Teaching Today
A blog following teacher Aaron Jura as he plans engaging, yet relevant English Language Arts content for High School students in New Orleans, LA.
Well, as you all know, I have been working on creating a teaching unit on graphic novels and comic books. I have my introductory lecture PowerPoint completed (with teaching/lecture notes) and I am currently working on creating the guided notes worksheet for students that goes along with the unit. Next, I will be tackling the V for Vendetta graphic novel and splitting the unit up into the three sections represented in the work. While this has taken a lot of my "personal" time away from me over the past few weeks, I do enjoy coming up with new and innovative lessons to bring into the English classroom. I hope to have the entire unit done by our Winter break and posted to Teachers pay Teachers so that other teachers can check it out and use it in class.
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Comic books and graphic novels have evolved from a somewhat contrite art form and storytelling tool in their infancy to a narrative powerhouse that ignites the mind and engages the reader from page one. Graphic novels are beginning to become popular for use in the classroom setting. In Nancy Frey’s and Douglas Fischer’s book Teaching Visual Literacy on the topic they argue that using graphic novels and comic books increases engagement, strengthens multiple literacy competences, and boosts student critical thinking and analysis. So why, might you ask, are English classrooms not littered with graphic novels and comics? Well, that’s the issue right there. Many educators aren’t familiar with the joys of comic book and graphic novel reading. Many are even afraid to attempt to tackle the unfamiliar look of a comic book versus a novel. The purpose of this piece is to ignite the imagination by using this highly engaging and flexible storytelling device to drive student understanding of narrative structure and text to text and text to image relationships. For me, some of the most difficult students to engage in the English classroom are the ones who play too many video games. I’m stereotyping a bit here, but frankly we all know the kids I am talking about. They are either into it or they are not and will zone out. They are typically the type of student that is intelligent, but if they don’t want to engage in something they are not going to. As an educator this tears me up, at times. I see the brilliance in these students when they fully engage, but they I see their regression when they are disengaged with a certain unit of study. I had tried and tried – choice projects, differentiation in instruction, project based learning and still I was catching disengagement from kids who were usually trying to slyly engage with a game on their personal device or school computer. Then I discovered graphic novels and the crowds went wild. The same student who I described above was instantly into the idea and their high interest, especially when juxtaposed against their typical disengaged personality, was intoxifying in the classroom and really helped to help shape the classroom culture positively. So what does one do first when trying to tackle a completely new curriculum without any resources provided by the school or typical curriculum companies? Well, you make it … of course. I started with research using Frey’s and Fischer’s book on the pedagogical reasoning for using comic books and graphic novels and then I started research on the genre. Specifically, I used Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud and Will Eisner’s Comics and Sequential Art as my guides. Both books provide a perspective into the entire process of storytelling in comics. I was particularly taken with the relationships between text and art as it relates to this unique art. I also took an amazing online course through the California College of the Arts called Comics: Art in Relationship. I only audited the course and so the course content was free for me to view and access. From all of these sources I came to the conclusion that the benefits to teaching using graphic novels and comics far outweigh the risks. And so, I jumped in head first. Potential Unit Plans It really depends on how you want to teach or use comics on how you would implement it into your classroom, but here I will share a couple ideas I had when I was brainstorming during lesson planning:
Planning is never easy I always start with a few good books on the topic I am looking to have students work on. For this particular unit., I selected the following books for my self-study prior to selecting a graphic novel to use or buying any materials:
Scholarly Research I also typically peruse a good number of scholarly research articles and pedagogical articles to ensure that I am covering (or not missing out on) all the relevant standards and skills that can be mastered using, in this case, graphic novels and comics. For this unit I used several great scholarly articles. My favorites are:
How Could It Go Wrong?
Where I am right now At this moment, I am in the beginning stages of the planning process. While I have reviewed and determined there is a BIG reason why I should use the graphic novel to teach I have not determined exactly what will be emphasized. I think that the basic elements of a story are always important to discuss with the class, the deep themes in V for Vendetta along with the overview of dystopian societies would be good enough to me to warrant an exploration of this engaging storytelling medium. I also hope to explore how characters are developed in visual form to setup the class for future film study/screen writing units or simply to inform their narrative writing in general. Remember: Teaching is the Art of Assisting in Discovery If you always fall back on the fact that, as a teacher, it is your job to assist students in doing the heavy lifting you can not go wrong. Comics and Graphic Novels are engaging, but the questioning and rigor in the classroom should not be compromised for any reason. When I launch this unit I will be sure to update you all with the materials and insights I learned from going high engagement in our classroom readings.
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Mr. J is a high school teacher in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mr. J believes in the power of educators to help children and families achieve. Follow his blog for tips and techniques to keep engagement high and student achievement at the forefront. Archives
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