In order to help teachers better serve their students through the use of comics in the classroom, we begin this new series of in-depth interviews with teachers who vast experience in this arena. First up, we talk to John C. Weaver, an English teacher at Williamsport Area High School in Pennsylvania. Weaver has written for GNR about his experiences teaching comics in the past, and so we knew he'd be a great teacher to help us kick off this series.
What's the most valuable lesson you've learned about teaching comics?
Take your lead as a teacher from your students. Many of them understand visual media better than us, and those who don’t will show you how best to serve their needs.
Not everyone automatically knows how to read a graphic novel. How do you approach it?
Jimmy Gownley, of Amelia Rules fame, did professional development for our English and social studies departments a year ago. He taught us the difference between illustration and comics. He drew a stick figure running and wrote above it, “The old guy ran down the street.” This, he explained, was an illustration, a simple drawing reflecting the words on the page. Then Jimmy tore off that caption, and wrote in, “He forgot the milk AGAIN!” That, he told us, was a comic, which requires you make meaning of a drawing and words that don’t seem immediately connected. I begin with that example and have them brainstorm a possible storyline underlying that comic. Then I give them three panels of unrelated objects and ask small groups to create a coherent story line out of them using some combination of word balloons, captions, or additional drawings. They come up with some imaginative stories.
After that activity, I project a page from the graphic novel we are about to study on the smart board and write on the panel, showing how their eyes track across the page when reading a comic book. And depending upon the level of class I teach, we discuss chapter three of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, which shows how we ourselves make meaning out of the spaces between panels.
For the most part, the students can then read on their own, but for those who need additional support, I help them individually.
What's your favorite comic to use in the classroom?
The one I’m most comfortable with is Watchmen, since I have now taught it several times to my senior British Literature class, but it is time for me to get out of my comfort zone, so next year my seniors will get V for Vendetta as an option. A current favorite is Incognegro, which I’m starting to teach for the first time to my American Literature juniors. It is a riveting murder mystery set in the pre-civil rights South, and the issues it raises surrounding race identity generate great conversation.
Can you think of a comic you wouldn't necessarily expect to be a valuable teaching aid, but it turned out to be one?
The only comics I teach are ones that I think will be valuable for my students, but I also bring a lot of my own graphic novels that students occasionally read on their own. Early in the year, a young woman who had trouble with reading comprehension read the Luna Brothers’ Ultra. It was her first graphic novel, and she loved it because, as she told me, the art helped her understand the words.
Have you ever had to get a reader who didn't like comics to open up to them?
Very seldom do I find someone who actively dislikes comics. More often, a student will have no experience with them and may be uncomfortable with the form, but it does not take them long to get the hang of the reading. Having just introduced Incognegro to my English 11 basic class, however, I have two young women who are having difficulty understanding the graphic novel. To help them, I work with them not only on reading comprehension, but also show them how to look for the visual cues that will help them make sense of the words.
If you knew then what you know now...what advice would you give someone just about to use comics in the classroom for the very first time?
You have to love comics. Don’t do it because it’s trendy, or because it reaches reluctant readers, or because students may believe they are easier to read than “real books.” Only teach comics because you personally love them. Students can always tell if you don’t believe in a book, and that in turn will spoil a beautiful art form for a whole group of students.
What unexpected topics would people be surprised to learn you can use comics to teach about?
Incognegro, which I just started teaching this year, is a great murder mystery set during the thirties. Zane is a light-skinned African-American reporter investigating the lynchings of other African Americans in the south. He passes for white among Klansmen, which fosters wonderful discussion of racism and race identity in my junior English class.
When it comes to the length of reading assignments and how much you expect your students to read in a certain amount of time, how do you compare your comic assignments with prose literature?
In general, regardless of the text, I have my students read a chapter a day, whether it is a graphic novel, a traditional novel, or a play like Hamlet (though that would be a scene a day). I have their reading assignments on the board well in advance, so they can pace their reading as they see fit, as long as they are done with the section by discussion day.
Some comics seem to be more “male-oriented,” and some skew more to females. Do you use comics geared toward males and females equally in your classroom? Or is it even a consideration?
At the moment, the graphic novels I teach—Watchmen, Incognegro, and (next year) V for Vendetta—tend to be very male texts—stories about men by men. I would like to bring in ones that examine women’s experience, like Brian Woods’ The New York Four and Local, Alison Bechtel’s Fun Home, or Daniel Clowes’ Ghost World. As I look back on this list, however, three of the novels about women are written by men. Hmm…
Is a literature class devoted entirely to comics a good idea, in your opinion, or would you prefer to see a class that mixes comics and prose together?
I would love to teach a course for graphic novels exclusively, although one of my English colleagues would fight me for the privilege of teaching it. A graphic novel course, however, would work better in a school where the English curriculum consisted of one-semester courses. A full year would require a whole boatload of graphic novels—not that there is anything wrong with that. Such a class would be difficult in our school, because we have to fit them into our year-long Introduction to Literature, American Literature, and British Literature framework, so of necessity I need to mix graphic novels with traditional prose texts. But is a graphic novel course desirable? You bet!
