The Summer 2008 edition of Teachers & Writers (39.4) is all about using comics in the classroom to get students composing and thinking about literature, from authentic biography to poetry.
With a cover from Josh Neufeld that I hope is autobiographical detailing a young man crafting a comic on Frederick Douglas as his teacher tells the class about the 19th century leader, getting "caught" doing so by said teacher, and then praised by her once she sees his work, this nonprofit publication out of NYC would be irresponsible not to showcase the work of Columbia University Teacher's College senior researcher, Michael Bitz, famous for The Comic Book Project. Bitz uses straight-up English Language Arts terminology in his lead article,"A Rare Bridge," and also gives pointers for how to start a comics club in your school.
Francoise Mouly,Art Spiegelman's wife, who has been doing quite a bit of publishing in kids comics, is interviewed, and there are articles on teaching poetry comics from Dave Morice and other articles -- some even in sequential art format -- from Susan Karwoska, Youme Landrowe, Sara Wilson, and more. As seems a requirement for these sort of themed issues, the last few pages share some excellent, if not rather choosy, resources for further consideration.
My only real complaint is that I didn't get any love in the pub! But my ego aside (though it does get aggravating to see that so many of us are starting to say the same things, but we don't seem as aware of each other as we ought to be), for $5, this is an excellent, current resource that shows more and more k-12 educators are (re)discovering the pedagogical potential of sequential art narratives!
For more information of Teachers & Writers, including contact information so you can order a copy of volume 39.4, click here.
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