Teaching graphic novels: practical strategies for the secondary ELA classroom, by Kate Monnin (original) (raw)

Carving a Niche: Graphic Novels in the English Language Arts Classroom (2007)

The introduction to the 2007 NCTE edited collection _Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by Page, Panel by Panel_, still a best-seller for that organization, "Carving the Niche" sets forth the thesis that there is a graphic novel for every learner in every classroom, details what research says about comics' potentials for myriad student populations, and suggests routes for future researchers who seek to study the intersections of comics and literacy.

GRAPHIC NOVELS: VISUAL NARRATIVE THEORY AND ITS PEDAGOGICAL RELEVANCE

This is an age of new literature, where we have diverged from the traditional culture of literacy and entered into a space where no combination seems odd. It is an age where we whole heartedly accept contrasts over mainstream combinations. Likewise, with the advent of areas like film studies and science fiction, the traditional borders of literacy have met an immense expansion. Though, anything new often faces resistance and criticism, especially if it becomes a part of the popular culture; similar was the reception in case of graphic novels. The welding of words and pictures in this medium creates a deeper impression upon the mind and other senses of the readers. Reading and appropriate understanding of this genre requires basic skill of interpretations and imagination on the part of the readers as well. The present need is to move beyond the monological order of practice and entrench into the world of cross curriculum and multiple literacies. Literature of the twenty first century has adopted the new culture of interdisciplinary practices, borrowing from the other fields such as psychology, arts, philosophy, biology, etc. Graphic novels are an outcome of one such practice, where the unique combination of words and images together contribute in providing meaning to the text. This paper traces the coherence of the genre in the light of visual narrative theory and exploring its pedagogical relevance. With the sad demise of R. K. Laxman came the death of the " Common Man " on January 26, 2015. It marked yet another irreplaceable loss to the field of Arts in India which couldn't stop the people of the nation from expressing their immense grief and remorse through all channels, print and web. This reveals the presentness and fondness of 'cartoon' as an essential part of our daily curriculum, existing somewhere at the conscious or unconscious level in our minds. The debate and confusion over the similarities and dissimilarities between comics and graphic novels seem to be an unresolvable issue as both of them uses sequential art for storytelling. Some people consider both as the same form with different nomenclatures; others believe that graphic novel is an extended and a much serious version of comic books. What is more important in this regard

Rethinking the Literary Merit of Graphic Novels

2010

To say that graphic novels have attracted attention from educators is by now axiomatic. Professional journals, like this one, routinely feature articles that extol their virtue as a pedagogical tool. Books attest to the creative ways teachers are using them to scaffold students as readers and writers. Sessions devoted to graphic novels at the National Council of Teachers of English’s annual convention are invariably well attended and seem to proliferate in number from one year to the next. By all accounts, it would seem that educators have embraced a form of text whose older brother, the comic book, was scorned by teachers in the not-so-distant past. Appearances, however, can be deceiving. When Melanie Hundley, on behalf of the editors of The ALAN Review, invited me to contribute a column on graphic novels for an issue of the journal devoted to the influence of film, new media, digital technology, and the image on young adult literature, I was only too happy to oblige because it aff...