Essays on Why Teachers Should Care About Graphic Novels:
Teaching IRA’s Emphasis on
“Visualizing” and “Visually Representing”
Sometime between May and December of 2009, I contacted many of you about participating in a preconference institute at the 2010 IRA annual convention. The purpose of the preconference institute was to address why teachers should care about and teach graphic novels in their classrooms. Generated by an IRA policy statement that asks modern grade-level educators to teach students to “visualize” while reading and “visually represent” while writing, this preconference institute aimed to set new theoretical and practical precedents for using graphic novels in the classroom.
To my humbling-delight you replied positively and with enthusiasm. You were going to join me in Chicago! As our list of amazing speakers grew, I couldn’t help but feel as though we were quickly becoming one of the best and most talented groups of graphic novel experts ever to be assembled. However, due to circumstances outside of our control, the preconference institute was cancelled. It was easy to slip into a thought pattern that concluded that there might not be an audience that wanted to hear about teaching graphic novels in the ELA classroom.
I simply do not believe this to be true. One of the only areas of the publication industry to experience growth during a national economic downfall was that of graphic novels. Young adults were and are buying graphic novels. For these young adults, and their teachers who may not understand the graphic novel format, we must carry on with our message. Thus, the guiding questions for this special of the SANE journal are:
· If you are a graphic novel creator you may want to closely consider these questions: “From a creators perspective, why should teachers care about graphic novels? What about the creation of a graphic novel makes them a valid literary format (that can be both read and written)?”
· If you are a scholar or educator you may want to consider these questions: From your area of expertise with graphic novels, why do you think teachers should care about graphic novels, and, once they do, how can they implement them into their language arts curriculum? In other words, in what ways are you successfully using graphic novels to teach students to “visualize” while reading and “visually represent” while writing?”
Intended Audience (the top 3):
1. Language Arts teachers
2. Literacy scholars
3. Language Arts curriculum decision-makers and stake-holders
Deadline for Manuscripts:
January 15, 2011
Submission Process:
When you submit your manuscript, please go online to http://www.sanejournal.net
and register as a reviewer and as an author. This will help in the review process.
Thank you so much! Katie
