literature from
cultures beyond the western European legacy.



Cheryl B. Adams, Media Generalist
Patuxent High School
12485 Rousby Hall Road
Lusby, MD 20657
< mailto:adamsc@calvertnet.k12.md.us <mailto:adamsc@calvertnet.k12.md.us> >

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