A Guide to the Effective use of Comics and Graphic Novels with Children and Teenagers in the Classroom.
Comics and Graphic Novels are no longer a fringe, underground market appealing to just a small number of enthusiastic fans. They are now a growing segment of the book publishing world. They have become accepted reading, in libraries and educational establishments, as mainstream literature for
both children and young adults alike.
The beauty of both comics and graphic novels is that they are able to motivate children to read, even reluctant readers those with learning difficulties.
If you are still undecided whether they are something that you need to take a serious look at, to check out whether the format is worth adding to your library collection, your curriculum and or your
classroom – then this guide will the perfect introduction into how the wonderful wealth of knowledge that comics and graphic novels can contain can be opened-up to younger readers.
The use of imagery to tell stories, goes back as far into history as the stone age with cave paintings describing events for future generations to read. The tradition was continued throughout
history, as seen in the carvings and paintings in the hieroglyphics all around the world in cultures like the Egyptian, Sumerian, Mesopotamian, Mayan, Incan, Greek and in a great many others as well, describing events and stories that they wished to preserve for posterity. We have found out so much about our world’s history because of the knowledge preserved in this way.
Comics and graphic novels continue this tradition of storytelling with their use of imagery and text – and the elaborate use of panels, gutters, sound effects and word balloons.
This fusion of imagery and text to show the narrative of the story enables even pupils that are really struggling to understand information/storylines – that can have quite complex concepts – because of the simple ways that comics and graphic novels work.
Therefore, they are ideal fayre for pupils with dyslexia and other learning difficulties.
This is the difference between the use of a novel or picture book and those of comics and graphic novels, with novels using just prose and picture books using text on a picture – whereas comics and graphic novels are using a real fusion of pictures and text to push the storytelling narrative forward.
The old stigma of comics as a device for less than able readers and throw-away nonsense or lighthearted fun and the use of the word graphic in graphic novels as a term for unsuitable more adult
content, is now being accepted as to be incorrect in both cases.
Comics and graphic novels are now being accepted more and more with librarians and teachers, as something to be used as an additional tool for teaching inside the classroom, because of the
simplicity and ease of use for even the most reluctant of readers and those with learning difficulties.
It is a well-known fact that pupils of all ages (even adults) learn faster and find it easier to understand and retain the information being discussed when they can do so in a fun and entertaining
way.
Those pupils with special needs can find clues in the pictorial content that give context to the written narrative. They can also give emotional context to the content that pupils, especially those
with autism, may miss out on when reading traditional text. Those to whom English is a second language can be motivated by reading comics and increase their proficiency in English, reading and
writing. In all these cases pupils can acquire brand new vocabulary.
The fact that comics and graphic novels are written with different ages in mind dispels the myth that comics and graphic novels should not be regarded as serious reading material. The range is so extensive that there is now material available to all-ages. Often, despite this fact being overlooked, they contain more advanced vocabulary than they have ever been given credit for and in some case far more than traditional books aimed at any specific age range.
Comics and graphic novels have specific skills that are learnt by using them. These are developed over time that require pupils to be actively involved in processing and comprehending a range of
literary devices that include, narrative structures, symbolism, metaphor, point of view, inference, intertextuality, and the use of puns and alliteration. Reading comics and graphic novels can
help pupils to develop the critical skills that are necessary for them to read more advanced and challenging literary works, such as the classics. It is also wise to advise pupils to use a dictionary
alongside the comics and graphic novels, to promote the further advancement of vocabulary skills.
The fusion of imagery and text helps pupils to analyse text and to understand the content, whilst interpreting the information contained within them differently than how readers perform that same process with traditional prose. In this new high-tech world where children are growing up navigating information on websites, through video games, television, films, and interactive media learning, having visual literacy, is a necessary skill. Pupils that are used to the process of reading comics and graphic novels will become able to process over multiple media as a result.
There are many reports from educators sharing the great success stories of their use when they have been integrated into the classroom, especially in the areas of: English, Science, Social Studies, and Art. Teachers are discovering that they are useful tools for critical examining of aspects of History, Science, Literature, and Art. They have been too long in the shadow of traditional books and
disregarded by educational establishments, as irrelevant and throw-away nonsense. They have in fact been a vastly underrated teaching aid for as long as they have been in existence to all but a few, because of the stigma associated with them. At last, this is changing, and the true power of comics and graphic novels is being appreciated and adopted into the curriculum, including the Common Core.
The American Government have even used comics as information booklets for decades now, to enable mundane but necessary aspects of military life, such as the correct cleaning of munitions and uniform and the like, to be understood quickly – in a fun way for their armed forces.
The effectiveness of comics and graphic novels in the classroom is something that cannot be ignored any longer, as more and more teachers realise their true worth in the structure of their lessons. The wealth of information, subject matter, and age-relevant content is continually expanding and proving to successfully provide even the most reluctant of readers and those with learning difficulties with the ability to consume and understand large amounts of subject matter in the quickest and simplest of ways.
We were told in the 1980s that “Comics had come of Age,” now in 2023 with their newfound acceptance, they really have.
The Creative Comics series that we have created here at Direct-ED are mapped to the curriculum and presently cover the core subjects, English, Maths, History, Geography and Maths.
The EDUCATORS introduces a NEW format for NEW characters to our English Range.
