ABOUT THE SITE
Comics in Education is devoted to examining the use of visual narrative in the K-12 classroom and beyond. Although schools have seen a rise in the use of graphic novels in recent years, this use is often limited to supporting reluctant or developing readers. The focus of Comics in Education is on showing that understanding, decoding, and making meaning of visual narrative has never been more important than it is today for learners of all ages and abilities.
ABOUT THE ADMINISTRATOR
Glen Downey is an award-winning Canadian children's author, teacher, ludologist, literary critic, and consultant. He is currently the Chair of Strategic Thinking at The York School in Toronto. Glen's experience as an educator has included stops at a number of secondary and postsecondary institutions, including Appleby College, UBC, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Glen's books have been distributed by Rubicon, Scholastic, Harcourt, Nelson, Brightpoint, Althouse, Pearson, and Oxford.
Since 2010, Glen has been a regular reviewer for PW Comics World, the graphic novel division of Publishers Weekly. He also writes and edits works on comics scholarship for the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization.
Glen's work as a children's author had its start in his formative years, when he surrounded himself with books that teachers told him were below his ability level as a reader. Rather than being guided by what he "should read," however, Glen gravitated to books that provoked his curiosity, like mystery novels, comics, Choose Your Own Adventure books, and the literature of science fiction and fantasy role-playing games of the time, like Dungeons and Dragons and BattleTech. He discusses these formative reading experiences in "Everything I Know I Learned from Comics," an article published by Sequart, and presented at both the 2013 For the Love of Literacy Conference in Burlington, ON and the 2014 Reading For the Love of It Conference at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto. It was also the keynote address for 2018 Adolescent Literacy Conference for the Durham DSB in Whitby.
At the same time, Glen developed a fascination with games, a fascination that would lead him to combine this with his eclectic interests in reading and ultimately pursue studies in the History and Theory of Games in Literature and Culture both during his M.A. at McMaster University and his Ph.D. at the University of Victoria. His doctoral thesis, The Development of the Chess Motif in Victorian Fiction, traces the development of chess as a metaphor for sexual politics throughout its thousand year history in Western literature, with a specific focus on its use in nineteenth-century fiction.
Glen has been excited by the growth of Comics in Education over the past few years, and is always looking to connect with those for whom both comics and education are endless sources of fascination, enjoyment, and learning. If you are interested in Glen's professional portfolio or contacting him about services that he or Comics in Education can provide, please click here.
Since 2010, Glen has been a regular reviewer for PW Comics World, the graphic novel division of Publishers Weekly. He also writes and edits works on comics scholarship for the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization.
Glen's work as a children's author had its start in his formative years, when he surrounded himself with books that teachers told him were below his ability level as a reader. Rather than being guided by what he "should read," however, Glen gravitated to books that provoked his curiosity, like mystery novels, comics, Choose Your Own Adventure books, and the literature of science fiction and fantasy role-playing games of the time, like Dungeons and Dragons and BattleTech. He discusses these formative reading experiences in "Everything I Know I Learned from Comics," an article published by Sequart, and presented at both the 2013 For the Love of Literacy Conference in Burlington, ON and the 2014 Reading For the Love of It Conference at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto. It was also the keynote address for 2018 Adolescent Literacy Conference for the Durham DSB in Whitby.
At the same time, Glen developed a fascination with games, a fascination that would lead him to combine this with his eclectic interests in reading and ultimately pursue studies in the History and Theory of Games in Literature and Culture both during his M.A. at McMaster University and his Ph.D. at the University of Victoria. His doctoral thesis, The Development of the Chess Motif in Victorian Fiction, traces the development of chess as a metaphor for sexual politics throughout its thousand year history in Western literature, with a specific focus on its use in nineteenth-century fiction.
Glen has been excited by the growth of Comics in Education over the past few years, and is always looking to connect with those for whom both comics and education are endless sources of fascination, enjoyment, and learning. If you are interested in Glen's professional portfolio or contacting him about services that he or Comics in Education can provide, please click here.
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