Superhero Thematic Unit

This fall, I had the chance to teach a six-week class of advanced English for 9 fourth and fifth graders. I got complete control over the class's curriculum with no requirements. So I designed a "create your own superhero" unit. It's not the most original idea but it is definitely something I thought the students would enjoy.

So I first set out to divide them into three groups. I have four girls and five boys so I knew it wasn't going to be even. The students split up with a group of four girls, a group of three boys and a group of two boys.

My first few days were introducing the three characters they were making: hero, villain, and sidekick. They created their stories, alter-egos, powers, characteristics, and relationships. We spent a whole class on a completely English website creating their costumes.

In the last two classes, I had them create the comic. THey first made out a rough draft to plan the story, and then I gave them comic paper to draw out the whole story. Some went really in-depth with the drawings, others with the stories. They didn't all have a plot, but that is okay because they did it in English and they tried really hard.

In the last few minutes of the class, I had the student introduce their characters and stories to the rest of the class.

I'm really proud of them and their creations.