Wham! Teaching with Graphic Novels Across the Curriculum (Language & Literacy)

169 Pages·2013·1.83 MB·English

by  William G. Brozo

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY SERIES
Dorothy S. Strickland, FOUNDING EDITOR
Celia Genishi and Donna E. Alvermann, SERIES EDITORS
ADVISORY BOARD: Richard Allington, Kathryn Au, Bernice Cullinan, Colette Daiute, Anne Haas Dyson,
Carole Edelsky, Shirley Brice Heath, Connie Juel, Susan Lytle, Timothy Shanahan
WHAM! Teaching with Graphic Novels Across Literacy for a Better World:
the Curriculum The Promise of Teaching in Diverse Schools
WILLIAM G. BROZO, GARY MOORMAN, & CARLA K. MEYER LAURA SCHNEIDER VANDERPLOEG
The Administration and Supervision of Reading Programs, Socially Responsible Literacy:
5th Edition Teaching Adolescents for Purpose and Power
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DIANA J. QUATROCHE, EDS.
Learning from Culturally and Linguistically
Critical Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom:
Diverse Classrooms: Using Inquiry to Inform Practice
Unpacking Histories, Unlearning Privilege
JOAN C. FINGON & SHARON H. ULANOFF, EDS.
CANDACE R. KUBY
Bridging Literacy and Equity
Inspiring Dialogue: Talking to Learn in the English Classroom
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Reading the Visual: "Trust Me! I Can Read"
An Introduction to Teaching Multimodal Literacy SALLY LAMPING & DEAN WOODRING BLASE
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The ELL Writer:
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Moving Beyond Basics in the Secondary Classroom
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Urban Literacies
Reading in a Participatory Culture:
Remixing Moby-Dick in the English Classroom VALERIE KINLOCH, ED.
HENRY JENKINS & WYN KELLEY, WITH KATIE CLINTON, JENNA Bedtime Stories and Book Reports
MCWILLIAMS, RICARDO PITTS-WILEY, AND ERIN REILLY, EDS. CATHERINE COMPTON-LILLY & STUART GREENE, EDS.
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MICHAEL F. GRAVES, DIANE AUGUST, Artifactual Literacies
& JEANNETTE MANCILLA-MARTINEZ KATE PAHL & JENNIFER ROWSELL
(continued)
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LANGUAGE AND LITERACY SERIES (continued)
Educating Emergent Bilinguals Out of This World
OFELIA GARCíA & JO ANNE KLEIFGEN HOLLY VIRGINIA BLACKFORD
(Re)Imagining Content-Area Literacy Instruction Critical Passages
RONI JO DRAPER, ED. KRISTIN DOMBEK & SCOTT HERNDON
Making Race Visible
Change Is Gonna Come
PATRICIA A. EDWARDS, GWENDOLYN THOMPSON MCMILLON, & STUART GREENE & DAWN ABT-PERKINS, EDS.
JENNIFER D. TURNER The Child as Critic, Fourth Edition
GLENNA SLOAN
When Commas Meet Kryptonite
Room for Talk
MICHAEL BITZ
REBEKAH FASSLER
Literacy Tools in the Classroom
Give Them Poetry!
RICHARD BEACH, GERALD CAMPANO, BRIAN EDMISTON,
& MELISSA BORGMANN GLENNA SLOAN
The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write
Harlem on Our Minds
VALERIE KINLOCH ANNE HAAS DYSON
“Just Playing the Part”
Teaching the New Writing
ANNE HERRINGTON, KEVIN HODGSON, & CHARLES MORAN, EDS. CHRISTOPHER WORTHMAN
The Testing Trap
Critical Encounters in High School English,
Second Edition GEORGE HILLOCKS, JR.
DEBORAH APPLEMAN Inquiry Into Meaning
Children, Language, and Literacy EDWARD CHITTENDEN & TERRY SALINGER, WITH ANNE M. BUSSIS
CELIA GENISHI & ANNE HAAS DYSON “Why Don’t They Learn English?”
LUCY TSE
Children's Language
Conversational Borderlands
JUDITH WELLS LINDFORS
BETSY RYMES
“You Gotta BE the Book,” Second Edition
Inquiry-Based English Instruction
JEFFREY D. WILHELM
RICHARD BEACH & JAMIE MYERS
No Quick Fix
The Best for Our Children
RICHARD L. ALLINGTON & SEAN A. WALMSLEY, EDS.
MARÍA DE LA LUZ REYES & JOHN J. HALCÓN, EDS.
Children's Literature and Learning
Language Crossings
BARBARA A. LEHMAN
KAREN L. OGULNICK, ED.
Storytime
What Counts as Literacy?
LARWRENCE R. SIPE
MARGARET GALLEGO & SANDRA HOLLINGSWORTH, EDS.
Effective Instruction for Struggling Readers, K–6
Beginning Reading and Writing
BARBARA M. TAYLOR & JAMES E. YSSELDYKE, EDS.
DOROTHY S. STRICKLAND & LESLEY M. MORROW, EDS.
The Effective Literacy Coach
Reading for Meaning
ADRIAN RODGERS & EMILY M. RODGERS
BARBARA M. TAYLOR, MICHAEL F. GRAVES,
Writing in Rhythm & PAUL VAN DEN BROEK, EDS.
MAISHA T. FISHER
Young Adult Literature and the New Literary Theories
Reading the Media ANNA O. SOTER
RENEE HOBBS
Literacy Matters
teachingmedialiteracy.com ROBERT P. YAGELSKI
RICHARD BEACH
Children’s Inquiry
What Was It Like?
LINDA J. RICE JUDITH WELLS LINDFORS
Close to Home
Research on Composition
PETER SMAGORINSKY, ED. JUAN C. GUERRA
Life at the Margins
The Vocabulary Book
MICHAEL F. GRAVES JULIET MERRIFIELD ET AL.
Powerful Magic Literacy for Life
NINA MIKKELSEN HANNA ARLENE FINGERET & CASSANDRA DRENNON
New Literacies in Action The Book Club Connection
WILLIAM KIST SUSAN I. MCMAHON & TAFFY E. RAPHAEL, EDS., ET AL.
Teaching English Today Until We Are Strong Together
BARRIE R.C. BARRELL ET AL., EDS. CAROLINE E. HELLER
Bridging the Literacy Achievement Gap, 4–12 Writing Superheroes
DOROTHY S. STRICKLAND & DONNA E. ALVERMANN, EDS. ANNE HAAS DYSON
LANGUAGE AND LITERACY SERIES (continued)
Educating Emergent Bilinguals Out of This World
OFELIA GARCíA & JO ANNE KLEIFGEN HOLLY VIRGINIA BLACKFORD
(Re)Imagining Content-Area Literacy Instruction Critical Passages
RONI JO DRAPER, ED. KRISTIN DOMBEK & SCOTT HERNDON
Making Race Visible
Change Is Gonna Come
PATRICIA A. EDWARDS, GWENDOLYN THOMPSON MCMILLON, & STUART GREENE & DAWN ABT-PERKINS, EDS.
JENNIFER D. TURNER The Child as Critic, Fourth Edition
GLENNA SLOAN
When Commas Meet Kryptonite
Room for Talk
MICHAEL BITZ REBEKAH FASSLER Wham!
Literacy Tools in the Classroom
Give Them Poetry!
RICHARD BEACH, GERALD CAMPANO, BRIAN EDMISTON,
& MELISSA BORGMANN GLENNA SLOAN
The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write
Harlem on Our Minds
VALERIE KINLOCH ANNE HAAS DYSON Teaching with Graphic
“Just Playing the Part”
Teaching the New Writing
ANNE HERRINGTON, KEVIN HODGSON, & CHARLES MORAN, EDS. CHRISTOPHER WORTHMAN Novels across the
The Testing Trap
Critical Encounters in High School English,
Second Edition GEORGE HILLOCKS, JR.
DEBORAH APPLEMAN Inquiry Into Meaning Curriculum
Children, Language, and Literacy EDWARD CHITTENDEN & TERRY SALINGER, WITH ANNE M. BUSSIS
CELIA GENISHI & ANNE HAAS DYSON “Why Don’t They Learn English?”
LUCY TSE
Children's Language
Conversational Borderlands
JUDITH WELLS LINDFORS
BETSY RYMES
“You Gotta BE the Book,” Second Edition
Inquiry-Based English Instruction
JEFFREY D. WILHELM
RICHARD BEACH & JAMIE MYERS
No Quick Fix
The Best for Our Children
RICHARD L. ALLINGTON & SEAN A. WALMSLEY, EDS. MARÍA DE LA LUZ REYES & JOHN J. HALCÓN, EDS. William G. Brozo
Children's Literature and Learning
Language Crossings
BARBARA A. LEHMAN KAREN L. OGULNICK, ED. Gary moorman
Storytime
What Counts as Literacy?
LARWRENCE R. SIPE
Effective Instruction for Struggling Readers, K–6 MARGARET GALLEGO & SANDRA HOLLINGSWORTH, EDS. Carla K. meyer
Beginning Reading and Writing
BARBARA M. TAYLOR & JAMES E. YSSELDYKE, EDS.
DOROTHY S. STRICKLAND & LESLEY M. MORROW, EDS.
The Effective Literacy Coach
Reading for Meaning
ADRIAN RODGERS & EMILY M. RODGERS Foreword by Stergios Botzakis
BARBARA M. TAYLOR, MICHAEL F. GRAVES,
Writing in Rhythm & PAUL VAN DEN BROEK, EDS.
MAISHA T. FISHER
Young Adult Literature and the New Literary Theories
Reading the Media ANNA O. SOTER
RENEE HOBBS
Literacy Matters
teachingmedialiteracy.com ROBERT P. YAGELSKI
RICHARD BEACH
Children’s Inquiry
What Was It Like?
LINDA J. RICE JUDITH WELLS LINDFORS
Close to Home
Research on Composition
PETER SMAGORINSKY, ED. JUAN C. GUERRA
Life at the Margins
The Vocabulary Book
MICHAEL F. GRAVES JULIET MERRIFIELD ET AL.
Powerful Magic Literacy for Life
NINA MIKKELSEN HANNA ARLENE FINGERET & CASSANDRA DRENNON
New Literacies in Action The Book Club Connection
WILLIAM KIST SUSAN I. MCMAHON & TAFFY E. RAPHAEL, EDS., ET AL. Teachers College, Columbia University
Teaching English Today Until We Are Strong Together
BARRIE R.C. BARRELL ET AL., EDS. CAROLINE E. HELLER New York and London
Bridging the Literacy Achievement Gap, 4–12 Writing Superheroes
DOROTHY S. STRICKLAND & DONNA E. ALVERMANN, EDS. ANNE HAAS DYSON
The chapter opening images for Chapters 2 and 4 are reprinted by permission of
Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC: Excerpt from Trinity: A
Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm. Copyright © 2012 by
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm and Michael Gallagher. Excerpt from The Stuff of Life: A Graphic
Guide to Genetics and DNA by Mark Schultz, illustrations by Zander Cannon and Kevin
Cannon. Text copyright © 2009 by Mark Schultz. Illustrations copyright © 2009 by
Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon.
The chapter opening image for Chapter 3 is reprinted by permission of Classical
Comics, © Classical Comics Ltd.
The chapter opening image for Chapter 5 is reprinted by permission of No Starch
Press.
The chapter opening image for Chapter 6 is taken from Lesmoir-Gordon, N., Rood,
W., & Edney, R. (2009). Introducing Fractals: A Graphic Guide. London: Icon Books, and is
reprinted by permission of Icon Books Ltd.
Figures 1.1 and 1.4 are reprinted by permission of author Gene Yang.
Published by Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027
Copyright © 2014 by Teachers College, Columbia University
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brozo, William G.
Wham! : teaching with graphic novels across the curriculum / William G. Brozo,
Gary Moorman, Carla K. Meyer.
pages cm. — (Language and literacy series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8077-5495-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8077-7248-5 (e-book)
1. Graphic novels in education. 2. Graphic novels—Study and teaching. I.
Moorman, Gary B. II. Meyer, Carla K. III. Title.
LB1044.9.C59B76 2014
741.5071—dc23 2013029310
ISBN 978-0-8077-5495-5 (paper)
eISBN 978-0-8077-7248-5
Printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword by Stergios Botzakis vii
Preface ix
1. Graphic Novels:
Youth media for the Content Classroom 1
Why Graphic Novels? 3
Transitioning from Traditional to 21st-Century Teaching 6
The Common Core State Standards and Graphic Novels 9
Graphic Novels, Multiple Literacies, and Today’s Youth 10
The Literacy Demands of Graphic Novels and Comics 13
Looking Back and Moving Forward 16
2. Guidelines for Using Graphic Novels
in the Content Classroom 19
Identifying Salient Themes for Disciplinary Units 22
Identifying Related Concepts and Subtopics 24
Organizing the Content and the
Classroom for Graphic Novels 26
Managing the Classroom with Graphic Novels 29
Ensuring Student Success 33
Looking Back and Moving Forward 34
v
vi Contents
3. Using Graphic Novels to Teach
English and the Language arts 37
Instructional Practices with Graphic Novels
in English/Language Arts 40
Looking Back and Moving Forward 54
4. Using Graphic Novels to Teach history 55
Instructional Practices with Graphic Novels in History 58
Understanding National Policy Using The 9/11 Report:
A Graphic Adaptation 64
Exploring World War II
Through Graphic Novel Book Clubs 67
Looking Back and Moving Forward 72
5. Using Graphic Novels to Teach Science 75
Instructional Practices with Graphic Novels in Science 78
Looking Back and Moving Forward 95
6. Using Graphic Novels to Teach math 97
Instructional Practices with Graphic Novels in Math 101
Looking Back and Moving Forward 117
7. Concluding Thoughts on moving Forward 119
appendix a: Graphic Novels by Discipline 123
appendix B: Graphic Novel Resources 126
appendix C: Graphic Lessons and CCSS 131
References 137
Index 149
about the authors 158
Foreword
I FrEquENTLY rEFEr To GrAPhIc NovELs in my teacher education
classes. Recently, when I distributed various examples for my students to
peruse in class, one of them had a moment of enlightenment: “Oh, these
are what you were talking about when you said graphic novels. These are like
comic books. I was wondering why you kept telling us we should include novels
full of gratuitous sex and violence when we teach.”
This exchange made us all laugh at the time, but it also uncovered two of
the biggest barriers to using graphic novels in class. First, the name of the me-
dium is somewhat misleading and causes misconceptions. Most of them are not
graphic in the lurid sense, and many are not novelistic at all; some are nonfiction
and others collections of assorted tales. Second, they use the same sequential
art conventions of comic books, which means that they are often equated with
those texts and their most popular genre in the United States, superhero ad-
ventures. Consequently, they are also easily considered slight texts unworthy
of serious consideration. I can explain why in a brief delineation of comic book
history.
American comic books were invented in the mid-1930s, and the period
from their inception up to about 1950 is commonly called the Golden Age of
Comic Books, a period when many popular characters and genres were cre-
ated. This period ended with a series of hearings in which comic books were
associated with rises in juvenile delinquency, followed by the creation of the
Comics Code Authority, which ordered that comic book content be suitable for
young readers. This code cemented the notion that comic books were solely for
children, even though they enjoyed a sizable adult readership—a notion that has
continued until the present day and crept into conceptions about graphic novels.
The association of comic books with ill effects did not only exist in the
public consciousness, but also existed in the few (less than a handful) educa-
tional research studies that focused on these marginalized texts. The results of
these studies declared that reading comic books could cripple readers, distract-
ing them with pictures from the print text necessary to build reading stamina
or alternatively causing a certain type of dyslexia. These studies began with an
assumption that comic books were deleterious. Also, they did not recognize that
comic book readers simultaneously had to make sense of two different symbol
vii
viii Foreword
systems, words and images, in the process of comprehending sequential art, or
that, in the words of Alan Purves (1998), comics were multimodal, “an early
form of hypertext” (p. 47).
Thus, comic books came to be regarded as disposable and inferior reading
matter suitable only for the dim and the childish. They were considered not
at all literary, a notion that is problematic and almost definitely false. My own
research into adults who read comic books (Botzakis, 2009) found that 92% of
participants were actually quite capable readers who read for many of the same
reasons associated with literary reading. They just preferred to have pictures
combined with their words. So I take umbrage when a broad and false notion
about comic books is also applied to graphic novels, especially at the present
time, which I consider a sort of Golden Age of Graphic Novels.
The range and complexity of graphic novels being published right now is
simply amazing to me. There are books for all ages, on all manner of topics,
that apply to any number of content areas—all characteristics that are clearly
and repeatedly highlighted in this volume. Graphic novels are not simply books
for struggling readers, nor are they stopgaps for more serious reading. They are
part of what should be a balanced array of texts that all can read, enjoy, and
learn from.
In this volume, William G. Brozo, Gary Moorman, and Carla K. Meyer
point to this proliferation, as well as the educative potential, of graphic novels.
After reading its pages, I feel others will agree with me that they have done an
excellent job pointing out how graphic novel creators such as Jim Ottaviani
and Larry Gonick communicate much about history, science, and mathematics
while also making connections to comprehension and thinking skills that ac-
company both literacy and content-specific learning. I feel this book effectively
breaks down the two major barriers to using graphic novels—pointing out how
they can indeed be substantive, substantial, and meaningful as texts and teach-
ing tools. It is the book I wish my student had read before he came to my class.
—Stergios Botzakis
Preface
THIS BOOk IS AN ExPLORATION of the crossroads of graphic novels
and content area instruction. We have been amazed by what a positive
writing experience this has been. As university professors, we have done
a substantial amount of professional writing, and frankly, it is not always much
fun. We believe several factors contributed to our exceptional experience writ-
ing this book. First, we had the opportunity to carefully read a variety of graphic
novels, which opened our eyes to the expansive body of high-quality selections
in this genre. Second, we enjoyed the challenge of creatively thinking about how
to integrate graphic novels into the curricula of the different disciplines. Finally,
we benefited from working collaboratively with some highly knowledgeable
and genial peers.
We decided to write this book because each of us has an interest in con-
tent literacy and adolescent learners. We feel that too often content instruction
resorts to the banking model of instruction, in which the students are viewed
as empty accounts waiting to be filled by the teacher (Freire, 1970). Instead, we
advocate instruction that engages students to actively learn and independently
acquire knowledge. We believe that graphic novels are an excellent medium to
motivate today’s youth to become independent learners and thinkers.
aBoUT ThIS Book
In this book, we provide essential information to help content area teachers
think about and develop instruction that integrates graphic novels. In the first
chapter, we make the case that graphic novels are a form of youth media whose
time has come as a teaching and learning tool in secondary content classrooms.
We share valuable information about the history of graphic novels, the unique
qualities of today’s youth, and the distinct literacies needed to read graphic
novels. Chapter 2 provides general guidelines about how to use graphic novels
in the content classroom. We recommend methods to review curriculum and
identify appropriate inclusion of graphic novels, as well as share advice on how
to select high-quality graphic novels for the classroom. In Chapters 3–6, we de-
scribe numerous examples of how graphic novels can be successfully integrated
ix