Students investigate how Persepolis connects the Iranian Revolution to current events while analyzing how different media shape understanding of the same subject. Through study of graphic memoir conventions, background on Islam and Iran, discussion, daily and weekly reflection, and peer critique, they build the knowledge and perspective needed to create their own graphic memoir. The work begins with a local comic book author and includes insight from the Portland Comic Book Store, leading to a public exhibition for families and community members. Over four weeks, students practice critical thinking, collaboration, and communication by turning historical and contemporary issues into a purposeful visual narrative.

Students will analyze how Persepolis and current multimedia news accounts present the Iranian Revolution and its ongoing effects, identifying how each medium emphasizes different details and shapes audience understanding. They will build background knowledge about Islam, modern Iranian history, and comic/graphic memoir conventions, then apply that knowledge by creating an original graphic memoir that communicates a personal or community story with intention. Students will strengthen collaborative discussion, critique, and revision skills through daily and weekly reflection, peer feedback, and shared decision-making. They will present their finished work to families and community members, explaining how images, text, and design choices influence viewers’ ideas and feelings.

Students will create annotated comparisons of Persepolis with current news coverage, visual notes on Iranian history and Islamic cultural context, and short practice comics that apply graphic memoir conventions. In collaborative critique cycles, they will develop drafts, storyboards, and revised pages for an original graphic memoir, graphic narrative, or zine that connects personal experience to larger social or political change. The final product will be a polished graphic memoir with an artist’s statement explaining how choices in image, text, and sequencing shape audience understanding. Students will share their work in a public exhibition for families and community members, with possible feedback from the Portland Comic Book Store and the visiting comic book author.

Open with a visit or virtual talk from a local comic book author, ideally connected through the Portland Comic Book Store, who shares how graphic storytelling can communicate personal experience during political conflict. Then students examine a short sequence from Persepolis alongside a current news image or headline about Iran, using a quick discussion protocol to notice what each medium emphasizes and what questions it raises. Close the launch by introducing the driving question and inviting students to create a first sketch or 6-panel response about a moment when a public event affected private life, which they will revisit throughout the project.

Host a public gallery night for parents and community members in partnership with the Portland Comic Book Store, where students display finished graphic memoir pages, process sketches, and short artist statements explaining how their work connects personal stories to the Iranian Revolution and current events. Include a student-led panel or small-group gallery talks so students can discuss graphic memoir techniques, research choices, and the ways images shape audience understanding. Create a printed or digital zine-style collection of selected pages to share at the event and with families afterward. Build in a feedback wall or guest response cards so the audience can respond to students’ ideas, craft, and historical insights.