Aside from Get Fuzzy in the Sunday paper, the last comic I remember reading was on the back of a Bazooka gum wrapper. I was sitting in my dad's truck driving to my grandmother's house when I read the comic. I was intrigued by it, but at the same time, it did not make much of a difference in my reading life. Since then, I really had no desire to choose comic books or graphic novels over another kind. When I was younger, my brother was very into the Captain Underpants series, which was a collection of graphic novels for "preteens," you could say. Both of us enjoyed those, but they only lasted for so long.
After reading this week's assignments, I realized that if more of my teachers incorporated this kind of text while I was growing up, I might have had a better appreciation for it. Graphic novels were not encouraged in my school at all; in fact, I'd go as far as to say they were completely discouraged. They, according to my teachers, served no literary purpose in the classroom. Well, apparently none of them ever tried before, huh?
Having not been a fan of comics, I was a little hesitant to begin this week's reading assignments. I was pleasantly surprised, however, after going through everything. I particularly enjoyed American Born Chinese. When it started, I was like "How does a monkey fit into this??" I liked how the author split up each story and would go back to it after another one. The funny thing I realized here is that even though the first story stopped abruptly, I was able to quickly re-enter it when the author started it up again. Sometimes this isn't the easiest thing because we tend to forget what was presented first (Or, at least I do. Short-term memory loss is never a good thing). More importantly, students of 12 or 13 would most likely forget, too. The illustrations help the reader to jump back into the story.
As a teacher, I think a primary goal should be to find a text that your students can relate to or connect with. I think American Born Chinese would do that. Each story has a common theme -- the main character is struggling with identity. Most students in middle school and high school (hell, even college) struggle to find out who they are. I think the one that most of my students would connect with would be Jin Wang's story when he realizes he likes Amelia. Who hasn't experienced that realization that the person sitting across from you is all of a sudden sooooooo cute?? While these students may not fess up to this in the front of the class, I could incorporate journal entries into the lesson. This way, the responses would take a more personal approach and the students would not feel pressured to say what is right to impress the class.
I think including comics or graphic novels in my classroom is a smart choice. First and foremost, I would definitely offer Dr. Mortimore's article on the technical aspects of comics. This helped me understand comics better and led me to have a greater appreciation for them. I'm sure if I showed this to students, they would have a greater understanding about the dimensions of comics, too. What I would really like to do is have my students draw their own comics for a story, similar to how the article from NCTE described. When I was in 11th grade, we were reading Beowulf. My teacher had us make a comic strip about the story. I definitely comprehended that story better by creating it for myself. If I know that as a student I got it, I need to realize that my students will likely respond the same way.
Here are two links that describes some activities with comics. The second one deals primarily with ESL students, which was discussed in YGBB Chapter 5.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/activities-using-comic-strips
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Derrick-UsingComics.html
I like the idea about keeping a writing journal. I think this would be beneficial for all types of literature response and such. Also, using Dr. Mortimore's article explains the meaning and choices that author's of comics/graphic novels make, which would allow for an understanding for our students.
ReplyDeleteI am really interested in finding other graphic novels that my future students may be able to relate to, although I did enjoy American Born Chinese, which is very applicable to a wide array of students. I hope that our schools will be flexible enough to allow us to present this type of literature to our students... if not, I suppose we could always find a way!
I agree with you about offering Dr. Mortimore's article as a preface to teaching a graphic novel. That helped me so much before reading American Born Chinese. Since this is something most students aren't familiar with then a lot of background info would be extremely helpful. I just hope my students will enjoy graphic novels as much as I have recently.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having students drawing their own comic strips based upon books. I did this for my 9th grade English class and it really made a difference. It forces student to read the material and use their imagination. When educators include different activities, it makes the lesson more engaging and interesting.
ReplyDeleteI lik ethe idea about having students draw their own comic strips based on literature. I think this would be very fun for most. Especally if they are turning a more dull peice of literature into a comic. It will give them a way to express the text in picture.
ReplyDeleteAlso I think the idea of using text that the students can connect to is a wise idea. I know when I was in highschool I always appreciated anything I could connect to more!
I completely agree with the fact that if our teachers would have utilized graphic novels in the classroom, we would appreciate them more today and even choose to read them on our own. Unless someone is introduced to something, how can he/she really understand it? I think this is why many of us in class were confused and nervous to read "American Born Chinese." We did not know what to expect. But we as teachers need to be the change that you discuss here, by implementing this genre of literature and encouraging an appreciation for it.
ReplyDeleteI have the same short-term memory issues. Drives me crazy. It is strange (as you mentioned) that somehow you were able to get back in the story very quickly when the author started it up again (or even if you take a break in reading). The images must trigger something that brings everything back quickly. I think your students will love this book...
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