Jarrett Krosoczka is the bestselling author of the Lunch Lady series, which includes Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown and Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians. As part of his current Lunch Lady Blog Tour, we invited him to discuss how comics can be incorporated into classrooms and used as effective learning tools.

I visit a lot of schools (95 this school year alone!) and am always overjoyed to see educators embracing the graphic-novel format for young readers. My school visit presentation is all about the process—where ideas come from, the writing process, the editing and revision process, and the work that goes into creating the final artwork for my Lunch Lady books. Teachers always comment on how surprised they are by how much work goes into creating a graphic novel, because they thought it would just be “simple.” Of course a lot of work goes into creating one of these little volumes, and as studies have proven, it takes a lot of brain power to read and process the information on the pages as well.

Of course, I see the schools and educators that embrace the graphic novels, but I know there are still some out there who look at the format as a less sophisticated form of reading. I thought I would use my guest post on GraphicNovelReporter.com to give some tools to educators out there who are looking for ways to use graphic novels in their classrooms. Sure, there are plenty of studies that you could share with the detractors, but nothing gets the doubters on board more than results. And by that, I mean getting your students reading and writing.
 
Young readers are not intimidated by the format and therefore are able to get through an entire book, which gives them a great feeling of accomplishment. The first step, of course, would be to put superb graphic novels into the hands of your young readers—the Babymouse series by Jennifer and Matthew Holm, The Secret Science Alliance by Eleanor Davis, the Frankie Pickle series by Eric Wight for your younger set, or Smile by Raina Telgemeier, The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan, and The Arrival by Shaun Tan for your pre-teen set. (And yes, those Lunch Lady books are pretty decent enough, too!) But as any classroom teacher knows, reading the book alone doesn’t make for a curriculum.
 
Don’t fear the format, and create projects around the stories as you would any other book. A graphic novel is a format, not a genre. At its core, it is just like any other book you have in your collection—it has a story. My editor was at first intimidated by the thought of editing the first draft of the first Lunch Lady book, until she read it, at which point she realized it had the same story problems as any first draft of any other book. So dissect the stories with your students, create story mountains, identify the characters and their wants. 
 
Get the kids writing their own graphic novels! Any kid can write a graphic novel, regardless of their ability to draw. (Look at Shannon Hale and Jennifer Holm!) Comics are written with scripts, just like movies are. (Check out one of Shannon’s scripts here. Another great program that I’ve used in the school setting is Comic Life. With this program, you select various panel templates, choose from a collection of word balloons, and if your computer is hooked up to a webcam, you can snap photos of your students and they become the characters in their stories! No need to draw! And of course if you have a scanner, those kids who are artistically inclined could have a great showcase for their talents!
 
Many publishers and authors also have great educator guides, activities, and videos on their websites. Here are some great pieces for you to use as you get started with using graphic novels in your curriculum:
 
Random House Children’s Books’ “An Educator’s Guide to Graphic Novels” 
 
Lunch Lady Finish-the-Story Comic 
 
Rapunzel’s Revenge Educators’ Guide 
 
Jennifer and Matthew Holm (Babymouse) video  
 
Eric Wight (Frankie Pickle) Video 
 
 
Best of luck to you creative, ground-breaking educators! You are working in the best interests of your students, and I salute you!
 

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