Diseased
School: Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning
City/State: Denver, CO
Grade(s): 9, 10, 11, 12
Format(s): Journal: Fictional
Subject(s): English Language Arts, Social Studies, Visual Arts
Project Overview
This fictionalized journal was created by a high school student at the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning in Denver, Colorado. It tells the haunting story, through a combination of text and images, of a young woman who is stricken with tuberculosis (and later HIV).
This personalized account, though fictionalized, conveys a very realistic picture of the life of someone who is sick with being sick with TB and HIV.
The author/artist employs an artistic blend of powerful visual images with text, collaged into pages that present as much as artwork as they do as story text. The consonance of the searing, diverse visual images with the topic create almost a unique genre for this piece – part art project/part topic project.
The dimensions of this product are 11 by 17 inches.
How This Project Can Be Useful
- Highlights the power of combining writing with visual arts and graphic design – it engages the reader in a unique way and allows a student to creatively display their content knowledge
- Addresses difficult topics of personal health and disease in a powerful way
- A model of a fresh product format that can be particularly engaging for high school students – a collage of visual images and evocative text
- The oversized dimensions of this physical product are very engaging
- Student’s use of voice and the details she includes are very compelling, particularly resonant for adolescents who are dealing with worries and difficult issues
- Format allows for individual assessment of a student’s work
Common Core State Standards
| Standard | Long Term Learning Target |
|---|---|
| L.11-12.3 |
|