Using Visual Narratives (Comics) to Increase Literacy and Highlight Stories of Social Justice - Awakening to Truth and Reconciliation

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore

Using stick-figure visual narratives to teach social-justice concepts, the paper examines how comics can support literacy and deep listening to stories of social injustice. It links evidence from neurophysiology, cognitive psychology, reading and literacy, and visual narrative research to practical educator observations. Focusing on learners’ understanding of Indigenous Peoples’ testimonies in the Truth and Reconciliation executive summary, it outlines a step-by-step methodology and a detailed lesson plan for translating assigned textual readings into anti-oppression visual retellings.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Purpose and Scope of the Paper

Background: Truth and Reconciliation Visual Narratives

Classroom Context and Learner Challenges

Designing the Visual-Narrative Response

Literature Review and Rationale

Methodology and Lesson Plan

Using Visual Narratives (Comics) to Increase Literacy and Highlight Stories of Social Justice: Awakening to Truth and Reconciliation Jessica Motherwell McFarlane, Ph. D. How can creating a simple stick figure comic help us tell—and deeply listen to—true stories of social injustice and practice anti-oppression strategies? More specifically, how can creating a series of stickigure comics help learners enhance their understanding of the Indigenous Peoples’ testimonies in the Truth and Reconciliation Report (TRC, 2015)? In my experience, stickigure visual narratives can help participants tell stories of social injustices and practice ways that might restore right relations. In this paper, I provide a background story anda literature review in describing the rationale and method of using this approach to teach socialjustice conceptsand rehearse pro-social interventions. I conclude with a detailed lesson plan for using the socialustice comics methodfor visually presenting the TRC 2015 report. Comment l’acte de dessinerun bonhomme allumette peut-il nous aider à raconter– et à écouter très attentivement – des histoires vécues d’injustices sociales et à adopter des stratégies contre l’oppression? Plus particulièrement, comment des apprenants, en créant une série de bonhommes allumettes, peuvent-ils mieux comprendre lestémoignages des Autochtones inclus dans le rapport de la Commission de vérité et de réconciliation (2015)? D’après mon expérience, les récits visuels en bonhommes allumettes aident les participants à raconter leurs histoires d’injustices sociales et à mettre enpratique des moyenspour éventuellement rétablir des relationsjustes. Dans le présent article, je décris le contexte et les études qui sous-tendent le pourquoi et la méthode des bonhommes allumettes pour enseigner les concepts de justice sociale et exercer lapratique d’intervention sociale. En conclusion, je présente un plan de leçon indiquant comment utiliser la méthode des dessins à portée sociale pour représenter visuellement le rapport de la Commission de vérité et de réconciliation de 2015. My visual narrative story began when I first designed and then offered Life Outside the Box comics-based lesson plans to teach at-risk youth about grit, resiliency and character strengths (Author, 2018). In every classroom I visited across B.C., I encountered consistent—sometimes remarkable—learning outcomes when using various visual narrative techniques. Inspired by this success with middle schoolers, I adapted and then introduced the social-justice comics into post-secondary classrooms and workshops for professional educators, where I observed similar success. The purpose of this paper is three-fold. First, I review the literature about the general learning and memory advantages of drawing and comics. I discuss the special advantages of using stick-figure comics to create visual narratives. I present evidence-based and theoretical discussion from the disciplines of neurophysiology, cognitive psychology, reading and literacy, visual narratives studies and analyses of the drawing process. Second, I discuss my observations—from an educator’s perspective—when using the social-justice comics lesson plan for visually retelling Indigenous Peoples testimonies in the Truth and Reconciliation executive summary (TRC, 2015) . I will be reflecting on my general observations and noting procedures that tend to facilitate participants imagemaking process and understanding of the TRC content. Third, I will present in step-by-step detail the methodology for the social-justice comics lesson plan. Truth and Reconciliation Visual Narratives—The back story In 2015, I was teaching approximately 100 students in a diversity course for the Law Enforcement Studies program at the Justice Institute of British Columbia. I am a White, female, feminist educator from British settler heritage and was completely new to teaching indigenous course content. Our students were 18 to 23-year-ol

FAQs

How does creating stick-figure comics support learning about social injustice?

The paper argues that drawing and comics help participants tell stories and rehearse anti-oppression strategies while deepening understanding through visual narrative representation.

What specific source is the lesson plan designed to help learners engage with?

The methodology focuses on learners retelling Indigenous Peoples’ testimonies from the Truth and Reconciliation executive summary (TRC, 2015), including guidance for visually presenting the report’s content.

Why did the author divide the reading work among the students?

The author states that students would not have the capacity or motivation to read the full 250 pages and that witnessing the testimonies could be emotionally arduous and triggering, so collective reading ensured full coverage while adapting the lesson for the audience.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore