Guevara Studies Pt.1 : Childhood and Adolescence

We have been reading in class the graphic novel "Che" by Spain Rodriguez, a graphic novel adaptation of the life and times and Che Guevara that is roughly 100 pages.  However, we are learning that a story can be told in many different ways, and while a graphic novel adds a visual dimension to the story of Guevara, it does not lend itself to "literary complexity".  This means a movie or a comic just can't go into detail of a person's life like a book can.  Technically speaking it can, but that would mean the books or comic would have to be hours long or hundreds of pages.

Fortunately, for the students, I have read Che's Biography by John Lee Anderson, an 800 page book that is considered by pretty much everyone of all political persuasions to be the definitive portrait of his life so that the students don't have to!   I have paraphrased this book and put it in slideshow form to make it accessible to 7th graders.  

Here is a link to the slideshow of pt. 1 - "Young Ernesto" - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jfUVAGcRDeC6oxp3jOXvXOkC2CTUOmhBW31l8eolFYM/edit?usp=sharing

Students read about young Ernesto.  We went over the following vocabulary words -

*  Notorious

*  Indoctrinate

*  Polarizing

*  Controversial

*  Significant

*  Peer Review

*  Aesthetics

*  Refuge

*  Persecution

*  Fascist

*  Insurgency

*  Afflicted

*  Unionized

*  Afoul

*  Marxist

*  Freud

*  Leprosy

*  Aristocrat

*  Heirs

*  Leprosy

* Labor Bondage

*  Sycophantic

*  Hagiography

*  Indigenous

*  Mestizo

*  Philosophy

*  Neurosis

*  Narcissism

Students were asked to make graphic novels based on the theme of "childhood and adolescence".  The requirements -

*  Full Color

* 7 words of vocabulary in the comic

*  Legibility

* Evidence of engagement

Here is what they came up with -


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