Comics and sequential art are increasingly in use in college classrooms. Multimodal, multimedia and often collaborative, the graphic narrative format has entered all kinds of subject areas and its potential as a teaching tool is still being realized. This collection of new essays presents best practices for using comics in various educational settings, beginning with the basics. Contributors explain the need for teachers to embrace graphic novels. Multimodal composition is demonstrated by the use of comics. Strategies are offered for teachers who have struggled with weak visual literacy skills among students. Student-generated comics are discussed with several examples. The teaching of postmodern theories and practices through comics is covered. An appendix features assignment sheets so teachers can jump right in with proven exercises.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments (xi) Matthew L. Miller: Introduction—Graphic Novel Pedagogy: Starting to Learn Together (1)
Section I. Getting Started: Advice for Beginners Cecile de Rocher: Working on Understanding Comics: Introducing the Teacher to the Graphic Novel (21) Michael Buso: Comics as Literature, Comics as Culture: Teaching Graphic Fiction in the Undergraduate Classroom (30) Karen W. Gavigan: Comics Make Great Prompts: Using Graphic Novels to Teach Writing in College Classrooms (40)
Section II. Encountering Challenges: Graphic Novels in Various Settings David Bahr: “Outside the Box”: Teaching Graphic Narrative in the Multicultural Community College (51) Travis W. Johnson and Jeremy Reed: Graphic Interventions: Introducing the Graphic Novel into the Classroom in a Small, Rural College Setting (62) Scott A. Dimovitz: (Religious) Fun Homes: Teaching the Lesbian Feminist Graphic Novel in a Catholic University (79)
Section III. Writing for Multimodality: Graphic Novels in Contemporary Composition Andrew Bourelle: Multimodality 101: Graphic Narratives and Multimodal Composition (91) Aaron Kashtan: Talismans: Using Comics to Teach Multimodal Writing (103) Jason Salinas: More than Storyboards: Maintaining a Space for Graphic Novels in the Face of Film Adaptation (117)
Section IV. Reaching Beyond Limits: Complex Teaching Methods Julia Klimek: Teaching Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: The Construction of a Modernist Lesbian Graphic Novel (131) Elizabeth Nijdam: Coming to Terms with the Past: Teaching German History with the Graphic Novel (143) Michael Demson: Defending the Graphic Novel: An Introduction to Literary Theory (155)
Section V. Self-Reflexivity, Intertextuality and Other Scary Terms: Postmodernism in Graphic Novels Jeffrey Roessner and Eithne Amos: Old Father, New Artificer: Teaching Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home as Postmodern Literature (169) Rhonda Knight: Author/Character: Persepolis as a Gateway to Reading Metafictional Novels (181) Qiana Whitted: Intertextual Journeys: Black Culture, Speculative Fiction and the Past as Text in Jeremy Love’s Bayou (195)
Section VI. Looking Ahead: Graphic Novel Education for the Future Amanda M. Greenwell: Doing Justice to the Graphic Novel: Comics as Curriculum in Young Adult Literature (217) Katie Monnin: A Mission: Why Should 21st Century Secondary Language Arts Educators Teach Reading and Writing with Graphic Novels? (231)
Appendix: Best Practices Assignments (249) Karen W. Gavigan: History Assignment (249) David Bahr: Panel-to-Panel Drawing Exercise (250) Scott A. Dimovitz: (Auto)Biographical Short Story (251) Andrew Bourelle: Memoir Assignment (251) Aaron Kashtan: Comics Analysis (254) Jason Salinas: Composing a Graphic Novel (256) Michael Demson: Podcast Assignment (257) Matthew L. Miller: Theoretical Application (258) Qiana Whitted: Exploring Adaptation in Historical Comics (258) Qiana Whitted: Creative Assignment (260) Amanda M. Greenwell: Prompts for Close-Reading Graphic Narratives (260) Katie Monnin: Teaching the Key Elements of Story (262)
About the Contributors (265) Index (269)
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