Teacher, Masconomet Regional High School
Topsfield, Massachusetts
To earn my master’s degree in English, I was required to read comics! At first, I thought this seminar course about graphic novels elementary, but the experience eventually transformed the way I teach literacy to high-school seniors.
As I sat in that classroom on the first night of class perusing the syllabus, I found myself in a position similar to that of my own twelfth-grade students—a reluctant reader with preconceived notions of indecipherable or uninteresting stories. I had prejudged the list of titles based on stereotypical, Hollywood images of men swinging on spider webs, or wearing tights, masks, and capes. Only later did I realize the seriousness and complexity of comics, its legitimacy as an artistic medium, and its effectiveness as a method of communicating universal themes about human nature. After reading Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art and several high-quality graphic novels,I realized that my prejudgments were misdirected.
By the time I finished the graduate course, I had already begun thinking about ways to integrate graphic novels into my school’s twelfth-grade curriculum. If students perceived graphic novels as alternatives to classic literature and “school books,” this medium might just motivate them to actually read, discuss, and write more authentically and far less arduously. It took a year of planning to change our department to an electives-based curriculum, but finishing my first year teaching 64 students (three classes) in a course I created called The Graphic Novel,and because of student enthusiasm and success, I am currently preparing to teach twice as many students next fall.
Most teachers are lucky if their school system purchases one graphic-novel title to add to the curriculum. I was blessed to create an entire course and buy Will Eisner’s Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative; A Contract with God, and A Life Force; Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comic;, Alan Moore’s V for Vendet;, Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis I and II, Art Spiegelman’s Maus I and II; andGene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese. Using these texts, students discovered, discussed, and wrote about what it means to be human, our curriculum’s central guiding question, just as former students had done reading traditional world literature. Fate, identity, and survival are some of the themes we explored, as well as environmental, societal, and familial influences on an individual. In addition, we examined art as a literary medium and the role of the artist in culture, religion, heroism, and the nature of good and evil. We also identified and utilized standard literary fare, such as symbolism, irony, satire, allusion, onomatopoeia, and metaphor as students applied figurative and literary language to the concepts of comics, including artistic style, closure, empathy, icons, panels, and gutters, among many others. Students read a variety of genres, including fiction, fantasy, and memoir, and developed an understanding of literary skills, including reading strategies, collaborative problem solving, meta-cognitive reflection, oral presentation, group composition, paragraph analysis, and adhering to conventions of online academic discussion.
Overall, students not only discussed the same topics and practiced the same skills they would have used in classic literature, but they also developed new media literacy skills involved with understanding the comics medium and graphic novels.
Using graphic novels allowed students to think critically and analytically, and because the graphic novels we read elicited sophisticated and mature discussion about topics that mattered to them, they were able to further develop personal style, voice, and other aspects of their writing. Because they developed a passion about the stories and a real appreciation and understanding of the artistry of the comics they were reading, students were more engaged toward in-depth discussions. They gained more practice arguing, persuading, comparing, and informing audiences both in speech and writing. Furthermore, the results of such engagement went beyond handing in assignments for grades. Students asked for recommended graphic-novel titles to read outside of class and made suggestions for titles and activities to improve next year’s course. One parent even emailed me asking for a list of recommended titles she could buy for her son for Christmas gifts! I think students had been so accustomed to the ordinary required classroom reading of “school books” that somehow reading graphic novels didn’t feel like a “real” English class; therefore, the literacy skills I was asking them to practice didn’t feel like work.
Compared to my previous teaching experiences, using graphic novels in the classroom was a far more pleasurable, interesting, and effective way to foster literacy skills for learners on the threshold of adulthood. But that doesn’t mean graphic novels should replace a traditional English class. In fact, one aspect of graphic novels I like best is their integration with classical titles. For instance, I paired Scott Russell Sanders’ essay “Under the Influence” and Elie Weisel’s Night with Art Spiegelman’s Maus within a memoir unit about fathers and sons. I also paired excerpts from Mary Karr’s memoir’s The Liar’s Club and Lit with Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis to emphasize sensory imagery in a descriptive writing assignment. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” supplemented our examination of Evey’s transformation in Book II of Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta. By using a combination of traditional text-only literature and comics, I tried to foster an appreciation of the artistry involved in both writing and graphic art as ways to convey story.
Graphic novels are literacy gems that should not be limited to a select, lucky few teachers. Because of my positive experience teaching graphic novels to high-school seniors, I am currently at work on a manuscript called Real Students, Real Literature: Teaching Graphic Novels to Not So Young Adults, a book containing a narrative of my classroom experience teaching graphic novels along with lesson plans, activities, handouts, student models, and commentary. It’s the guidebook I wish I had when I entered the world of graphic novels and something I hope interested teachers can use to add graphic novels to their teaching repertoire. Educators are beginning to realize the value of comics in the classroom, and so I hope what I have done in The Graphic Novel course might add value to this new, exciting trend.
