ELA Post #4; Graphic Novels

I don’t have much experience with Graphic Novels in a Secondary Education setting, I think the closest I got was analyzing a political cartoon in middle school and that was it. In college though, I’ve experienced a few graphic novels and I, as a student, find them confusing. It’s one thing to be able to make up your own mind about characters and how they look and act, but it’s another to read one thing and get a completely different idea of how the character responds visually in the text. But, despite my inability to understand graphic novels, I can see how graphic novels can help students process and understand a text better. I could also see graphic novels being introduced to middle schoolers to help develop their understanding of symbolism and connecting the text to real world concepts and ideas with the help of identifying these with pictures provided by the author and illustrator. Graphic novels can also introduce a complicated topic, like in  “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luen Yang, where Yang introduces a complicated topic of racism and stereotypes that is instilled in second generation immigrant going through middle and high school. With a funny, stereotypical character, a magical Monkey King, and an epiphany at the end, it’s a great read to introduce to a Secondary Education classroom and start a real discussion about a huge problem that students will have to face at some point. And a discussion Not based solely on the storyline, but how the characters are showed as well- from Chinkee’s luggage being Chinese takeout boxes, to the “transformation” of Jin. Not only will students have to dissect the text, but the images as well carry a whole other meaning behind the words on the page.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post #3; Speaking and Listening

I personally struggle with active listening in conversations and classroom settings that do not have a visual presentation to follow along with. I don’t think there would ever be a time in my classroom that I wouldn’t have some kind of visual aid for not only my students, but for myself as well to follow along with. Using visual or auditory aids, like the book says, “ students like to listen to stories, poetry, and radio dramas and theater. Listening to literature can also be a great pleasure”, would be a great way to not only help students with getting better at active listening, but also would enrich curriculum and diversify lessons. With 16.2 , “we need to realize that some of the listeners and speakers we are communicating with may face challenges in understanding the nuances of what we are saying”- being able to be a clear and concise speaker is not important just for me as a teacher, but as a student that will eventually move on from your classroom and into others, and that the a...
Read more

Feature Films to Teach Literature

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OZzDLGaffny7Yn8y8QxHUrXnmS5odlRdRGpB0Ooj7sM Description: This article talks about how using feature films to help teach a certain set of literature helps increase understanding and the want/need to discuss similarities and differences between the different media’s. It not only talks about movies, but tv adaptions, plays, and radio programs. Not only does this article shed insight behind the reasons as to why to include different forms o media into the classroom, but also provides 3 other references to work with that provide materials and lesson plans from companies that are trying to encourage more films in English classes. Most lesson plans tend to avoid movie days except for maybe one or two a year. They’re time consuming and some teachers find them unhelpful or even harmful when it comes to understanding the text, when the opposite is actually more true. How to apply to the classroom: The article offers a few options, one being to bri...
Read more

Literacy and Reading Content Portfolio

Image
1. “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” This is the most important series I’ve ever read, to this day. I love the message that Riordan portrays with having Percy being the son of a single mom, having ADD/ADHD and Dyslexia, and having a hard time in school. The different characters show that no matter your background you can make something of yourself. And just because you have a learning disorder doesn’t mean you can’t be the smartest kid in the room— all while teaching you about Greek and Roman mythology, as well as Egyptian and Norse mythology in Rick Riordan’s other series.  It’s great for students to read of characters that they can share some kind of similarity with them and connect more on a personal level than typical literature characters. 2. “The Help” The Help is a really important text, not just because I could read it a million times and not get bored of it, but because it gives a (fictional) look into what was happening at the height of the civil rights mo...
Read more