Forgive me, I decided to take a different approach this week because I had so much fun watching the latest Marvel series…I have definitely been one of the fans of the Marvel series Wanda Vision streaming on Disney Plus. I wrote a little bit about this in January. If you missed the blog titled “I Am,” please check it out.
If you have not watched the series or are not into the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), you can still appreciate that you have students who are like me and just can’t soak up enough of the superhero stories. A common success story in our most passionate teachers are the ones who find ways to connect with their students and sometimes that means incorporating pop culture into learning. Keeping this in mind, I want to collaborate with you and share some ideas of how we can do that with our kids.
I will do my best to avoid giving any spoilers by focusing on lesson plan ideas to have your students use what they love, in this case Wanda Vision, with showing mastery of a standard.
WANDA
Wanda is a complex character, and our students who have watched or read her transformation can catalog her hero’s journey.
Perhaps, a discussion on whether Wanda is an anti-hero would be fitting too. Most of my connections for Wanda fall more toward the secondary or college level. It is interesting to watch both the protagonist and antagonist be female. This does not happen too often, so I could definitely see students using a feminism literary critical lens to discuss the roles of Wanda, Agatha, Monica, and Dr. Darcy. Maybe, we could bring in some writings from Audre Lorde who famously says, “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
A general theme of the series is love and loss. I would incorporate some poetry around the hurt that Wanda is feeling because of how much she has lost in her life, at this point.
“She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron
“Mad Girl’s Love Song” by Sylvia Plath
“A Dream Within a Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe
Lastly…In American Literature, we discuss the Salem Witch Trials and Red Scare while typically reading The Crucible. I would love to see a discussion around Agatha’s origin story paired with those 3 things.
VISION
There is just too much to cover when it comes to this character. The thing that I keep going back to with Vision is to the idea around who he is—a question that he often questions. Possible Spoiler: So, when we find that there are now 2 Visions in Wanda Vision, the question becomes which one is the true Vision.
A conversation between Vision and White Vision begins using the ship of Theseus as to philosophically consider which one of them is the real one. For this reason, I recommend using a Socratic seminar with your students to discuss Thomas Hobbe’s philosophical thought experiment to determine “if it is a new ship when all the parts are replaced then at what point does it become a new ship?”.
https://www.philosophy-foundation.org/enquiries/view/the-ship-of-theseus
Mythology is tightly embedded into the superhero stories (cue up Thor), so it might be a great idea to have students look up Theseus or maybe recommend that they would enjoy reading The Odyssey.
I am just getting started in thinking about ways to incorporate Wanda Vision into my lessons. Tell me how you bring into the classroom your passion or pop culture. And, if you are looking to pack a punch into your lesson plans, try asking your students about their interests and see if you, or even they, can tie those passions into their learning.
See You Real Soon,
Erin