Multiple Literacies are So Cool! - Glogster and graphic novels.

Multiple Literacies = any way humans create and exchange meaning.

I have spent some significant time looking into various ways that students can interact with text online. The most exciting find is something called a Glog. It is an online interactive presentation poster (like the old tri-fold poster-board kind - only better). Go see a really nice example of this about astronomy. This is a fantastic way for students to present their learning for a research project, be it group or individual. Students can "gallery walk" other class presentations and get a personal "tour" of the site. This allows for presentation and talk around the learning, and we all know that the more we let ELL students talk the better they will be. On edu.glogster.com watch the video of Eileen Doherty's 4th grade class for an idea of how to use glogster in your classroom. Watch the video below for a how-to tutorial.

Another thing I stumbled on is the virtual graphic novel. There are some appropriate graphic novels on line for teens, but be sure to screen all of them carefully! The Graphic Novel Reporter offers a hottest-novels-of-the-year list & review. Check out this list of free forums for links to sites that allow you to create your own graphic novels to share or to print. Remember that these are not the only options, I found many more that were not listed.

There is an online resource that allows you to create and share interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art. I have not had a chance to try it, but I would urge you to visit and tell me what you think. http://scratch.mit.edu.

There are many ways to use graphic novels in your classroom. One is to use them as mentor texts for a formative assessment of a book reading or a unit. Another way to use these novels to assist ELL students with comprehension. English Language Learners sometimes find it hard to keep up with all the text, but the pictures in a graphic novel help tell the story and enhance comprehension. I will try to pair the Odyssey graphic novel by Gareth Hinds with the original text and ask students to compare how language is used for a language study. Another pairing to use could be The Hobbit graphic novel and the original text.

If you are working on government and the concept of democracy consider using Mouse Guard to introduce the ideas of democracy vs. Monarchy. The nice thing about this text is that it has few words but the meaning is clear and fast to absorb. I read both Fall 1152 & Winter 1152 in one morning. I really liked them!
Visit this blog to access a list of professional books about teaching with graphic novels and a long list of graphic novels in print. (Grades 5-12. Some violence, blood, war themes.)

If you don't have the slightest clue where to start for Graphic Novel instruction then you may want to check out this book called The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel by Nat Gertler & Steve Lieber. This really is a basic blow-by-blow of what it is, what it is about, how to start, and who publishes.

Below is my example of a sumative assessment for the creation of our universe. If you look at pages 3-6 of the Elfquest  graphic novel (vol. 1) you can see that the authors, Wendy and Richard Pini, similarly used narration to give background knowledge and to build tension/anticipation. We both followed up with dialogue to bring current action to the story and begin its movement into plot. (Please note: Elfquest has adult content that should be carefully screened out when using this graphic novel with students.)

Also check out the following links for content comics:
Science, and more Science. Sample Adventures in Synthetic Biology for one example.
There are many more resources that I don't have time to list just now. Check back for more on Multiple Literacies. Try this NPR show involving science and comic use.

See the following page for 100 tips and resources for using Graphic Novels.
See also my annotated bibliography of graphic novels for older students.

And another web resource for graphic novels called Get Graphic.

How about studying the physics of super heros?