Teaching with Comics

It’s been a few months since I last posted here. I’m not happy that Edublogs has added ads to this blog and won’t remove them unless I pay to become a “supporter,” so I’ve decided to abandon this blog and bring it back to life at Word Press. Please unsubscribe to this one and resubscribe to the new blog. I’ll be deleting this one in a few weeks.

I’m preparing for a session I will be leading at an MLTI Summer Institute and I realized that it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything to this blog.  My session is all about promoting literacy with cartoons, comics and graphic novels.  Maybe I’ll find a way to use this blog as I try to stir up a little interest in the topic. I’ve done a short (one hour) presentation on this topic in the past but this one will be three-hours long with opportunities for some hands-on work.

I think many teachers are still skeptical about using comics in their teaching and my challenge will be to prove that comic art has a legitimate place in a well-rounded literacy program.  I hope the topic will appeal to teachers in all subject areas.  I’ve been thinking a lot about using comics for teaching ESL students.  I may start with this quote:

“I’ve always said that I learned the English I know through two sources — Marvel Comics and Finnegans Wake.”  – Umberto Eco