Dont Miss Jeff Smith, Professors, etc. on this Canadian Telecast

Click here to see Jeff Smith and others answer questions on comics/graphic novels, the classroom, and learning. Or, just scroll down. Listen to a woman call comics "quick, easy" and suggest the idiotic idea that the visual elements of comics take away from students' ability to use their imaginations. Jeff Smith's reaction is priceless. He reminds us of the complexity of process as well as reminds us that comics evoke reader response.



We (cartoonists, comics scholars, and comics-and-literacy advocates) fight SOOOO much ignorance, even from otherwise "educated" people. Thank goodness we get a mix of ideas here.

Eh? More like "Yeh!"

A Little Synthesis on GN's and Learning

Here's a link going around from the Free Writing Tips website. If you follow the link and do not get a large sentence reading "Graphic storytelling teaches better than text" (ahem), do a search for a column entitled "Now You See It." The piece details work from studies at Texas Tech, East Carolina, UC Santa Barbara and others that suggests words and images together in comics form help people learn and retain knowledge.

One day enough people will catch on such that articles like this will simply be entitled "Duh: Here We Go Again." But, hey, researchers, keep those studies coming.

SANEjournal issue 1:2 Now Available!!!

"Teaching the Works of Alan Moore," the second edition of volume 1 of SANEjournal:sequential art narrative in education, just published!

The issue features thoughts and ideas on teaching Moore Classics like Watchmen and V for Vendetta, but it also explores Promethea, Lost Girls, and other texts from Moore's amazing opus.

Three articles, three rationales, and one review make up the table of contents, which features scholars from Northwestern University, The University of New Mexico, and even a practicing high school teacher who uses Watchmen with his upperclassmen.

Click here to visit the journal, and here's to happy reading and fun learning! Warning, you might get tachyons in your eyes or find yourself in a flux resulting from rifts in the space-time dimension!

Illinois HS Teacher Talks Graphic Novels in the Classroom

Here's Graphic Novel Reporter's lead-in to the story:

Melissa Burke-Marquart, an 11th grade English teacher at St. Thomas More High School, a small Catholic high school in Champaign, Illinois, has been teaching graphic novels in the classroom on and off throughout her career. A lifelong comics fan and experienced educator, she says, "Years ago, I used superhero comics with my freshmen when I taught them the elements of fiction. I hear back from many of them—they're now grownups with families—that that was their all-time favorite lesson. We created a class superhero and then I grouped the students into creative teams; they wrote and created a comic and short story starring the class hero."

I could have used Melissa when I interviewed at a university in Normal, IL, a few years ago and a classroom teacher who was part of the hiring process told me that the curriculum was so full that at best, high school teachers could probably only use one graphic novel per year. The intimation was, of course, that my field of study was too limited to be of much use.

Live and let live, though, eh?

Maureen Bakis Talks Comics in the Classroom

Maureen is a high school teacher at Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield, Massachusetts, and is doing some writing for Graphic Novel Reporter.

GNR Profiles Another Teacher Using GN's in the Classroom

This time it's Kent Allin, who teachers seniors at Bayside Secondary School in Ontario, Canada! Allin shares thoughts on his graphic novel course and lets some students have their say as well.

Graphic Novel Reporter: More Teachers Talkin' Graphic Novels

"Teacher Frances Jagielski [Toledo, Ohio] explores the ways in which graphic novels can elevate kids' educations and provides books, websites, and other materials that teachers can start using now. "

"Teacher Leigh Brodsky [Warren, NJ] takes you through her graphic novel course, explaining how she teaches the books that are the foundational pieces in the format."

Graphic Novel Reporter Has Been Bringin' It

While I was traveling, GraphicNovelReporter.com kept working hard to bring the world comics-and-education-related journalistic goodness. To wit:

Allen Porter, a high school teacher in Michigan, discusses his recent "Graphic Novels as Literature" course at Skyline High. Dore Ripley from Cal State-East Bay talks more about using comics in her intensive writing courses. Sari Wilson is profiled for her work as a comics consultant and an education consultant. Uber-sessy librarian Jordan Boaz talks about the graphic novel workshops for teens at her Avondale, Arizona book-slinger's.

Good readin' all around!