This year, the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention will feature a number of programs related to the use of graphic novels in the classroom. We’ve listed several program descriptions below. Please see NCTE’s updated listings to ensure that you receive the most up-to-date program information, including times and room numbers.

Title: The Deep End of Engagement: Teaching Media Literacy with Graphic Novels

Level(s): Middle (6-8), Secondary (9-12)

(Sponsoring Group: Commission on Media)

Format: Panel

Topic: Popular Culture

Comics' very popularity can make their curricular presence suspect. Is it possible, then, to leverage this same engagement to foster a critical approach not simply to graphic novels, but to media more broadly? Drawing upon the two Media Commission members' classroom work, the presentation will show how deconstructing iconic characters such as Batman and adapting Scott McCloud's groundbreaking insights can provide powerful ways to address audience/purpose, representation, and visual literacy.

Chair: Katie Monnin, University of North Florida, Jacksonville

Presenter:

-Peter Gutierrez, Hillside School Explorers Program, Skyline Publishing Solutions, Montclair, New Jersey

            (Peter also serves on Reading With Pictures’ Board of Directors)

-Jen Powers, Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vermont

Title: Comics, Contacts, and Conflicts: Graphic Novels in the Classroom

Level(s): Middle (6-8), Secondary (9-12), College/University

Format: Roundtable

Topic: Adolescent/Young Adult Literacy

Practicing English teachers and teacher educators share experiences working with young people-adolescents and pre-service ELA teachers-as they make powerful text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections vis contact and conflict with comics and graphic novels.

Chair: James Bucky Carter, the University of Texas, El Paso

Roundtable Leader:

-James Bucky Carter, The University of Texas, El Paso, ‘Comics, The Contact Zone, and Curriculum: A Primer’

-Hugh Davis, Saint Mary’s School, Raleigh, North Carolina, ‘Girls and Graphic Adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe: Battling Preconceived Notions/Building Literacy’

-Dale Jacobs, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, ‘Teaching A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge: Tips and Considerations’

-Brian Kelley, Fordham University, New York, New York, ‘Comics: The Contact Zone, and Curriculum: A Primer’

-Sharon Pajka-West, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, ‘Understanding Echo: Considering Deaf and Other Comics Figures with Disabilities’

-Susan Spangler, State University of New York, Fredonia, ‘Building Prior Knowledge and Exploding Stereotypes via WebQuests and Persepolis’

Title: Babymouse and Lunch Lady: Creating Graphic Novels for the Younger Set

Level(s): Elementary (K-5), Middle (6-8)

Format: Panel

Topic: Reading

Long relegated to furtive glimpses under the desk, comic books have been considered unworthy of classroom attention. Students now are reading graphic novels with gusto and becoming stronger readers as a result. The creators of Babymouse and Lunch Lady series will explore how they came to create these popular books.

Chair: Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Tradebook Author:

-Jennifer L. Holm, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York

-Matthew Holm, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York

-Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York

Title: Layering Literacies, Teaching the Holocaust: Leveraging the Graphic Novel to Reach Diverse Learners across Disciplines

Level(s): Elementary (K-5), Middle (6-8), Secondary (9-12)

Format: Classroom Demonstration

Topic: 21st-Century Literacy

Graphic novels can be used to engage students at all levels, raising enthusiasm for reading and improving writing skills. In this classroom demonstration, teachers from The School at Columbia University present their interdisciplinary unit on the Holocaust and discuss its ramifications for twenty-first century literacy and mixed-ability classrooms.

Chair: Jessica Marshall, The School at Columbia University, New York, New York

Presenter: Jessica Marshall, The School at Columbia University, New York, New York

Title: Literacy in the Gutters: Reading, Writing, and Meaning Making Between the Lines of Graphic Novels

Level(s): General (proposals of interest at all instructional levels)

Format: Panel

Topic: 21st-Century Literacy

Reading between the lines becomes complicated when those lines are literal spaces within a graphic novel. As graphic novels gain curricular popularity the ways students' engage with them and the curricular place this literacy holds becomes of interest.

Presenter: Ray Clines, Jacksonville University, Florida, ‘Kenneth Burke and the Consubstantiality of Graphic

                    Novels’

Respondent: Carmen Medina, Indiana University, Bloomington

Title: The Benefits of Using Science Fiction and Comic Books in Teaching

Level(s): Secondary (9-12), College/University

Format: Panel

Topic: Reading

This session offers a diverse approach to teaching writing and reading. Using the techniques of reading between the lines and focusing on science fiction, graphic novels, and pop culture, the presenters will offer (1) techniques for achieving course goals with science fiction; and (2) principles for using graphic novels and comic books to engage critical reading and thinking.

Presenter:

-Dee Brower, Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, New York, ‘The Graphic Novel as Advanced Literacy Tool’

-Sean Kottke, Robert B. Miller College, Battle Creek, Michigan, ‘The [Discipline] of [Pop Culture]: Content Area Reading on Beyond the Textbook’

-David Seelow, Excelsior College, Albany, New York, ‘The Graphic Novel as Advanced Literacy Tool’

Title: Graphic Novels and Comic Relief: Engaging Students on Their Own Terms

Level(s): Middle (6-8), Secondary (9-12)

Format: Panel

Topic: Popular Culture

In this time of high-stakes tests and school accountability, English classrooms have become increasingly serious, and often teacher-focused, places. In these presentations, we will consider the role of materials our students choose (from graphic novels to television humor) in teaching what we need to teach: decoding, world cultures, and writing.

Chair: Sharon Lindell, State University of New York, Stony Brook

Presenter:

-Bruce Goebel, Western Washington University, Bellingham, ‘Comic Relief: Engaging Students through Humor Writing’

-Sharon Lindell, State University of New York, Stony Book, “Manga: A Booming Graphic Novel Genre’

-Harry Ross, National-Louis University, Skokie, Illinois, ‘Using Graphic Novels to teach Multiculturalism and Geographical Literacy’

Title: From Picture to Panel: CLA Master Class on Multi-Modal Children’s Literature

Level(s): Elementary (K-5), College/University

Format: Special Interest Group

Topic: Literature

More and more graphic novels are being published for younger and younger readers. In addition, picture books are becoming increasingly multimodal. In this session, teacher educators and creators of this literature will offer insight into how to approach 'pictures and panels' with preservice teachers who may have little experience with this format.

Co-Chair:

-Patricia Bandre, University of Arkansas, Little Rock

-Kathryn Button, Texas Tech University, Lubbock

-Lesley Colabucci, Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Millersville

Presenter:

-Tim Decker, author, Boyds Mills Press, Honesdale, Pennsylvania

-Linda Parsons, The Ohio State University, Marion

Title: Reading Between the Lines and the Panels: Graphic Novels Retell Middle and High School Literary Classics

Level(s): Middle (6-8), Secondary (9-12), College/University

Format: Panel

Topic: Reading

With a focus on middle and high school English, this session will help prepare English educators to teach in a more diverse literacy climate by suggesting that graphic novel adaptations of classic literary texts serve as one possible pedagogical instrument for teaching a modern pedagogy of multi-literacies. Participants will receive 3 handout resources to accompany this session.

Chair: Katie Monnin, University of North Florida, Jacksonville

Presenter:

-Lori Menger, San Jose Episcopal Day School, Jacksonville, Florida

-Katie Monnin, University of North Florida, Jacksonville