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This project focuses on another interest of mine: using high-quality comic literature to engage and teach literacy. Over the past ten years, I have worked with many boys who are reluctant readers and writers. In the 21st century, literacy means more than just reading novels and textbooks. Boys of the 21st century turn to other outlets, such as television, video games, and the Internet for pleasure. Any teacher can tell you that the boys in his or her class have an average of five to fifteen hours of screen time per week. There is obviously a high level of engagement for this media. However, if teachers can adequately harness this engagement to images and redirect it towards academic means, gaps in achievement will begin to disappear. Comic literature significantly and positively impacts the reading motivation, reading skills of students, and leads to reading of other modes such as novels, short stories, and poetry. Using visual media, such as comic books and graphic novels, as supplemental literacy instructional tools is a creative and innovative way to reach any struggling student and simultaneously challenge advanced readers with rigor. In completing this project, I learned that presentation design is essential for communicating one’s message to an audience. The more reluctant the audience, the more engaging the message must be. I tested this principle when delivering my presentation to colleagues. I truly believe that the effort I spent designing this presentation not only engaged my audience but opened up discussion around comic literature.
Citation preview
Does this ever happen to you
Ok, class. Today we are going to discuss...
Um......excuse me.
Can you please pay attention?
Am I boring you?
What is THAT you are reading exactly?
Oh, a graphic novel.
Am I not interesting enough?
Ever wonder how you can engage your students through reading?
Especially your boys?
Dress like this:
Just kidding!
There is a way to engage ALL of your students.
Use Graphic Novels!
Interested?
???
I thought so.
You're probably wondering...
Why graphic novels?
??
Aren't graphic novels and comics the same thing?
Graphic novels are a format that uses sequential art to tell a story.
Will Eisner popularized the term after he published:
Comics are...
a magazine devoted to comic strips.
Ok, but why use them
"Reading light materials, such as comic books, is the way many students develop a taste for reading."
(Krashen, 2004)
Kids LOVE them!
They motivate boys to read.
Graphic novels contain 20% MORE rare vocabulary than a typical chapter book.
(Krashen, 1993)
They help reluctant readers, well....start reading!
Graphic novels contain 40% MORE vocabulary than a typical conversation between a child and an adult.
(Krashen, 1993)
But are graphic novels real books?
Do they actually count as reading?
YES!!!
All reading is good reading.
But aren't graphic novels only about superheroes?
For example...
Graphic novels have a variety of themes.
have characters traveling to different worlds.
&
Struggling to fit in?
Read!
An immigrant's
universal search
for belonging.
"...comics are just as sophisticated as other forms of literature, and children benefit from reading them at least as much as they do from reading other types of books..."
(Science Daily, 2009)
Ok, I get it!
You LOVE graphic novels.
But, what
does the
research say?
A 1992 study of more than 200,000 students...
...from 32 countries...
...revealed that
...revealed that
Finland
has a 99% literacy rate!
They also have the highest proportion of comic book reading students.
nearly 60%!
Wow!
Need more?
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point...
requires that ALL cadets read...
...before they graduate.(Foroohar, 2005)
Maybe I should rethink my literacy instruction.
I'm not saying you should replace EVERYTHING with graphic novels.
Just consider it another tool.
When teaching...
...you take advantage of the tools available.
Even if it means using...
Graphic Novel!(an awesome)
Works Cited:Brunnel, V., & Linnakyla, P. (1994). Swedish speakers' literacy in the Finnish society.
Journal of Reading, 37(5), pp. 368-375.
Foroohar, R. (2005, August 25) Comic Relief. Newsweek, 146(8), 50-54. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2009, November 5). For Improving Early Literacy, Reading Comics Is No Child's Play. Science Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com
Krashen, Stephen D. 2004. The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Krashen, Stephen D. 1993. The Power of Reading. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
McCloud, S. (2006). Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels. New York: Harper.
Images Cited:
Eisner, Will. A Contract with God And Other Tenement Stories. W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.
Kibuishi, Kazu. The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1). GRAPHIX, 2008.
Tennapel, Doug. Ghostopolis. GRAPHIX, 2010.
Telgemeier, Raina. Smile. GRAPHIX, 2010.
Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007.
Moore, Alan. The Watchmen. DC Comics, 1995.
All other images are care of Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Harvey Comics Creative Commons Licensing.
Corlett, M.L., Fine, R.E., & Lichenstein, R. (2002). The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein: A Catalogue Raisonne 1948-1997. Hudson Hills Press.
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