Take a look into our Literary Arcade!

To start off the year, seventh grade read Italo Calvino’s book of linked short stories entitled Cosmicomics. Calvino’s stories fit into the postmodern style with their use of magical realism and mythological parody. Each story is narrated by Qwfwq, an omniscient entity who is embodied throughout each story in a different form, whether it’s a dinosaur, an arthropod, or a single atom. The stories explore very human concepts such as the illusive nature of unrequited love, creation and clinging to familiarity when accepting change is more logical. 

In these instances, project based learning works well to help illustrate abstract concepts in literature and illustrate how Cosmicomics’ underlying scientific principles work metaphorically to illustrate themes. This could be a few critical thinking questions, comparing and contrasting the story with another, examining a specific image or theme, relating scientific principles to the story, creating a game or visual with which others can interact, or more. The objective was to inspire their classmates to make new connections using very specific elements or ideas from the story. 

Seventh graders utilized the Main-Side-Hidden thinking routine to gradually get to the root of the story through deduction, which they then used to inform how they created their activities. Students created unique and engrossing games and activities that focused on single stories. Some groups adapted games such as Chutes & Ladders, dice games and Life to realize how the established game play simulates aspects of the narrative. Others created discussion questions for groups to peer deeper into character motivation and engage directly with motifs. This culminated in a discussion of how the stories simulated distinct human features and how mythology is meant to serve our conception of ourselves.