Institute for Social Impact
Discovering Superpowers in Middle School
Eighth Grade students participated in a Social Impact project through their English class this year called “Discovering Our Superpowers with McShan Elementary.”
In November, students worked in groups to interview McShan Elementary students. “Because many of McShan students are non-native English speakers, these conversations offered them an opportunity to practice their English and build their confidence,” said Lauren Miskin, Middle School English teacher. “We also want to welcome the McShan students and to make them feel at home in our Dallas community.”
The students were also encouraged to ask questions that would illuminate the McShan students’ “superpowers” – talents, skills, or traits that set them apart. Then, students worked in groups to design graphic novel pages celebrating each McShan student by creatively depicting his/her unique superpower. After collecting pages from each group, Assistant Director of the Institute for Social Impact Laura Laywell published the pages in a book to present to the McShan students. “We wanted them to see themselves represented in an empowering, positive light,” said Ms. Miskin. In February, Ms. Laywell presented the final book to the students at McShan Elementary.
The project challenges Hockaday students to think further about the craft of storytelling. “In class, we study a graphic novel (Robin Ha’s Almost American Girl), and we spend a great deal of time analyzing Ha’s use of graphic novel techniques and literary elements,” said Ms. Miskin. “Through this project, students learned to apply the same sorts of visual and literary strategies that they study in Ha’s work. Additionally, this project advances the Social Impact Institute’s goals of empathy and community. Many of the students are recent immigrants, some are refugees. By hearing these young people’s stories in an open dialogue, our students achieve a new level of understanding for the challenges they face. Since we also read several works about the refugee experience (including Ruta Sepetys’ Salt to the Sea and Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home), students are familiar with some of these issues, but hearing young people’s lived experiences firsthand offers a completely different vantage point.”
McShan students loved seeing the final graphic novel. “My students loved the graphic novel,” said Arianna Zeb, McShan Elementary teacher. “It was the highlight of our class party. My students couldn’t stop talking about how amazed they were to see themselves in these stories.”
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