Comics in Education Presents: The 10
9/9/2018
The 10 is a series of books that use a Top-10 countdown format and graphical text to explore fascinating topics from sports, science, history, pop-culture, and a wide variety of other subjects. Whether they’re exploring the ten smartest animals or the ten greatest sports showdowns, students are encouraged to engage in inquiry-based learning tasks that extend learning and discussion outside the classroom. In 2009, the series received the Teachers' Choice Award for Children’s Books from Learning magazine. Here are many of the titles that I wrote for the series.
THE 10 SMARTEST ANIMALS
by Glen Downey Think you're smarter than your pet dog, Fido? Think again! From monkeys that do math to pigs that play video games -- you'll be shocked at just how smart some animals are. What do you think it takes to win the title of world's smartest animal?
MOST DECISIVE BATTLES
by Glen Downey History, as they say, is written by the victors. When the future of a nation and even the fate of the world can be decided on the battlefield, it's no wonder armies will do anything to come out on top. What decisive battles would you put on the list?
HOTTEST HOLLYWOOD CARS
by Glen Downey and Maria Malara Nothing makes more of a statement than an amazing car. From cool gadgets to luxury accessories to superhero drivers, these cars all stand out from the rest of the pack. Which car do you think is Hollywood's hottest ride?
MOST SIGNIFICANT DOCUMENTS IN HISTORY
by Glen Downey Whether they were carved in stone, written on bamboo, or woven into a belt, each of the documents in this book has played an important role in shaping our world. What do you think is the most significant document of all time?
GREATEST HOCKEY TEAMS OF ALL TIME
by Glen Downey and Kirsten Tenebaum Many great hockey teams have been assembled over the years. From the innovators to the trail blazers to the record breakers, there have been many teams throughout hockey's history that have stood out from the rest. How do you pick hockey's most outstanding teams of all time?
COOLEST FLYING MACHINES
by Glen Downey and Sandie Cond Ever since humans figured out how to fly, people have come up with all sorts of ways to take to the skies. The fastest jet in the world, the fanciest jetliner ever built, the stealthiest spy plane service -- these are some of the coolest ways to fly! Which do you think is the coolest?
MOST REVOLUTIONARY MILITARY INVENTIONS
by Glen Downey From giant bomber planes to invisible chemical and biological weapons, military inventions come in all shapes and sizes. Take a trip through time as we investigate which weapons have had the biggest impact. Which military invention really was the most revolutionary... and deadliest?
MOST MEMORABLE TV MOMENTS
by Glen Downey From a heroic sports finale to the debut of educational programming for kids, you'll be amazed at the way TV has allowed us to experience memorable moments. Find out why these moments had people around the world on the edge of their seats. What do you think is the most memorable moment in television?
MOST UNFORGETTABLE NASCAR MOMENTS
by Glen Downey High speeds, skilled drivers, and big prizes -- that's what NASCAR is all about. From a million-dollar prize to an unexpected crash, you'll find out what makes auto racing fans so passionate about this exciting sport. What is it about a NASCAR race that makes it so memorable?
MOST SHOCKING SPORTS SCANDALS
by Glen Downey Welcome to the wild world of sports! From cheating in games to bribing judges in competitions, this book ranks the shocking scandals that ruined some of the biggest names in the game. Have we made winning the only thing that matters?
MOST MEMORABLE SPORTS SHOWDOWNS
by Glen Downey The stakes are high, the crowd is pumped, and tension fills the air. The arena is about to turn into a battlefield as we relive the 10 greatest sports showdowns. Are you ready to face some of the fiercest competitors in sports history?
MOST REMARKABLE WRITERS
by Glen Downey and Jayn Arnold From tales of Middle-Earth to moving poems, exceptional writers have wowed us with their incredible talents. Find out how each of these 10 remarkable writers made their mark on the literary world. Who is the most remarkable writer? For more information on "The 10" click the button below!
0 Comments
Thanks a Million!
9/1/2014
Although we've only been around a short time, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the thousands of you interested in comics and education for dropping by our site. We've just gone past the 1,000,000 mark and we're not slowing down. In the coming months, we'd love to feature the work you're doing in the fields of comics and/or education, so if you have a Kickstarter you'd like promoted, a cool project you'd like some press for, or if you'd just like to touch base, please don't hesitate to contact us. As well, if there's anything you'd like to see on the site that you don't yet, let us know. Comics in Education is really only as useful as the great ideas that make their way to our inbox! In honour of our 1,000,000 page view, I thought I'd provide a link to arguably our most popular post to date. It shows the power that visual media can bring to the classroom, and what a phenomenal student can do with it to develop an enduring understanding of, in this case, poetry! Enjoy! Margaret Atwood, Comics, and the Awakened Imagination
We're not kidding ... it's the coolest Now that my summer of writing, editing, and reviewing has ended with two weeks of eating Butterbeer ice cream on the steps of Gringotts Bank inside Diagon Alley, I thought I'd be in the best frame of mind to share with you the coolest activity you can do with a comic book. I first shared the idea at the 2014 Reading for the Love of It Conference back in February and it generated a lot of positive feedback. The idea, however, is very simple. So many of the activities that are built around visual narrative in the classroom have teachers getting their students to create a graphic novel or story out of some other work they are doing. For example, students are asked time and again to "Choose a favourite moment" in a novel they are studying and turn it into a graphic story. They are often told how many panels should be on the page and are reminded to use dialogue bubbles and narrative boxes in their story. There's nothing wrong with this activity once in a while. It serves a purpose. However, if teachers are really wanting students to understand something about a novel, poem, or play, and think that comics can help, then the opposite activity is much better: Have students take a comic book and get them to transform it into the form they are presently studying. What this activity teaches students is that novelists must rely exclusively on words to present a whole range of complex ideas, emotions, and situations. Since graphic novelists use pictures, and pictures (as we know) tell a thousand words, how cool is it that novelists can create these in our head without a visual component to their narrative? Let's say I wanted to use graphic storytelling in teaching Dickens' Great Expectations. Sure, I could ask students to "visualize" the opening scene by creating a graphic narrative about Pip's encounter with Magwitch. Will this teach students something about the impact that Dickens' words have on what they imagine? I suppose it will, although students who are self-conscious about their artistic skills might suggest they can't adequately represent what's in their head. However, I am much more inclined to take a comic like issue #117 of The Defenders--one that begins with a group of superheroes gathering in a storm-swept glade in upstate New York to commemorate a fallen comrade--and get them to turn it into what could be the opening of the novel. Sure, they can incorporate some of the narrative captions and dialogue featured in the comic--these will prove to be useful scaffolding--but they are going to have to use language to describe the visual landscape of the comic. This gives students a hands-on activity that really teaches them something about novel writing rather than about graphic storytelling. If you want students to learn about a particular literary form, then, have the work they are producing be of the form you want them to learn about about. If you enjoyed this activity, you might also enjoy:
We've discussed at some length on this forum the approaches one can take to introducing visual narrative to students or fellow teachers, and we've also suggested the importance of looking at it as a tradition. This really is a must. Students and educators alike tend to ascribe legitimacy to something that they perceive as part of a larger tradition. If you're wanting to teach the graphic novel in a serious way, then, I'd suggest spending a couple of weeks looking at the following with students. Cave Art Begin with a journey through the ancient world of cave art, with as many exciting stops along the way as you can. Even better, get your students to create their own cave art so that they can show themselves the power it must have held for ancient peoples who were desperate to tell their stories. Egyptian Hieroglyphics Make your next stop the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, showing students the beauty and detail that went in to telling stories through symbolic imagery. As well, check out the "Word and Image" activity featured on this site that gives students opportunities to marry the verbal and the visual. The Bayeux Tapestry There is simply no way to dispense with showing students the Bayeux Tapestry, a remarkable example of a woven graphic story, created in France as a testament to the events that culminated in the Battle of Hastings. If they don't think it's a comic, you can always show them this! Stations of the Cross Many people look at a work of visual narrative every week without even knowing it. A great thing to share with students and fellow colleagues is the many manifestations of the Stations of the Cross, a story told in word and image that has been around for hundreds of years! While you're at it, show them the Wordless Narrative activity featured on our site. A Rake's Progress William Hogarth was on to something when he created a series of paintings that tell the story of a young man who wastes a fortune through reckless living. A Rake's Progress is not simply a brilliantly conceived work of art, but a fine example of visual narrative. Next time we'll start with William Blake and then move into 19th and 20th century examples of visual narrative that can help you to reinforce with students and fellow colleagues its fascinating tradition! If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy:
Three Great GNs for Teaching Literature in Context This coming year, I've decided to do something rather bold. Now to me it doesn't seem bold, but no doubt some of my fellow IB educators will feel otherwise. For 2014-15, I've decided to replace each of our current texts for the Literature in Translation unit in the Language A: Literature course at The York School with graphic novels from the PLT (Prescribed Works of Literature in Translation). Those of you who love graphic novels and want an opportunity to teach them in a context other than in Unit 4 (The Options Unit) can do so in Unit 1. For those who are teaching the Language A course in English, there are currently four graphic novels you can choose from:
I won't be teaching these graphic novels until January 2015, but I can hardly wait. Although the contexts of these works are naturally all different (Aya, for instance, deals with growing up in the 70s in The Ivory Coast while Persepolis obviously deals with the Iranian Revolution in 1979), I think it's cool for students to have the graphic novel format as a consistent thread throughout the unit. The visual also gives them something else to focus on that is textual rather than contextual, an important feature for the Literature in Translation Paper that serves as the summative assessment for this unit. If you're an IB Educator for Language A: Literature, let me know what works you're planning to do for the Literature in Translation unit. Depending on your titles, I can point you in the direction of some graphic works that might help to facilitate your students' understanding! If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy: Even if you're teaching Maus for the first time, there are more resources out there than you might think...It can be both an exciting and daunting task for teachers if they're teaching a graphic novel for the first time, and that graphic novel happens to be Art Spiegelman's Maus. Although it is one of the most frequently taught GNs in the high school classroom (along with Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis), there are dozens of resources available to assist you in your preparations. Here are some good ones to get you started with your unit!
These resources should help you to prepare a unit that your students will thoroughly enjoy. If you still have any questions about teaching Maus, don't hesitate to ask us here at Comics in Education! If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy:
Boldprint Kids Graphic Readers Help K-3 Students Learn Math Math is one of those subjects that students will make judgments about pretty early on in their academic career. It's not so much the math they make a judgment about--it's their ability to do math. It's sad when kids make these kinds of judgments about themselves early on, or when parents makes such judgments for them (e.g. "Don't worry, I wasn't very good at math either"). A great resource for the K-3 math classroom is the Boldprint Kids Graphic Readers series from Rubicon/Oxford. These readers speak directly to the most common curricula found in the primary grades. What's the Problem, for instance, looks at rudimentary problem solving of the sort that students in Grade 3 would engage in, while Hoop Shot helps to support students doing the measurement unit in Grade 1. Indeed, all of the readers in the series are designed specifically to provide a visual narrative that helps to support a child's development in one of their core subject areas, like mathematics, science, and social studies. You can find this award-winning series at their official website. If you enjoyed this article you might also enjoy:
If you're thinking that comics and graphic novels are only for the English or Social Studies classroom, think again. One of the best graphic novels you can get your hands on is actually about the history of mathematics. In Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papdimitriou examine the life of Bertrand Russell as well as some of the most important and influential mathematicians and thinkers of the 20th century. The book isn't only about Russell's life as a mathematician and pacifist, however, but of the group of artists and illustrators trying to put it all together, and so the narrative switches back and forth between the actual present, the present of the narrative, and the recollections of Russell's own past, including his work with Alfred North Whitehead on Principia Mathematica. Of special interest to math educators will no doubt be the part of the story when Russell's attempts to establish a progressive school for young people that does not subscribe to traditional models. Needless to say, things go horribly awry when the students realize that they are not bound by traditional rules! The book was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for Graphic Novels and received widespread critical praise. Although it plays fast and loose with historical accuracy at times, it is thoroughly engaging, and a great way to show students how the math they are studying didn't just fall out of the sky one day. It came from the likes of the mathematicians and thinkers shown below! If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy: Comics in Education Presents: English Reading Lists that Work -- Culture, Race and Identity
5/13/2014
This is the first in a series of posts that are intended to give English educators some new ways of thinking about how to incorporate graphica into their curriculum. One way of making inroads with colleagues who are resistant to visual narrative in the curriculum is to show them how these works speak to, reinforce, support, augment, and otherwise work well with canonical literature dealing with similar concepts or themes. As you read these posts, please feel free to send me your ideas. I'd love to publish them on our site! Reading List
Rationale I like this roster of text choices, not only because the two novels and the choreopoem are written by women, but because the list will present students with engaging and challenging material. This is especially true of both Beloved and For Colored Girls and teachers would be well advised to ensure in advance that their students can handle the issues presented in these works. I love the addition of The Silence of Our Friends, a semi-autobiographical work that looks at race relations in Texas circa 1967, with a white family from a notoriously racist neighborhood befriending a black family living in one of the the city's poorest wards. They come together when five black students are unjustly charged with the murder of a policeman. The other graphic title I've included here was written in 2013 and was accorded numerous honors that included consideration for Graphic Novel of the Year. That's March, Book 1, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, who also happens to have illustrated The Silence of Our Friends! Of course, the amount of time that you have with your students and the specific demands of your curriculum will decide whether you can take an approach as suggested by the above list. However, we shouldn't underestimate the extent to which 21st-century students appreciate a curriculum that makes sense to them, and seems to be put together with the express purpose of fully and authentically developing their understanding of a particular issue or theme. If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy:
Each year, students at The York School in Toronto undertake Challenge Week excursions, travelling all over the GTA and across Canada to engage in experiential learning activities. Last year, I had a group at The Brickworks in Toronto (where TYS has a classroom) for a week-long experience called “Write of Passage.” It featured aspiring Grade 10 writers working with experienced poets, food authors, and playwrights. This year, I’m with a group at Maker Kids in Toronto, an organization that allows students to get hands-on experience building just about anything they can think of. Located at 2241 Dundas Street West in Toronto, Maker Kids is a unique space, as its website notes: MakerKids is one of the only makerspaces for kids in the world. It’s a non-profit workshop space where kids can learn about and do things like 3D printing, electronics, and woodworking. We offer workshops, camps, afterschool programs and more at our location in Roncesvalles in Toronto, and participate in external events in the GTA and beyond. We enable kids to build their ideas with real tools and materials; our goal is to inspire and empower kids to think, design, experiment and create. When we asked students what they wanted to make, it didn't take long for one of the groups to say "Hovercraft." The short video below shows a 3-D printer having a go at one of the casings for the high speed lift propeller. What is so impressive about Maker Kids is the visual and tactile learning environment in which students are immersed. Here the goal is to have them dream big and to ask for anything that can help bring their dream to reality. On just the first day of our excursion, our students were imagining designing everything from piano gloves to iPhone accessories to hovercrafts and miniature helicopters. Important in fuelling this hands-on, tactile learning experience is all of the signage around the space that encourages students to pursue their ideas. It strikes me that this visual stimuli – not just the encouraging posters but all of the equipment that surrounds them – does something for the students that is not unlike what I see comics and graphic novels doing for reluctant and struggling readers. It gives them a more immersive kind of experience and helps to reassure and encourage them in their process of attempting to make meaning from their experiences. Maker Kids has a wealth of programs for kids but also sets aside time for parents and educators. For more information about their programs, you can check out their website at www.makerkids.ca.
The world of academia just got a little less flat. While everyone was wishing one another a happy #StarWarsDay yesterday or enjoying #FCBD (that’s Free Comic Book Day for those who don’t get out much) the day previous, I'm guessing that considerably fewer were paying attention to what Nick Sousanis was doing at Teachers College, Columbia University. He was defending his doctoral dissertation, written entirely in comic book form. Writing a dissertation is challenging enough, but what Nick has undertaken is a step beyond challenging. His dissertation, “Unflattening: A Visual-Verbal Inquiry into Learning in Many Dimensions,” uses visual narrative in a way that may cause a few traditionalists to raise a Spockian eyebrow, but his work and its particular form are an important contribution to academia. As Sydni Dunn noted in her Chronicle article on Nick's dissertation earlier this year, his work is being recognized by other academics as part of an important development in the evolution of research at the doctoral level: Sousanis’ work is just one example of this evolution, says Sidonie Smith, director of the Institute for the Humanities at University of Michigan, who is a former president of the Modern Language Association. Smith has also seen dissertations presented as series of articles, as public blogs, and as interactive digital projects, to name a few. In earlier blogs I’ve provided K-12 teachers with a a rationale for comics in education and in other posts have discussed both why we should teach comics and how we can explain to fellow colleagues and administrators the reason they should be included in the curriculum. Nick’s work should help to make such conversations easier. Next time someone balks at your suggestion of choosing The Silence of Our Friends or Boxers & Saints for a unit on cultural conflict because "comics aren’t academic," show them Nick’s dissertation and tell them that the 21st century has arrived and that they should put down their copy of Martin Chuzzlewit and come outside and play!
...And if there's anything better than free comics, it's an entire day devoted to free comics! Linda Layne reminded me earlier today that this coming Saturday, May 3rd is Free Comic Book Day. I don't know about you, but when someone mentions "free" and "comic book" in the same sentence, I get kind of excited. However, before you rush out to your local comic book shop and begin emptying their racks into a large hockey bag, you might want to take a minute or two to find out how to get ready. The above video is a good place to start, and they're currently showing it on the mediabistro site. As well, Linda gave me some excellent links to share with you. One is to the Free Comic Book Day Store Locator, while the other will get you ready to go with everything you need to know for a successful Saturday. Those interested in why we have such a thing as Free Comic Book Day will want to check out the following mini-documentary: Let us know if you have a really cool experience on Free Comic Book Day. If so, we'd love to blog about it for our readers!
Some Amazing Inventions by Some Amazing Students... As an organization that has a passionate interest in visual narrative in education, and a love of all things that marry visual art with the written word, we're over the moon with the Doodle 4 Google contest. Cedar Creek Publishing sent me a tweet this morning about it and I went to the site to check out the artwork. Talk about phenomenal! All of the entrants should be immensely proud of their work. The contest is divided into grade categories and has students redesigning the Google logo. Here are the rules for this year's contest, courtesy of Google! This year's theme: Okay, okay ... so who did we vote for? There were so many wonderful illustrations, but these are the ones that Comics in Education voted for! My Time Machine (K-3 Category) |
| With time winding down to TCAF, please consider lending your support! There's a Kickstarter on the go right now that really needs your support. It has less than two weeks remaining before it comes to a close, and requires additional funding in order to reac its goal. The 10th Annual Doug Wright Awards are once again part of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, but as Brad Mackay writes, these awards need financial support from the public to be done in the manner they deserve. For those of you unfamiliar with the Doug Wright Awards, they are given to Canadian creators of comics in a celebration of excellence that honours the best comics and graphic novels the country has to offer. Here's how Brad describes it. |
Founded in 2005, The Doug Wright Awards were established as a way to honour the legacy of the iconic Canadian cartoonist Doug Wright (1917-1983) by publically recognizing the best in Canadian comics and graphic novels. Wright, whose strip Doug Wright’s Family graced newspapers from the late 1940s to the early 1980s, was arguably the most recognized Canadian cartoonist of the mid-twentieth century. A proud Canadian, Wright managed to reflect the aspirations and anxieties of a generation through his wordless panels.
Although Canada has long been fertile ground for comics, the non-profit Wright Awards quickly became a way to bring wider recognition to the art form while fostering a larger sense of community.
As a regular reviewer of comics and graphic novels, many written by my fellow Canadians, I know how talented and deserving of recognition this group of nominees and award-recipients will be. Thanks for your support!
by Glen Downey, Comics in Education, www.comicsineducation.com
Never underestimate what the visual can do in planning a major writing task
It's easy to dismiss pictures and drawings as something that we dabbled in as children, and that now, as serious adult writers, we should get on with the business of words, words, words. This attitude presupposes, however, that words and images should not mix, and it goes back to our previous discussions about the differences and discrepancies in attitudes towards literature, visual art, and the combination of the two (i.e. visual narrative).
When it comes to planning out a major assessment task, like the International Baccalaureate's Extended Essay--a piece of persuasive prose that is 4000 words long--have a look at what a student at The York School did in planning out her paper on the character of John Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories. The great thing about the visual here is not that it simply beautifies the planning process. Rather, it gives the student an opportunity to mull things over as they write, create, make connections, and attempt to articulate an approach to the essay.
The next time you have students engage in a visual brainstorming activity, get them to consider what they are thinking in the moments when they are "merely" drawing. Chances are they are thinking about a wealth of different ideas and considering how to make additional connections among them.
Their doodling, after all, is just the hand's way of expressing how hard at work the brain really is.
When it comes to planning out a major assessment task, like the International Baccalaureate's Extended Essay--a piece of persuasive prose that is 4000 words long--have a look at what a student at The York School did in planning out her paper on the character of John Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories. The great thing about the visual here is not that it simply beautifies the planning process. Rather, it gives the student an opportunity to mull things over as they write, create, make connections, and attempt to articulate an approach to the essay.
The next time you have students engage in a visual brainstorming activity, get them to consider what they are thinking in the moments when they are "merely" drawing. Chances are they are thinking about a wealth of different ideas and considering how to make additional connections among them.
Their doodling, after all, is just the hand's way of expressing how hard at work the brain really is.
by Glen Downey, Comics in Education, www.comicsineducation.com
We've taken a look so far at a number of examples of how visual narrative can be adapted to brainstorming and note-taking in order to allow us to take the non-linear ideas in our head and put them down in a way that makes sense to us. A neat application of this is when we are researching, note-taking, and brainstorming in the area of literary onomastics: the study of names and naming in literature. An activity like visual brainstorming, especially when accompanied by a good dictionary, can produce some pretty great results. Take, for instance, one of the most fascinating novellas of the 19th-century, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
(Your students might be amused by this animated version of Stevenson's story -- from Australia -- that came out exactly 100 years after the novel).
(Your students might be amused by this animated version of Stevenson's story -- from Australia -- that came out exactly 100 years after the novel).
Here's what a quick visual brainstorm can help us to see in the novel with respect to the significance of the names that Stevenson uses. It doesn't appear to be happenstance that he chose "Jekyll" and "Hyde" for his central characters...er...character.
Give me a dictionary and the freedom to brainstorm in this manner and it quickly becomes apparent how relevant names and naming are to Stevenson's novel. Even if some of the associations seem like a stretch, it's the freedom to make these associations in this early phase of the researching and pre-writing process that will yield results for our students later on. The problem with a graphic organizer in this instance is that it suggests to the student that there is an expectation about what they must produce. With such an expectation in mind, they can find it challenging to think outside the box.
After all, in a graphic organizer we've already put the box there...
After all, in a graphic organizer we've already put the box there...
by Glen Downey, Comics in Education, www.comicsineducation.com
Of all the series I have worked on, I have a special place in my heart for the 21 volumes of Graphic Poetry. Published by Rubicon / Scholastic, the series went on to win two major awards, including the 2010 Textbook Excellence Award from the Text and Academic Authors Association and the 2011 Teachers' Choice Award from Learning Magazine.
I'm especially fond of one title in the series: Margaret Atwood's "This is a Photograph of Me" and "Girl and Horse, 1928," probably because I teach a unit on Atwood's poetry to Grade 11 students in the IB program at The York School in Toronto.
For the Atwood unit, we study recurring motifs and themes in her poetry, with a culminating assessment that involves students creating a visual piece that speaks to the same motifs and themes we explore in her poetry.
I'm especially fond of one title in the series: Margaret Atwood's "This is a Photograph of Me" and "Girl and Horse, 1928," probably because I teach a unit on Atwood's poetry to Grade 11 students in the IB program at The York School in Toronto.
For the Atwood unit, we study recurring motifs and themes in her poetry, with a culminating assessment that involves students creating a visual piece that speaks to the same motifs and themes we explore in her poetry.
When my student, Kersti, got up to do her presentation, I was exceptionally impressed by how she was able to capture the spirit of "Girl and Horse, 1928" in a wonderful painting she did. Her explanation of the choices she made in putting the piece together were equally impressive.
I have to admit that I was a wee bit pleased with myself for having shown the class the adaptations of Atwood's poetry in the above volume from the Graphic Poetry series. The projects they produced, like Kersti's, were so excellently done and I figured that they were inspired in part by seeing how poetry can be successfully married with visual art.
However, what happened on a subsequent assignment absolutely floored me. Kersti chose to interpret Atwood's "Flying Inside Your Own Body," a poem that discusses the freedom a woman enjoys when she dreams and the rather terrifying reality she inhabits when she awakens. When Kersti stood up, this is what she showed us
However, what happened on a subsequent assignment absolutely floored me. Kersti chose to interpret Atwood's "Flying Inside Your Own Body," a poem that discusses the freedom a woman enjoys when she dreams and the rather terrifying reality she inhabits when she awakens. When Kersti stood up, this is what she showed us
"Okay," I thought. "She's managed to capture something of the final part of the poem. The restrictive, claustrophobic, isolating world that women can experience when they wake to discover the dream of flying inside your own body is illusory. "But what about the dream? What about the freedom and the joy that's described at the start of the poem? Where are they?"
Then, to the surprise of everyone, she opened the painting...
Then, to the surprise of everyone, she opened the painting...
That's right... She opened it. And there, inside, was the speaker of Atwood's poem. Kersti's explanation of the choices she made in her interpretation were brilliant--the tattoo, the necklace, the symbolic touches in the background--and students couldn't stop complimenting her on her work.
So, this is why we teach visual narrative in the classroom. This is why we celebrate it...
...And this is why I started a website called Comics in Education.
So, this is why we teach visual narrative in the classroom. This is why we celebrate it...
...And this is why I started a website called Comics in Education.
by Glen Downey, Comics in Education, www.comicsineducation.com
Here's what I'm proposing...
If you've visited the site recently, you notice that I've proposed the #edcomics hashtag for discussion dealing with, or inspired by, the use of comics, graphic novels, and visual narrative in education. This can be a great way for us to share ideas about everything from choosing the best comics to use in our classrooms to activities that we can do with students in helping them develop their understanding and appreciation of the genre.
In the coming weeks, look for posts with the hastag #edcomics and use the handy green button on the blog sidebar to follow these posts. If you want to post a message with the hashtag included, click the thin Twitter button that lets you tweet to #edcomics.
There are lots of individuals in the Twitterverse who are "Founders" of their respective educational hashtags. That, to me, sounds like a lot of responsibility. I guess if anyone asks, you can identify Comics in Education as merely the "Suggester."
In the coming weeks, look for posts with the hastag #edcomics and use the handy green button on the blog sidebar to follow these posts. If you want to post a message with the hashtag included, click the thin Twitter button that lets you tweet to #edcomics.
There are lots of individuals in the Twitterverse who are "Founders" of their respective educational hashtags. That, to me, sounds like a lot of responsibility. I guess if anyone asks, you can identify Comics in Education as merely the "Suggester."
Comics in Education Visual Brainstorming Series: Teaching Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden
4/14/2014
by Glen Downey, Comics in Education, www.comicsineducation.com
There are few plays more disturbing or more chilling than Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden. The trailer to the 1994 film, shown below, can attest to this. Coming up with a good approach to teaching it is therefore no easy feat, since finding the best kinds of supporting materials takes some significant research.
The other day I was thinking about the play and sat down to scribble out some useful ways of thinking about how it might be approached, with my doodling turning into a full-on visual brainstorming of the possibilities.
It turns out that there are some significant supporting texts that one would be wise to study in order to fully appreciate Dorfman's play. Indeed, the motif of "Death and the Maiden" is a tradition in and of itself, one that stretches back into the middle ages at the very least. It has made its way into literature as well.
The other day I was thinking about the play and sat down to scribble out some useful ways of thinking about how it might be approached, with my doodling turning into a full-on visual brainstorming of the possibilities.
It turns out that there are some significant supporting texts that one would be wise to study in order to fully appreciate Dorfman's play. Indeed, the motif of "Death and the Maiden" is a tradition in and of itself, one that stretches back into the middle ages at the very least. It has made its way into literature as well.
I think if the doodling below shows us anything, it's that a range of very useful connections can be made by an educator in pretty short order that might ultimately lead to the development of an entire unit of study. Something I'll be working on over the next little while is a series of downloadable pdfs for teachers and students that can help them to explore key aspects of many of the most frequently studied literary texts while allowing them to see connections to other works with similar themes and ideas.
Look for these downloadable pdfs in the coming weeks!
Look for these downloadable pdfs in the coming weeks!
by Glen Downey, Comics in Education, www.comicsineducation.com
A question that sometimes arises among students when I teach Othello is whether or not Iago bears more than a passing similarity to Batman's arch-nemesis, the Clown Prince of Crime--the Joker. I don't know who first came up with the idea of connecting these characters, but when my students initially mentioned it to me I found myself of two minds about it.
When I'm of two minds about something I find it helps to sketch things out. So I turn to visual brainstorming to see if that helps resolve things:
When I'm of two minds about something I find it helps to sketch things out. So I turn to visual brainstorming to see if that helps resolve things:
Let's see what you think...
Well, I'm not sure that this exercise resolves the issue entirely. There are some similarities in the ways in which both characters delight in others' undoing. However, one thing that the exercise works out is that Iago may, in fact, be a kind of hybrid of Joker and Batman, preferring to operate from the shadows like the Dark Knight but dealing out death and destruction like the motiveless malignity that is at the heart of the Clown Prince.
Give your students as many opportunities as possible to work through complex comparisons like the one above. Allow them free range to access their thoughts in this very visual way and it won't take long to begin paying dividends.
Give your students as many opportunities as possible to work through complex comparisons like the one above. Allow them free range to access their thoughts in this very visual way and it won't take long to begin paying dividends.
by Glen Downey, Comics in Education, www.comicsineducation.com
Yet Another Great Comic Book Shop that Is So Much More...
In one of my first posts on this blog, I talked at length about Strange Adventures, The Beguiling, and The Dragon--three of the best comic book stores in Canada. From that post, you probably gathered that I like few things better than losing myself in a good shop for the better part of an afternoon.
Another gem in this regard is Happy Harbor Comics, an Eisner-nominated store in Edmonton whose reputation as both a comic book store and a community builder is second to none. Happy Harbor is a great store in its own right, but it does considerable work in the community not only to raise the profile of comics but support local schools and libraries. A recent example of this was the appearance of owner Jay Bardala and two professional artists at a school in rural Alberta. Here, they shared with students the complex process of how a comic book goes from the mind of a writer to the store where you purchase it through a whole team of talented people that help bring the story to life.
But Happy Harbor does so much more. They help to support Alberta Literacy through their 24 hour Comics Day in October and work with Edmonton Big Brothers and Big Sisters through their 12 hour Comic Challenge each March. They're an annual donor to the Edmonton Public School Foundation and fund raise for the Edmonton Food Bank through a variety of activities, like movie nights and a Free Comic Book day. They've even recently started a Cover Artists for Charity program.
So, if you live in the greater Edmonton area or happen to be visiting, you'd do well to pay Happy Harbor Comics a visit. After all, there's nothing better than spending an afternoon in a comic book shop...
...Especially when you know it's one that really cares about its community.
Another gem in this regard is Happy Harbor Comics, an Eisner-nominated store in Edmonton whose reputation as both a comic book store and a community builder is second to none. Happy Harbor is a great store in its own right, but it does considerable work in the community not only to raise the profile of comics but support local schools and libraries. A recent example of this was the appearance of owner Jay Bardala and two professional artists at a school in rural Alberta. Here, they shared with students the complex process of how a comic book goes from the mind of a writer to the store where you purchase it through a whole team of talented people that help bring the story to life.
But Happy Harbor does so much more. They help to support Alberta Literacy through their 24 hour Comics Day in October and work with Edmonton Big Brothers and Big Sisters through their 12 hour Comic Challenge each March. They're an annual donor to the Edmonton Public School Foundation and fund raise for the Edmonton Food Bank through a variety of activities, like movie nights and a Free Comic Book day. They've even recently started a Cover Artists for Charity program.
So, if you live in the greater Edmonton area or happen to be visiting, you'd do well to pay Happy Harbor Comics a visit. After all, there's nothing better than spending an afternoon in a comic book shop...
...Especially when you know it's one that really cares about its community.
by Glen Downey, Comics in Education, www.comicsineducation.com
Books that Provide Teachers with the Ideas and Activities for Teaching Visual Narrative in the K-12 Classroom
Once teachers have read a few comics for their own enjoyment, done some additional reading about the genre, and found a good graphic novel to use with their students, only one thing remains. They need to do some reading about how to teach the genre to young people. Below are four excellent resources that teachers can use when they want to bring visual narrative to the K-12 classroom.
In Graphic Detailby David Booth and Kathy Gould-Lundy Award-winning educators, David Booth and Kathy Gould Lundy, look at the use of graphic novels in this activities-based book designed for the K-12 classroom. Exercises involve not simply reading and writing but help to develop the student's ability to express their learning through visual art and drama. |
Learning to Read with Graphic Powerby David Booth and Larry Swartz This book is designed to develop core literacy skills by having students engage with visual narrative. Using examples from the award-winning Boldprint Kids Graphic Readers series, the book shows why graphic novels should be in the classroom and how they can connect to pre-existing literacy programs. |
Teaching Visual Literacyby Nancy Frey and Douglas B. Fisher This resource by Nancy Frey and Douglas B. Fisher is an everything-you-need-to-know look at comics, graphic novels, cartoons, and manga as a way to foster and develop thinking and visual literacy skills in the classroom. It shows readers not only that a picture is worth a thousand words, but how visual imagery can inspire and engage reluctant readers. |
Wham! Teaching with Graphic Novels Across the Curriculumby William Brozo, Gary Moorman, and Carla K. Meyer As part of the Language and Literacy series, illiam Brozo, GaryMoorman, and Carla Meyer give readers a resource for teaching with graphic novels across the curriculum. Focusing on the high school classroom, the book shows teachers how to incorporate graphic novels into content area instruction while motivating reluctant and struggling readers. |
Glen Downey
Dr. Glen Downey is an award-winning children's author, educator, and academic from Oakville, Ontario. He works as a children's writer for Rubicon Publishing, a reviewer for PW Comics World, an editor for the Sequart Organization, and serves as the Chair of English and Drama at The York School in Toronto.
If you've found this site useful and would like to donate to Comics in Education, we'd really appreciate the support!
Archives
February 2019
September 2018
June 2018
March 2018
April 2017
November 2016
May 2016
April 2016
February 2016
September 2015
August 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014