After distributing the Prologue of Invisible Man the previous class, students should come having read the excerpt twice with their own annotations (questions, summaries, observations, striking passages). Open the floor to questions students want addressed.

Play Louis Armstrong's "(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue" Ask: Why might Ellison include Armstrong's song in his novel? Open the floor to questions students want to ask. Read the following passage aloud: "Without light I am not only in visible, but formless as well; and to be unaware of one's form is to live a death. I myself, after existing some twenty years, did not become alive until I discovered my invisibility."

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Projecting Jeff Walls photograph, ask students to identify which details are emphasized. Is this photograph a faithful adaptation of the prologue? Why or why not?

Open the floor to questions students want to ask.

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*Additionally, this particular excerpt could use quantum mechanics, black hole theory, and many other disciplines as a substitution for Armstrong's or Walls' components.

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Distribute to groups a Maus excerpt that has been cut into individual frames. Instruct them that they are to assemble their pieces into the most coherent narrative possible.

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Once complete, groups should prepare a written critique defending their choices, posting these in our online discussion board.

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After these are posted, distribute uncut excerpts of Maus and have the groups compare their narratives against Spiegelman's. Students should make note of the importance of moment, frame, image, word, and flow (as articulated by Scott McCloud's Making Comics.)

 

To avoid concentrating on accuracy, ask what does the adapted narrative emphasize that Spiegelman's doesn't, and how does it emphasize this?