Should schools start using graphic novels in their English and literature classes? Well, technically, should they make alternative mediums a crucial part of the curriculum? The Newsarama blog linked to an interesting article about it. Here's the kicker: it's told in the form of a comic book! Clever, huh?
I think that treating graphic novels as literary sources, especially for children in early ages, is a great idea. Younger kids find it easier to associate words with images. Art Spiegelman, notable writer of the famous novel, Maus, has even begun putting out a line of comics for children, in an effort to help expand their English skills and take an interest in reading.
Of course, there are critics. From Newsarama's link:
The only one who should use a graphic novel in school might be K-2, to ensure competence and retention of the new language. Anyone beyond that grade should be reading progressively higher forms of English text. What will they all do when they have to read Legal and Medical journals; convert them into Graphic Novels; oh I forgot, we won’t be producing any Doctors or Lawyers or Engineers, because THEY CAN’T READ!This makes no sense to me. Critics of education with graphic novels seem to all think that there would be some slippery slope that would eventually lead to the diminished use of classic literature and standard books. I don't think this will happen. And I don't even think the comment about doctors, lawyers and engineers warrants a response beyond this acknowledgement of its absurdity.
True, graphic novels have their limits--though they contain heavy exposition, narration, and dialogue, they do sacrifice a great deal of English grammar and punctuation, since dialogues appear in thought bubbles. Of course, the same can be said about many forms of literature that do not come delivered in the typical book package. Take plays, for instance, which focus more on dialogues and monologues, than exposition.
All in all, I'm in favor of trying the graphic novel approach as a supplement to the classics and standards. Sure, there will be the conservative critics fearful of the year-3000, experimental approaches, but we have no substantial reason to suspect that graphic novels are any worse a medium than others.
3 comments:
I disagree that only K-2 should be using graphic novels. I have 9th and 10th graders who read on the 2nd and 3rd grade level.
My only real objection is that using these graphic novels would promote students who are reading at grade level to read a "lesser" text instead of exercising their maximum potential.
It's a common problem, since the achievement gap is so great in a single classroom, it's impossible to satisfy the needs of every student. If you use the graphic novels to teach the lower level students, the higher functioning kids are neglected and will be stuck doing nothing. If you teach to the higher level students, the lower level students start a riot or stop showing up. There's really no happy medium.
This is where differentiated instruction fails. When the gap between students is so great that there's really no way to accommodate everybody in the classroom.
I wouldn't exactly call it "lesser text." You have works such as The Watchmen which are regarded highly even in the literary world, as well as other works of fiction such as The Dark Knight Returns that are compelling stories with quite a bit of meat within the tales. The grammar may not be perfect, but then again the same can be said of works by Hemmingway (stream of consciousness) or Twain (heavy use of accents) and so forth.
I think what casts a shadow on some of these works is the "popularity" of such stories. But we also should remember that Brave New World and The Great Gatsby were also seen as works of entertainment back in the day.
Works such as The Dark Knight Returns allow for critical understanding of both the situation and the characters. You have the interplay between Superman and Batman, both characters on the same side but with differing means and motivations. For a student to understand this requires quite a bit of logical thinking and interpretation, not different from the skills needed for those legal or medical documents (and I dare say that reading about fugly love stories in Dickens' time doesn't exactly help me with my understanding of cell adhesion molecules).
In reality, much of the criticism of how graphic novels being a "lesser text" is somewhat a lack of understanding in the power of such a medium. Yes, stories appear that are as trashy as terribly written memoirs or romance novels, but then again there are works that truly challenge conventional thinking and are told in an eloquent and convincing manner.
The fact that these stories are also entertaining is merely an additional reason to promote such reading. If teachers are able to accurately and effectively use these tools to teach appropriate materials (meaning they don't push down X-Men's Messiah Complex down students' throats), then yes, teach it to a 7th or 8th grade classroom.
I feel that to effectively use graphic novels to promote literature, one already needs to have a sense of literary appreciation (or basic literacy competency at the very least).
Also, when you build a curriculum on graphic novels and the students have to take a test at the end of the year that's based mostly on reading comprehension, it is difficult to argue that a student's comprehension of the literature they read on an exam is reflective of how well they've read graphic novels during the year.
And to be honest, giving graphic novels on the level of Dickens, Hemmingway, or even Twain is just beyond any of my students. I think that using graphic novels in high school settings with below grade level readers could be effective but could also lead students astray.
Not all students are as aspiring, motivated, or as hard working as we are. When you're an 18 year old sophomore in high school, you don't have the patience to read about anything, and graphic novels would basically give them any excuse to bring in magazines or the NY Post to read.
I go into these literacy classrooms and they have this ability to dance around and avoid the fact that students have to actually read. Though I think graphic novels are great and could be a great resource, but in schools where a majority of students are below grade level, if a student can find ANY excuse to do lesser work, graphic novels would basically lead to the "lesser text" that you think that graphic novels don't represent.
Remember, first comes comprehension, then comes appreciation. Not the other way around.
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