Using Graphic Novels in the English Language Arts Classroom

Author: William Boerman-Cornell, Professor William Boerman-Cornell and Dr Jung Kim

Paperback

Explores how secondary school English Language Arts teachers can use graphic novels to teach critical reading, literary interpretation, literary devices, and multimodal composition.

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Summary

Explores how secondary school English Language Arts teachers can use graphic novels to teach critical reading, literary interpretation, literary devices, and multimodal composition.

Description

Shortlisted for the UK Literacy Association's Academic Book Award 2021

There is an increasing trend in teachers using graphic novels to get their students excited about reading and writing, using both original stories and adaptations of classic works by authors such as Homer, Shakespeare, and the Brontes. However, there is surprisingly little research available about which pedagogies and classroom practices are proven to be effective.

This book draws on cutting-edge research, surveys and classroom observations to provide a set of effective methods for teaching with graphic novels in the secondary English language arts classroom. These methods can be applied to a broad base of uses ranging from understanding literary criticism, critical reading, multimodal composition, to learning literary devices like foreshadowing and irony.

The book begins by looking at what English language arts teachers hope to achieve in the classroom. It then considers the affordances and constraints of using graphic novels to achieve these specific goals, using some of the most successful graphic novels as examples, including Maus; Persepolis; The Nameless City; and American Born Chinese and series such as Manga Shakespeare. Finally, it helps the teacher navigate through the planning process to figure out how to best use graphic novels in their own classroom. Drawing on their extensive teaching experience, the authors offer examples from real classrooms, suggested lesson plans, and a list of teachable graphic novels organized by purpose of teaching.

Critic Reviews

“"Bill Boerman-Cornell and Jung Kim take the reader through the selection of texts, the planning of teaching, and the building of a community of others passionate about teaching with graphic novels. The extensive appendix of curated works alone is worth the price of the book."" -- Susan Cridland-Hughes, Associate Professor, Clemson University, USA”

[A] fount of practical and timely educational guidelines that even skeptics will find applicable … There is not a scrap of information that is not codified into curricular advice. VERDICT: This book is a gift to educators, radiating with the authors’ infectious enthusiasm and wealth of experience. School Library Journal
Bill Boerman-Cornell and Jung Kim take the reader through the selection of texts, the planning of teaching, and the building of a community of others passionate about teaching with graphic novels. The extensive appendix of curated works alone is worth the price of the book. Susan Cridland-Hughes, Associate Professor, Clemson University, USA
An excellent resource for middle grades, lower-secondary and upper-secondary teachers, as well as teacher educators and student teachers of English. It gives clear, careful, and timely advice on how, and perhaps more importantly why, graphic novels should be used in English language classrooms to support language learning and interdisciplinary aims ... Anyone who is interested in encouraging English learners to engage with multimodal texts or is even looking for a contemporary graphic novel they themselves might enjoy, would benefit from reading this book. The cover says, ‘your students will thank you’, and that is very likely true. Children’s Literature in English Language Education

About the Author

William Boerman-Cornell is Professor of Education at Trinity College, USA.

Jung Kim is Associate Professor of Literacy at Lewis University, USA.