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RWP Blog Series at Teach.com: Comics in the Classroom
Throughout the month of August, Teach.com and Reading With Pictures are bringing you Comics in the Classroom, a blog series about using comics in education, including why graphic novels are complex texts as defined by the Common Core Standards, how to use graphic texts to teach in the content areas, how and where to find the best graphic texts, and more. Teach.com, from the USC Rossier School of Education, is a comprehensive resource for information on becoming a great teacher in any state across the country. It provides state specific information on how to become a teacher, teacher salaries, teaching credentials, teacher certification tests, alternative […] Read More
RWP at SDCC
Reading With Pictures held two exciting panels at San Diego Comic-Con. Thank you to everyone who attended! We appreciate your enthusiasm and support and hope you all had a fabulous time at Comic-Con. If you couldn’t be with us, here is some of what you missed. On Thursday, Tracy Edmunds moderated “Teaching Content Through Comics: Math, Science, and History.” Our great creator panelists were: — Jason Batterson, curriculum developer for Beast Academy, an elementary comics-based math curriculum — Geoffrey Golden, writer of the math comic “Probamon” for Reading With Pictures: Comics That Make Kids Smarter and Nommons: Math Universe, math […] Read More
RWP at ALA: Librarians Love Comics and Graphic Novels!
At the American Library Association’s recent convention in Las Vegas, Reading With Pictures hosted the panel Comics That Make Kids Smarter. The panelists included: Josh Elder, founder and president of Reading With Pictures Andrea Colvin, Vice President/Content and Executive Producer for Andrews McMeel Publishing Jim McClain, middle school math teacher and creator of Solution Squad Gene Yang, creator of American Born Chinese, Boxers & Saints, and The Shadow Hero Janet K. Lee, artist on Return of the Dapper Men, Jane Austen’s Emma, and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey for Marvel Nathan Hale, creator of the series Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales We […] Read More
Interview: The Understanding Rhetoric Team
Tracy Edmunds, Reading With Pictures Curriculum Manager Emerging research and practice are consistently proving the efficacy of graphic texts as teaching tools, but so far most of this work has been done with pre-existing texts not specifically created for the classroom. Now, a team of teachers and artists has tackled this challenge head-on by creating a graphic textbook specifically for use in college level composition courses. Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing is an ambitious project and a groundbreaking work: “Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing covers what first-year college writers need to know — the writing process, critical […] Read More
Jonathan Hennessey on Graphic Novels, History and Education
The following guest post is from David Cutler’s Spin Education and is reposted with permission. You can access the original posting of David’s interview with Jonathan Hennessey at the original post at Spin Education. Since its release in 2008, I’ve assigned Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell’s The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation to my history and government students. A dynamic and effective mixture of art and narration brings the story of the Constitution to life, engaging students with visual literacy, which few champion as passionately as these two creators. “It always strikes me as supremely odd that high culture venerates the written word on the one hand, […] Read More
How Comics Enhance Learning
The following guest post is from David Cutler’s Spin Education and is reposted with permission. You can listen to audio of David’s interview with Bucky Carter at the original post at Spin Education. In Captain America: The Winter Solider, smashing the box office at a theater near your, a brainwashed, bionic arm-wielding “Bucky” squares off against the titular hero. As fate would have it, last week I spoke to another Bucky. But other than a shared name, this Bucky resembles not at all the villain portrayed on the silver screen. Then again, perhaps that’s not entirely true. Both are very involved with […] Read More
Eisner Nominations for Younger Readers
Today the nominees for the Eisner Awards, sometimes called the Academy Awards of comics, were announced. There are three categories recognizing work for younger readers. Congratulations to these very worthy nominees! Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 7) Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas, by Philippe Coudray (TOON Books) The Big Wet Balloon, by Liniers (TOON Books) Itty Bitty Hellboy, by Art Baltazar and Franco (Dark Horse) Odd Duck, by Cecil Castellucci and Sara Varon (First Second) Otto’s Backwards Day, by Frank Cammuso (with Jay Lynch) (TOON Books) Best Publication for Kids (ages 8-12) The Adventures of Superhero Girl, by Faith Erin Hicks (Dark Horse) […] Read More
Enhancing History with Graphic Novels
History is visceral. It’s filled with war, assassinations, plagues, and intrigue. So why do kids groan when it’s time to pull out the history textbook? Because up until recently, history was being taught using dry, huge texts that taught kids to regurgitate facts and dates, without any real involvement with the amazing stories that lay between the pages. Thankfully, this has been an evolving process. Textbooks now feature color spreads and chunk information into readable, processable, relatable pieces of information. Databases on the Internet allow students to retrieve audio and video news reports, personal stories, and targeted documentaries to enhance […] Read More
Turning Struggling Students into Superheroes: Comic Books as Teaching Tools
The following guest post is an excerpt from Michael Strom’s graduate thesis Finding Comfort in Comics: Using Comic Books and Graphic Novels to Reach Struggling Male Readers. Strom is a graduate student at C.W. Post where he is pursuing his Masters of Science in Literacy. This article first appeared at Teach.com and is reposted with permission. The Hero’s Journey I don’t remember what it was about reading that got me hooked so young. Did I really enjoy it, or was I pressured into it from my mom? Either way, I didn’t fight it. Reading was the ultimate adventure, and I was the hero […] Read More
ALA Award Winning Books in Comic Format
Hey, That’s Comics! The American Library Association has announced the 2014 Youth Media Award Winners. A number of the winners and honorees utilize comic or graphic novel formats. Bring the power of comics into your classroom with these award-winning books! Winner of the Newberry Medal Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, by Kate DiCamillo and K. G. Campbell “It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic […] Read More