The End of an Era!

And so, at long last, we come to the end of our time with Persepolis. Today was the test, which means I got to spend both classes walking around the room watching people take the test. Which is boring yet also strangely satisfying. 

The students seemed fairly confident about their answers, and I only got a few looks of despairing confusion. 

When many of us think of education, we imagine a foundation of knowledge, and we imagine ourselves building on that foundation. We introduce concepts so that we can build on them and move on to more complex concepts. When you are an English teacher, you think, "They don't seem to know what 'theme' is. I will teach it to them, and then we can move on and explore the way different authors develop their themes." And you go over "theme," and you define it, and discuss it, and do activities with it. And, for the most part, they correctly answer the questions on the quiz. And then they forget it. And you realize that, there was not a strange gap in their education--all their previous English teachers have taught them what "theme" means, every year since they were young, and when they got to your class they still acted as though they had never heard the world. 

After awhile you get tired of hearing, "Give me the test, quick, before I forget everything!"

Nowadays I don't have unrealistic expectations about these things. I knew yesterday, when I included a theme question in the Persepolis test, that multiple students would ask me, "What's a theme?" The same students who asked me last time I gave them such a question. Since I knew that going in, I didn't let it bother me.

Okay, okay, I'm generalizing here. . . I do have students who know what a theme is, and theme is a trickier concept than plot. But you get the idea. My students tend to be so focused on "What do I need to do in this moment in time, to pass this test?" that they often overlook "How can I internalize this concept so that I might be able to use it later?" Maybe that's a natural side-effect of the way our educational system is structured; who knows?

Still, I am going to hold on to the belief that, by reading Persepolis, they have learned something about Iran, and expanded their understanding of the world. That's totally possible. 

Play Along at Home

Batman Year One Test

Directions: Answer each question to the best of your ability. (50 points)

1. Who wrote Batman Year One?

            A. Bob Kane

            B. Frank Miller

            C. David Mazzuchelli

            D.Richmond Lewis

2. Who drew Batman Year One?

            A. Bob Kane

            B. Frank Miller

            C. David Mazzuchelli

            D.Richmond Lewis

3. At the beginning of the book, who is the police commissioner?

            A.James Gordon

            B.Arnold Flass

            C.Carmine Falcone

            D.Gillian Loeb

4. Batman Year One is mainly about the relationship between:

            A.James Gordon and Bruce Wayne 

            B. Bruce Wayne and Selina

            C.Selina and Holly

            D.Holly and James Gordan

  

5. Describe Gordon’s first meeting with Flass. What kind of person is Flass?

  

6. What event inspires Bruce Wayne to dedicate his life to fighting crime?

  

7. What event inspires Bruce Wayne to dress like a bat when fighting crime?

  

8. At first the Commissioner has no problem with Batman, but he quickly changes his mind. Why?

  

9. Describe the events leading up to Batman being trapped at the end of Chapter 2.

10. Compare and contrast Gordon’s and Branden’s approach to police work.

11. Who are Selina and Holly? Describe them.

12. What does the device Batman has hidden in his boot do?

13. What does Bruce Wayne decide while he is skiing in Switzerland?

14. Who is Jefferson Skeevers? Why does he testify against Flass?

  

15. How does Bruce Wayne behave when the Gordons come to visit his home?

  

16. In Chapter 4, what does Selina do to The Roman’s face?

  

17. When he goes to save James Gordon Jr., why does Bruce not wear his costume?

  

18. Describe how Bruce saves James Gordon Jr.

  

19. Describe the relationship between James Gordon and Bruce Wayne/Batman at the end of the story.

  

20. Describe how James Gordon’s relationship with Sarah Essen grows and changes over the course of the story. Give examples.

  

21. Describe the police department in Gotham City, at the beginning and at the end of the story.

22. Describe the art style of Batman Year One. What do you like or dislike about the art style? 

23. In your opinion, is Bruce Wayne/Batman a good person? Why or why not? Give specific examples.

24. In your opinion, is James Gordon a good person? Why or why not? Give specific examples.

  

Extra Credit

What does Barbara Gordon make for dinner on the night of April 9th?

"It's Merkel. Something about a giant bat. Chicken will keep."

Guess what I found waiting for me on the porch when I got home . . . a package from Amazon. I love packages from Amazon! And guess what was inside. No guess? Okay, it was two copies of this:

Now that I have enough copies of Understanding Comics, I have turned my attention to accumulating copies of Batman Year One. The Cincinnati Public Library system can only get me 5 or 6 copies. This weekend I'm going to visit some used bookstores to see if I can turn any up. Now I have a start, though, thanks to this mysterious benefactor (you may not have intended to be mysterious, but your name was not included). Thank you benefactor! Also, let me know who you are.

If you haven't read Year One, check it out. You may have heard that this Frank Miller fellow is crazy and that his writing is nearly incoherent, and that's true, but back in the eighties he was very, very good.

In other news we had our first test today. I haven't graded them, so for now I'm going to assume that it went well.