This project focuses on another interest of mine: using high-quality comic literature to engage and teach literacy. Over the past ten years, I have worked with many boys who are reluctant readers and writers. In the 21st century, literacy means more than just reading novels and textbooks. Boys of the 21st century turn to other outlets, such as television, video games, and the Internet for pleasure. Any teacher can tell you that the boys in his or her class have an average of five to fifteen hours of screen time per week. There is obviously a high level of engagement for this media. However, if teachers can adequately harness this engagement to images and redirect it towards academic means, gaps in achievement will begin to disappear. Comic literature significantly and positively impacts the reading motivation, reading skills of students, and leads to reading of other modes such as novels, short stories, and poetry. Using visual media, such as comic books and graphic novels, as supplemental literacy instructional tools is a creative and innovative way to reach any struggling student and simultaneously challenge advanced readers with rigor. In completing this project, I learned that presentation design is essential for communicating one’s message to an audience. The more reluctant the audience, the more engaging the message must be. I tested this principle when delivering my presentation to colleagues. I truly believe that the effort I spent designing this presentation not only engaged my audience but opened up discussion around comic literature.

1. Does this ever
happen to you

2. Ok, class. Today we are going to discuss...

3. Um......excuse me.
Can you
please pay
attention?

4. Am I
boring
you?

5. What is THAT you are reading exactly?

6. Oh, a graphic novel.

7. Am I not interesting enough?

8. Ever wonder how you can engage
your students through reading?

9. Especially your boys?

10. Dress
like
this:

11. Just kidding!

12. There is a way to engage
ALL of your students.

13. Use Graphic Novels!

14. Interested?
???

15. I thought so.

16. You're
probably
wondering...

17. Why graphic
novels?

18. ??
Aren't graphic novels and
comics the same thing?

20. Graphic novels are a format that uses
sequential art to tell a story.

21. Will Eisner
popularized
the term after
he published:

22. Comics are...
a magazine devoted to comic strips.

23. Ok, but why use them

24. "Reading light materials,
such as comic books,
is the way many students
develop a taste for reading."
(Krashen, 2004)

25. Kids LOVE them!

26. They motivate
boys to read.

27. Graphic novels contain
20% MORE rare vocabulary
than a typical chapter book.
(Krashen, 1993)

28. They help reluctant readers,
well....start reading!

29. Graphic novels
contain 40% MORE
vocabulary than a
typical conversation
between a child and
an adult.
(Krashen, 1993)

30. But are
graphic
novels real
books?

31. Do they actually count as reading?

32. YES!!!

33. All reading is
good reading.

34. But aren't graphic novels only about superheroes?

36. Graphic novels have
a variety of themes.
For example...

37. &
have characters traveling to different worlds.

38. Struggling to fit in?

39. Rea
d!

40. An
un immi
ive g
for rsa rant
be l se 's
lon
gin arch
g.

41. "...comics are just as
sophisticated as other
forms of literature, and
children benefit from
reading them at least
as much as they do
from reading other
types of books..."
(Science Daily, 2009)

42. Ok, I get it!
You LOVE graphic novels.

43. wh at
B ut,
the ay?
es h s
do
se arc
re

44. A 1992 study of more
than 200,000
students...

45. ...from 32 countries...

46. ...revealed that

47. ...revealed that
Finland

48. has a 99% literacy rate!

49. They also have the highest proportion
of comic book reading students.

50. nearly 60%!

51. w !
o
W

52. Need
more?

53. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point...

54. requires that ALL cadets read...

56. ...before they graduate.
(Foroohar, 2005)

57. Maybe I should rethink
my literacy instruction.

58. I'm not saying you
should replace
EVERYTHING with
graphic novels.

59. Just consider it another tool.

60. When teaching...

61. ...you take advantage
of the tools available.

62. Even if it means using...

63. m e)
so
( an
a we
Graphic Novel!

64. Works Cited:
Brunnel, V., & Linnakyla, P. (1994). Swedish speakers' literacy in the Finnish society.
Journal of Reading, 37(5), pp. 368-375.
Foroohar, R. (2005, August 25) Comic Relief. Newsweek, 146(8), 50-54. Retrieved from
http://web.ebscohost.com
Krashen, Stephen D. 2004. The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Krashen, Stephen D. 1993. The Power of Reading. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited,
Inc.
McCloud, S. (2006). Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and
Graphic Novels. New York: Harper.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2009, November 5). For Improving Early
Literacy, Reading Comics Is No Child's Play. Science Daily. Retrieved
from http://www.sciencedaily.com

65. Images Cited:
Corlett, M.L., Fine, R.E., & Lichenstein, R. (2002). The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein:
A Catalogue Raisonne 1948-1997. Hudson Hills Press.
Eisner, Will. A Contract with God And Other Tenement Stories. W.W. Norton &
Company, 2006.
Kibuishi, Kazu. The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1). GRAPHIX, 2008.
Moore, Alan. The Watchmen. DC Comics, 1995.
Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007.
Telgemeier, Raina. Smile. GRAPHIX, 2010.
Tennapel, Doug. Ghostopolis. GRAPHIX, 2010.
All other images are care of Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Harvey Comics
Creative Commons Licensing.