A highly engaging, relatable teaching unit for Smile by Raina Telgemeier, designed for Year 7–8 English classrooms. This resource uses a popular coming-of-age graphic novel to build key skills in comprehension, visual literacy, and personal response while keeping students motivated and connected to the text.

Through structured lessons and interactive activities, students explore how images and words combine to tell a story, developing confidence in interpretation, discussion, and analytical writing.

What’s included
A full teaching unit with clearly sequenced learning activities
Theme analysis (identity, self-image, friendship, resilience, growing up)
Character analysis (Raina, her friends, and family relationships)
Graphic novel conventions (panels, gutters, framing, facial expressions, symbolism)
Language features and techniques (dialogue, narration, tone, visual cues)
Context exploration (memoir, adolescence, real-life experiences)
A student-friendly guide to analysing graphic novels (step-by-step visual and written analysis support)
Interactive and kinaesthetic learning activities
Discussion questions and comprehension checks
Writing scaffolds for paragraphs, personal responses, and analytical writing

Each slide deck includes integrated, student-friendly learning activities that actively engage learners, reinforce understanding, and support the development of analytical writing skills.

How to Use
Convert to PowerPoint: Upload the PDF to PowerPoint (File → Open) to automatically convert into editable slides
Use in Google Slides: Upload to Google Drive, right-click, and open with Google Slides
Use digitally or print: Upload to your LMS (Google Classroom, Canvas, etc.) or print for handouts
Canva option: Upload the PDF to Canva to edit, customise, and export as PowerPoint