A collection of Graphic Novels - focused on diversity, social justice, and current issues

I will preface this entry with a confession; I am a graphic novel junkie. As an artist and avid fiction reader these little gems are my multimedia aesthetic fix. They are full of beautiful images, sounds (in the form of *boom* and *pow*), and often have exciting action-filled plots played out by emotional and intricate characters. While some graphic novels can only be found on the Internet, I prefer, and in fact crave, the smell of ink, glue, and the feel of glossy pages flipping under my fingers. I discovered graphic novels in middle school and they called to my adolescent senses. I was not the only teenager partaking of this textual drug either. And today they are more popular and readily available than ever.

Students, especially those in middle and high school, have a desire and a need to talk about current issues surrounding politics, policy, human rights, and diversity. When we bring such topics into the classroom in a respectful and honest way student voices are validated, current issues are discussed, and motivation to engage with text and learning is increased. I stumbled upon a few graphic novels that cover current issues and could serve as paired text for history, social/political science, current issues, genre study, and/or a mentor text (among other things). These topics, presented in a highly accessible multimedia format, will capture just about any teen at any reading level but can be appropriate for younger students as well.  To provide some grounding for this social justice approach to literacy, I would recommend reading Critical Literacy and Writer's Workshop: Bringing Purpose and Passion to Student Writing by Lee Heffernan. This book offers philosophical insight, practical and applicable tips, and a glimpse of the success that this form of literacy can provide. It reads fast, being only 86 pages in total, and will give you valuable information for this approach.

Read on for an annotated bibliography of these graphic novels, along with some links to lesson plans, discussion questions, and author websites and biographies...

A phonics instruction idea...

This entry will be quick and to the point (possibly even scattered), but I want to get the idea down and may have to come back for editing.

I am currently attempting to earn my reading endorsement and have to take a literacy assessment class. My professor, Deborah White, and the author of our text book which I would highly recommend because it is straight forward and full of practical techniques (Assessment First published by Scholastic), gives instructions for using alphabet charts while teaching phonemic awareness to students on page 65 (*gasp!*). In short (very short), she and her students chant the alphabet while looking at visual representations of each sound. Her example is "A, a, apple /a/, /a/, /a/. B, b, ball /b/, /b/, /b/." This activity benefits students because it addresses multiple ways of learning, it supports English Language Learning, and boosts motivation and interest. But I think there is a way to highlight these benefits. I will explain...

Multiple Literacies - Virtual Exploration "We're not in Kansas anymore"

I like to call these Virtual Field Trips. Sometimes I conduct a field trip by way of pictures, video, sound, and tactile exploration. This is what John Dewey would call creating an "experience" for the students. To read more about this in more understandable terms read this article by Kevin J. Pugh & Mark Girod.

I will mention also that for ESOL and ASD students visual support and scaffolding around linguistically or conceptually difficult subjects is essential. These virtual field trips offer that scaffolding and support.

There are multiple online resources for exploring challenging and abstract concepts. The digital world is a wondrous place, full of infinitely transecting and branching Yellow Brick Roads....

More Multiple Literacies resources... Rap, Baby!

One of the cohort in my bachelor's program used a graphing rap song to solidify graphing rules and concepts with her students as she worked with them on graphing. First she explicitly went through the lyrics with them and had them rap together once. Then, as they worked in groups or individually she has the song playing quietly in the background. There is a bit of rote memorization with this particular approach, but the brilliance is that students had a positive interaction with the material. The remembering was easy and therefore the reasons behind the concepts became the focus. She could say "remember when the song says ____? What they mean by that is ____________." The other approach to this could be to have students deconstruct the text (why does the song say that?). This last approach is inquiry based and is most successful.

Students who reside primarily in their right brain are governed by musicality (among other things artistic). Rap and rhythm tap into right-brain intelligence to strengthen comprehension. ESOL students often benefit from music and rhythm because it gives them a quickly retrieved association to attach learning to. below are some content rap resources to support classroom learning...