Things that make my day...

There are little moments in teaching that really help me remember why I love what I do.  And one of them happens to be when my kids get excited about books.  Like really excited - jumping up and down, squealing and arguing over who gets to read it first excited about a book...

I am always on the hunt for books my students will like, and there are certain books that make me think of certain students.  Mostly, I am always on the hunt for books my boys will read and be excited about, because it is just so easy to find books for my girls...perhaps it is because they like what I like...

I was at Costco on Tuesday night and I came across the new Twilight Graphic Novel.  And, I picked it up right away.  There are some serious vampire obsessed readers in my classroom and I knew it would be a hit.  When I showed them the book, they were jumping up and down, squealing and calling other girls in from outside to come and see it.  And now, we have a sign up list for who gets the book next - the first book that has needed a wait list.

There wasn't much I could do but simply be happy that my buying a book had brought them so much excitement.  And that type of enthusiasm for reading in grade 6/7 girls just makes my day.  Maybe even my week.  It's too bad I only bought one copy...

My First Experience with Manga...

I went to a workshop last week on using graphic novels in the classroom.  There was a lot of information about the different ways we can study graphic novels - the art, the literary qualities, and the comic features, but for me one of the most interesting parts was when the presenter provided us with a copy of a short story from a manga serial and asked us to spend 5 minutes reading it.

Now, as much as I think that graphic novels are a great addition to my classroom and they have helped tremendously with my reluctant and weak readers, I have yet to read one from cover to cover.  I just can't get through one.  I do not like being slowed down by the pictures when I am reading and I find them much more difficult to read and comprehend than traditional text based novels.

So, when we were handed the copy and then instructed that we had to read right to left I thought I was going to be out to lunch for sure.  Well, I was shocked at how easy it was to get into the rhythm of reading 'backwards' and I found myself engaged in the story quite quickly.  Altogether it was a very interesting experience which would not have been as positive had I not been 'guided' through the reading.  Funny how the strategies we use with students work with adults just as well...

I would like to get more comfortable with reading and interpreting graphic novels so that I can teach them in my classroom and I would like to get my hands on a copy of Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud to get a better handle on the techniques used in these books.

By the way, the comic we read in the workshop was from the Manga Series: Black Jack - quite an interesting series about a brilliant doctor who operates without the proper certification and often outside of expected ethical and legal bounds.

Graphic Novels in the Middle Years Classroom

This year I have been spending quite a bit of time trying to get to know a bit about the world of graphic novels and their use in my classroom.  I have a unique group of readers in my 6/7 split: one group of very strong readers who read all the time and can read pretty much anything they choose, and another group of reluctant readers who still struggle with fluency and novels and who definitely are uninterested in practicing reading outside of class time.  So my solution was to do a bit of research on high-interest books, and I came across a lot of research that suggested that graphic novels were an excellent approach for reluctant readers.

So far, my anecdotal experience has shown that it works - or at least it gets those particular students more interested in reading - (we are doing another round of CBM's this week to see if fluency has improved since September, and my fingers are crossed for improved results for some of my lower readers.)  I had no idea that the world of graphic novels was so large and complex, and I feel I have only delved into the edges of it.  I am still reluctant about supplying students with manga or anime novels, and I think I am a little biased against some of the more commercial series (Batman, Spiderman, etc.).  But I have found many that my students loved and can't wait to read the next in the series.  I also find myself constantly looking at bookstores/libraries to see what's out there and buying/borrowing graphic novels with particular students in mind.

There are several series that were originally published in traditional novel format (Artemis Fowl, Alex Rider, The Hobbit) and the series have now been re-written into graphic format.  (I even found Twilight the graphic novel this week).  My hope is that my students will start with the graphic novel and then move into the traditional novel as their skills improve.  But, even if they don't - I have introduced a format of reading that they love.  They ask to borrow the books and take them home and return the next day with the book finished.  I would like to include a graphic novel into my literature circles choices this spring, so hopefully the sets my school has ordered get here in time.  I am still on the lookout for books that others have used to get their students reading.


Check out The Graphic Classroom - this blog has helped me to choose books to bring into my classroom and provides extensive reviews and reccomendations of graphic novels for all grade levels.

Scholastic has a good article on using graphic novels in the classroom and particularly discusses the Bone series.