Digital Photography and Media Literacy
"If a child can not learn the way we teach, then maybe we need to change the way we teach" Ignacio Estrada
"Differentiation is classroom practice that looks eyeball to eyeball with the reality that kids differ, and the most effective teachers do whatever it takes to hook the whole range of kids on learning." Carol Ann Tomlinson
I have posted this resource to my blog: Techno Frustration or Joy
The URL or web address is:
http://brucedwhite-technofrustrationorjoy.blogspot.com/2008/01/digital-photography-and-media-literacy.html
The URL for this Google Doc is:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dnxwnv2_29cgj4vhfp
Part A
Description: Come out and learn how to use your camera in the classroom to promote Media Literacy with your students
Workshop Agenda
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Introduction
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Who are you and what do you want to learn from this session?
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Activity - respond to what their goals are with suggestions for what they are looking for
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List of projects are included in their handout and this document
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Camera Basics
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Catch the Motion
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Tricks and Tips
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Slightly deress shutter button to speed up process
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3 or more delay from pressing button to when shutter clicks
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Use count (1,2,3)and click before 2 is said
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Picture Taking Log
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Camera Angles –
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Extreme Close-up.
Use close-ups for I SPY type activities.
- Close-ups. use for activities that involve patterns, parts and wholes, and relationships and functions.
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Over-the-Shoulder. Use the “over the shoulder” shot for projects involving
people making things such as arts and crafts.
Task/ Project
- Take a series of pictures and then upload to computer
Skills
1. Connect camera to computer using USB cable
2. Start Irfanview Software
- To download Irfanview at home:www.irfanview.com
- Irfanview Software located in General Folder
- File- Open - go to E drive and them DCM folder on camera
- click on file to see the file
- double click to load the file
3. Discuss "Digital Work Flow" - how to organize pictures so you will know where to save them and then find them again
- Use "Save As" so you always have the original picture
- create folder
- open pictures
- change size
- Save As - give new name
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* Something other than a room that the entire team will fit into
Teaching Styles and why the camera is great tool
21 st Century Teachers
- Traditional Environments VERSE Emerging Learning Landscape
- Teacher-directed, memory-focused instruction
- VERSE Student-centered, performance-focused learning
- Lockstep, prescribed-path progression
- VERSE Flexible progression with multipath options
- Limited media, single-sense stimulation
- VERSE Media-rich, multisensory stimulation
- Knowledge from limited, authoritative sources
- VERSES Learner-constructed knowledge from multiple
- Information sources and experiences Isolated work on invented exercises
- VERSE Collaborative work on authentic, real- world projects
- Mastery of fixed content and specific processes
- VERSE Student engagement in definition, design and management of projects
- Factual, literal thinking for competence
- VERSE Creative thinking for innovation and original solution
- In-school expertise, content, and activities
- VERSE Global expertise, information, and learning experiences
- Stand-alone communication & information tools
- VERSE Converging information and communication skills
- Traditional literacy and communication skills
- VERSE Digital literacies and communication skills
- Primary focus on school and local community
- VERSE Expanded focus including digital global citizenship
- Isolated assessment of learning
- VERSE Integrated assessment for learning
Source: page 6 National Educational Technology Standards for Students Second Edition ISTE
Digital Camera Jargon
Glossary of Terms
Elements of Design
Colour: Derived from the reflection of light
- Hue - Colour name
- Intensity - the strength of the colour
- Value - light and darkness of the colour
Value: non colour - refers to the light and dark areas
Line: mark made by a traveling dot, can be implied or actual
Texture: element that appeals to the sense of touch
Shape: is an enclosed area determined by line, value, texture, space or any combination of elements. Shape has length and width
Form: a three-dimensional shape, form has length, width and depth
Space: the element that is the distance around, between, above, below, and within an object.
Principles of Design
Balance: Principle that arranges elements in a work of art to create a sense of stability
- Symmetrical / Formal : created in a work by duplicating elements on either side of a line dividing the composition in half
- Asymmetrical/ Informal: balance is created visually
Emphasis: combines elements in a work of art to point out differences
Harmony: combines elements in a work of art to stress similarities of separate but related parts
Variety: Principles of art that combines contrasting elements in a work of art to create visual interest
Gradation: combines elements in a work of art by using a series of gradual changes
Movement: combines elements in a work of art to create illusion of action
Proportion: the relationship of parts to the whole and to one another
Rhythm: repeats elements in a work of art to create visual tempo
Unity: total visual effect achieved by carefully blending the elements and principles of art in a composition
Visual Literacy
- Describe: List details of Subject Matter and Elements of Design
- Analysis: Explore how the work is created or organized or composed (Structure)
- Interpret: What are the feelings, Moods, Ideas expresses or shown? You are the detective looking for clues to the "meaning" of the work of art
- Judgement: Evaluate the merits of the work of art. You make an informed, intelligent judgement about the work of art
Picture Plane
- Foreground: area of picture that appears closest to the viewer
- Middle ground: area of the picture is the middle area in the picture is between background and foreground
- Background: area of a picture that appears farthest from the viewer
Perspective:
- Bird’s eye view: up looking down
- Normal point of view: straight on view
- Worm's eye view: down looking up
Camera Angle:
- Close-up,
- 3/4 shot,
- Full figure shot,
- Wide angle,
- Long shot
Digital Photography: Techno Jargon
Source: Adobe Photoshop Elements: a visual introduction to digital imaging by Philip Andrews
Aliasing
: the jaggy edges that appear around the edges of bitmap images.
Aspect Ratio: means that the relationship of the original image will be maintained in the new size
Bitmap: is the form in which the digital image is stored. Image is made up of a series of pixels
Burn: the tool to darken an image - opposite to Dodge
Clone Stamp tool: allows the copying of a part of an image to somewhere else
Colour Mode: the way the image represents the colour. That it includes. Different modes are Bitmap, RGB, and Grayscale
Digitize: the process by which images or signals are sampled and changed into digital form
Dodge: tool for lightening areas in an image
DPI: dots per inch as used in the resolution of a printer or scanner
File Format: the way that digital images are stored Example: JPEG, bmp, Tiff etc...
Filter: a filter is a way of applying a set of image characteristics to the whole or part of an image
Example: Watercolour or Impressionism
Grayscale: a monochrome image containing 256 tones ranging from white through grays to blacks
In art it is called a Value Scale
History: the from of multiple undo(s)
Hue: the reference to the colour of light and is separated from how light or dark it is
Image Layers: Image in graphic programs like Elements can be made up of many layers. Each layer will contain parts of the image. When viewed together they appear as one image
Interface: the link between the program and the user
Interpolation: this is the process used by image-editing programs to increase the resolution of a digital image
Layers of Opacity: the opacity or transparency of each layer can be changed independently. Depending on the level of opacity the parts of the layer beneath will become visible
Liquify: a tool that uses brushes to perform distortions upon selections or whole of the image
Palette: a window that is always accessible for the alteration of the image characteristics:
Optional Palette, Layer Palette, Styles palette, Hints Palette, File Browser, History etc...
Pixel: short for pixel element, refers to the smallest image part of a digital image
RGB: all colours in the image are made up of a mixture of Red, Green and Blue colours.
Sponge Tool: used for saturation or de-saturation of an image that is exaggerated or lessen the colour component
Status Bar: attached beneath the Window on a PC. Can be altered to display a series of items from Scratch, Disc usage to file size to time it took to carry out the last action
Swatch: in Elements, refers to a palette that can display and store individual colours for immediate or repeated use
Thumbnail: a low resolution preview of a larger image
TIFF: widely used file format used by imaging professionals
Workshop Terms and Reference Points
Literacy
Literacy is about more than reading or writing – it is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language and culture.
UNESCO, Statement for the United Nations Literacy Decade, 2003–2012
Text
"A text is a representation of ideas that can be shared over distance and time."
"...... the word
text is used to describe information and ideas that are captured in print and electronic forms, using words, graphics, and other visual elements."
Source: Page 18 Lireacy for Learning: the report of the Expert Panel on Literacy in Grade 4 to 6 in Ontario http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/reports/literacy/panel/literacy.pdf, Copyrigth 2004, ISBN 0-7794-7430-9 (Internet)
What is Media Literacy?
The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 Language
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language.html
The Media Literacy strand has four overall expectations, as follows;
Students will:
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3. create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques;
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It examines how images (both moving and still), sound, and words are used, independently and in combination, to create meaning.
Literacy For Learning
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/reports/literacy/panel/literacy.pdf
Definitions:
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Media Literacy
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What is Media Literacy?
Media literacy is the ability to sift through and analyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us every day.
“Media literacy” is the result of study of the art and messaging of various forms of media texts.
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Most media texts use words, graphics, sounds, and/or images, in print, oral, visual, or electronic form, to communicate information and ideas to their audience. Whereas traditional literacy may be seen to focus primarily on the understanding of the word, media literacy focuses on the construction of meaning through the combination of several media “languages” – images, sounds, graphics, and words.
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Media literacy explores the impact and influence of mass media and popular culture by examining texts such as films, songs, video games, action figures, advertisements, CD covers, clothing, billboards, television shows, magazines, newspapers, photographs, and websites.3
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These texts abound in our electronic information age, and the messages they convey, both overt and implied, can have a significant influence on students’ lives. For this reason, critical thinking as it applies to media products and messages assumes a special significance.
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Becoming conversant with these and other media can greatly expand the range of information sources available to students, their expressive and communicative capabilities, and their career opportunities.
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To develop their media literacy skills, students should have opportunities to view, analyse, and discuss a wide variety of media texts and relate them to their own experience.
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They should also have opportunities to use available technologies to create media texts of different types (e.g., computer graphics, cartoons, graphic designs and layouts, radio plays, short videos, web pages).
What is Visual Literacy?
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Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, use, appreciate, and create images and video using both conventional and 21st century media in ways that advance thinking, decision making, communication, and learning.
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Literacy and Technology
- ISSUE:
- Educational technology is nudging literacy instruction beyond its oral and print-based tradition to embrace online and electronic texts as well as multimedia.
- Computers are creating new opportunities for writing and collaborating.
- The Internet is constructing global bridges for students to communicate, underscoring the need for rock-solid reading and writing skills.
- By changing the way that information is absorbed, processed, and used, technology is influencing how people read, write, listen, and communicate.
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To serve that need, this Critical Issue offers research, best practices, and resources that support integration of new technologies into literacy instruction.
Think Literacy Document
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/library.html
Sites for commercials:
"Ad Persuasion"
There is a half hour programme on tv called "Ad Persuasion" where they show 4-5 different ads and have "experts" talk about why they do or don't work.
- Numeracy / Quantitative Literacy,
- Numeracy is a proficiency which is developed mainly in mathematics but also in other subjects.
- It is more than an ability to do basic arithmetic.
- It involves developing confidence and competence with numbers and measures.
- It requires understanding of the number system, a repertoire of mathematical techniques, and an inclination and ability to solve quantitative or spatial problems in a range of contexts.
- Numeracy also demands understanding of the ways in which data are gathered by counting and measuring, and presented in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables.
Language Arts
- Images provides ways for student readers and writers to engage with both visual and printed text
- - help students visualize
- Bridge to writing communicate meaning visually
- Reading and creating a "Mental Movie" Making Landscape Maps of what has been read
- Vocabulary Pictures - form of word walls Visual Literacy Narratives
- Visual Think Aloud Constructing Meaning:
- making and testing predictions, monitoring understanding, asking questions, making connections
Mathematics
- analysis of mathematical patterns and concepts
- Story problems Digital story telling
- Math in parents work Mathematics in cooking, building, art, nature
- Analyzing slopes of Rooftops Finding and using vanishing points
- Investigating areas of irregular figures Proportional Reasoning
- Digital Stories of mathematics
Social Studies
- Help students develop "digital literacy" skills: combining media literacy and visual literacy
- - acquiring and interpreting information - promoting citizenship skills
- - using primary sources to promote student achievement- content and processing skills
- Spinning the News to Shape a Story
- Reasoning using artifacts from the past
- Pictures from the past compared to pictures of the present, to pictures of the future
- Capturing and Identifying Geographic Features
21st Century Literacy The New Shifts
from Will Richardson's book: Blogs, Podcasts and other powerful Web Tools
Big Shift #1 Open Content
From the text book as source of information to a Google Internet search. Students and teachers are writing and publishing their own "books"
pg 127 - 8 Blogs, Wikis, Podcast and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson
Big Shift #2
Many, Many Teachers, and 24/7 Learning
Students can learn 24/7 and collaboratively connect with teachers and fellow students
Students are no longer just consumers of knowledge and information
pg 128
Big Shift #3
The Social, Collaborative Construction of Meaningful Knowledge
The walls of the classroom have come down. What a student produces is not limited to the classroom but can be shared with the world. Classroom work can have real world applications and feedback from constributers from all over the world. Student work is never really finished but part of a process that can keep going - this creates new meaning to "finished" assignment
pg 128 - 9
Big Shift #4
Teaching is Conversation not Lecture
"By publishing conent to a wide audience, we say "these are my ideas, my understandings of the world" "
Ideas are presented as a starting point.... "
Pg 129
Big Shift 5
Know "Where" Learning
It is not important to know what the answer is but to Know Where to find the answer
It is not enough to find the answer but to be able to identify which of the sources we found are "Credible" and "Worthwhile"
p g 130
Big Shift #6
Readers are no longer just Readers
Today, readers can no longer assume what they are reading is correct or has been reviewed by someone else
Readers must know be Editors, Checkers, (Critical Consumers)
pg 130
Big Shift 7
The Web as Notebook
Not only can we collect links, text, but also audio, video, photography and more in our Web Notebook.
Pg 130
Big Shift #8
Writing is no longer Limited to Text
We are moving to a new definition of writing. We are becoming a multimedia society, We can write in audio, video, music, digital photography, computer language. "Rip, Mix and Learn"
pg 131
Big Shift #9
Mastery is the Product, Not the Test
Mastery use to be "Passing the Test" Today students can display mastery in countless ways that involve the creation of digital contnet for large audience. Students are creating "Digital Portfolios"
pg 131
Big Shift #10
Not Completion, as the Ultimate Goal
Teachers will have to start to see themselvves as "Connectors" for content and people
Teachers must become "Content Creators"
To teach the new technologies, teachers must be users of the new technolgies
Teachers must also be "Collaborators", not just with each others but with their students
Teachers are also "Coaches" who model the skills that students need to be successful and motivated
Teachers need to be "Change Agents" to move away from the traditional paradigms of instruction
pg 132-3 Blogs, Wikis, Podcast and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson
Basic Steps For Any Digital Project
1. Establish an idea and basic layout.
- Try different variations on the idea. Try it on paper to test your idea.
- Don’t be afraid to create different ideas and develop more than one variation.
* Some people like going directly to the computer.
2. Transfer the idea to the computer.
- Play around with the design and compostion.
- Look at what you have and what you have available to you from other sources.
- Online images area readily available. Search Google using the image function.
- Some great images come with your software are some had additional downloads of images.
3. Collect your Resources:
- images, background papers and elements and put them into a project folder.
- If you do this on the computer it helps to find your favourite images quicker next time you want to use them.
* The first time you save a file make sure you look carefully where it is saving!
4. Scan additional images and elements or search your graphics images or search
the Internet.
- Copied images can be hand coloured or tinted to change the look of the image.
5. Edit, Crop, Resize, Correct or Modify the images you want to use.
* Try using filters or layers on an image.
6. Assemble your Layout, Mats, Borders, Notes or Journaling etc that you will
be using.
- Don’t be afraid to add more or take away some.
- Make a copy of the design and modify it and then compare the two layouts.
- Sometimes leaving the designs and coming back to them latter gives you a clearer picture.
* Try printing the design then cut it apprt and re-assemble it.
NOTE:
- I have found that sometimes the brain creates images and ideas that you are not ready to accept BUT later you really like them.
- SO never throw out a design until you have time to think about it or don’t know why you like or dislike it.
7. Reflect on the overall design and make changes.
- Artists hang their sketches on the wall so they can look at them from different angles and sit an contemplate the design.
8. Know when to say STOP or that is enough.
- The nice thing about the computer designing is that you can save different stages of the work or use the Undo function or the History of the work to go back to different stages of the work.
Source of the Outline Steps
Digital Scrapbooking in easy steps by John Slater, page 10, ISBN1-84078-303-6
Using Digital Images in the Classroom
Using the Camera in the Classroom
Frame Work for Using Digital Images
1. Acquire images
- Science students can use digital cameras to acquire images of leaves for digital leaf collection
- Social studies students can use digital cameras to acquire images of historical influences in a community
2. Analyze images
- Students can learn to develop classification skills to organize images
- Software like Geometry Sketch Pad can be used to analyze images of natural objects or architectural buildings looking for Golden Mean or Golden Rectangle
3. Create image-based works
- Students in Language Arts can create digital stories, or wordless stories
- Students can use images as symbols in Mind Maps
4. Communicate ideas and understanding
- Students can create electronic portfolios
Source:
http://www.ephotozine.com/faq/faq29.cfm
How does the Camera Work?
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Camera Basics
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Pixels and Memory
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1 and 0 s
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Shutter Priority - TELL camera how fast to take the picture
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Blur is caused by the shutter speed and the motion of the object or the camera
- SHADOW TEST:
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Hand Test
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if shadow on hand there will be a shadow in the picture
Taking Good Pictures: Camera Checklist
Taking Your Photo
- Plan your photo - story boarding
- Get close - look for focus, look for edges
Web Resources:
Kodak
What Can You do with the Camera? How can you use the Images?
Digital Workflow: Working with Digital Photographs
Using "Good Composition Skills" Connecting Camera to computer Using Transfer software Creating a folder moving picture to a folder Re-naming pictures Editing the "Good" from the "Bad" Editing the pictures Cropping, Rotating Importing images into other programs
Resources
Digital Photography Books
Digital Photography:
Using the Digital Camera in the Classroom
Adobe Photoshop Elements : a visual introduction to digital imaging by Philip Andrews, Focus Press, 2002, ISBN 0-240-51686-9
An advanced Guide to Digital Photography by Vincent Oliver, AVA Publishing, 2005, ISBN 2-88479-052-7
Beginner’s Guide to Adobe Photoshop Elements: Easy lessons for rapid learning and success by Michelle Perkins, Amherst Media, 2004, ISBN 1-58428-138-3
Digital Photography: a no-nonsense, jargon free guide for beginners, by Steve Bavister, Colins & Brown, 2000, ISBN 1-85585-781-2
Digital Zoom Camera Handbook by Rob Sheppard., Lark books, 2005, ISBN 1-57990-653-2
Digital Photography 2nd edition, by Erica Sadun, Sybex Press, 2000, ISBN 0-7821-2965-X CD included
Digital Photography in the Classroom by Lynn Van Gorp, Teacher Created Materials, 2001,ISBN 0-7439-3601-9 (CD included)
Digital Photography field book, by Cynthia L Brown, and Daniel Peck, Peachpit Press, 2005, ISBN 0-321-22054-4
Digital Darkroom Vol 1, Henry’s School of Imaging, Instructional Guide to Enhancing Digital Pictures using Adobe Photoshop Elements 3
Digital Darkroom Vol 2, Henry’s School of Imaging, Instructional Guide to Enhancing Digital Pictures using Adobe Photoshop Elements 3
Digital Photography for Dummies, Julie Adair King, IDG Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7645-0294-8 (CD included)
Making a Movie with Windows XP: visual quickproject guide, by Jan Ozer, Peachpit Press, 2005, ISBN 0-321-27845-3
Photography for Dummies by Russell Hart, 1988, IDG Books, ISBN 0-7645-5065-9
Photoshop Elements: (Version 3 including Version 2) by Linda Dickeson, ClickStep Teacher Training Series, FTC Publishing Group, ISBN (CD included)
Teaching with digital images by Glen L. Bull and Lynn Bell editors, International Society for Technology in Education, ISBN 1-56484-219-3 (CD included)
The Photoshop Elements Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby, New Riders Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7357-1392-8
The Photographer’s Handbook 3rd Edition by John Hedgecoes, Kindersley Book, 1992, ISBN 0-679-74204-2
U Draw It: Student handbook classroom tested projects using computer technology, 2000, contact chessulk@kwic.com,
j.sheik@tvdsb.on.ca, steppell@hotmail.com
Other Resources
Visual Literacy: a conceptual approach to graphic problem solving, Judith Wilde, Richard Wilde, Watson, Guptill Publications, 1991, ISBN 0-8230-5620-1
Ministry Resources
The Ontario Curriculum: Grade 1 - 8 Language : Revised 2006, publication is available on the Ministry of Education’s
website, at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca
Think Literacy Library
Think Literacy: Subject-Specific Strategies, Grades 7-12
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/library.html#subjects
Digital Photography and Media Literacy Part B
Descriptor:
This is the second part to the Digital Photography and Media Literacy course
Participants will work on an assignment that they would use in the classroom. At the end of the session, everyone will share what they have created.
Creating a Digital Story
Inporting Images
Exporting Images
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Notebook Software
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Comic Book Creator
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Comic Creator
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ToonDoo
Design Lessons
Sharing
Resourceshttp://www.ncte.org/pubs/chron/highlights/122031.htm
Using Comics and Graphic Novels in the Classroom (The Council Chronicle, Sept. 05)
While Americans tend to view comics as “fodder for children,” people in Europe and Japan have a more positive view of the medium, explains John Lowe, who is chair of the Sequential Art Department at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. Lowe thinks comics deserve more credit, especially since they launched his interest in literature.
“I started reading comics, and then I got into other types of fiction and literature. I stopped reading comics a little later, but I don’t think I would have made the leap [to literature] if it weren’t for comics.” In his case, Lowe says, he literally went from reading “Batman to Faulkner.”
Now he works with students who are interested in cartoons, graphic novels, and manga—Japanese comics and graphic novels—which Lowe notes are especially popular among female students. He has seen a steady increase of interest in the school’s sequential art offering since the program started to take shape in the early nineties.
Storytelling is the program’s primary focus because this skill prepares students to work in any genre, Lowe explains. He adds that the demands are tough and require “a high level of concentration and skill—such as writing, drawing, inking, and having computer coloring skills.”
Bridging Literacies
Other educators also see the educational potential of comics and graphic novels. They can help with building complex reading skills, according to Shelley Hong Xu, associate professor in the department of teacher education at California State University, Long Beach. She says that graphic novels and comics should have a classroom role similar to children’s literature.
Comics and graphic novels can be used as a “point of reference” to bridge what students already know with what they have yet to learn, Xu says. For example, comics and graphic novels can teach about making inferences, since readers must rely on pictures and just a small amount of text. By helping students transfer this skill, she says, teachers can lessen the challenge of a new book.
Xu uses comics and graphic novels in her reading methods course. She asks preservice teachers to read an unfamiliar comic or graphic novel and then record the strategies they used to comprehend the text. “I think that every preservice and inservice teacher needs to experience this activity in order to better understand literacy knowledge and skills that students use with reading comics and graphic novels.”
Xu cautions teachers to do some research before rushing to include comics and graphic novels in their teaching plans. This includes finding out about students’ experiences with comics and graphic novels and studying the genre in general. She also urges teachers to respect students’ enjoyment of comics and graphic novels and to view them not as “instructional materials” but as “tools for bridging” in- and out-of-school literacy experiences.
Xu further recommends that teachers talk with school administrators and parents about how using comics and graphic novels—or any texts from popular culture—can “address curriculum standards, motivate students to learn, enhance students’ learning, and provide additional opportunities for those who struggle with literacy tasks.”
Focus on Graphic Novels
Cat Turner, a secondary English specialist and teacher at Henry Wise Wood High School in Calgary, Alberta, recommends that teachers who want to know more about graphic novels read Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud and Will Eisner’s Comics and Sequential Art.
Turner has worked with Liz Spittal, a differentiated learning and teaching specialist for the Calgary Board of Education, to determine “what makes [graphic novels] different from comics, picture books, and novels with supplementary visuals.”
They found that like novels, graphic novels have a beginning, middle, and end as well as a main character that develops through conflicts and the story’s climax. “The most significant difference from a comic is that the graphic novel’s text is both written and visual,” Turner explains. “Every part of each frame plays a role in the interpretation of the text, and hence, graphic novels actually demand sophisticated readers.”
Turner adds, “Manga are very popular with our students, so much so that many students are actually learning Japanese so that they can read the newest manga straight off the press, instead of waiting for translations.”
Turner and Spittal asked students to create guidebooks to help teachers understand graphic novels. They piloted the assignment in a twelfth-grade classroom and with eleventh-grade International Baccalaureate students, feeling it would “be a disservice to the genre to designate it for only the low-achieving students.”
Turner and Spittal selected a range of fiction and nonfiction graphic novels and didn’t include any superhero texts because they “wanted the students to treat the genre seriously.” They reviewed the texts for appropriateness and weeded out some that they felt “were a little too risqué.” Then they let students follow their own interests in choosing a novel.
The results were fantastic, says Turner, who is a member of the English Language Arts Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association. “Not only did the students become the experts, but they also demonstrated their awareness of the craftsmanship that goes into each of these texts through the creation of the guides.”
Turner and Spittal noted the genre’s growing popularity when they went to check out graphic novels from the Calgary library and found there were over 350 titles in a collection that continues to grow.
Comics Art Group Expanding Resources
Interest in comics and graphic novels as well as questions about how to use them in the classroom have encouraged the National Association of Comics Art Educators (http://www.teachingcomics.org) to gear up for a new initiative to help K–12 teachers and librarians understand and use the texts.
Ben Towle helped to found the group that started a few years ago “to further the cause of teaching the art form” in colleges and “to serve as a depot for exchanging ideas, lessons, tips, and experiences.”
Towle believes that the concept of using comics and graphic novels in the classroom is at the stage that the discipline of film studies was in the 1950s and 60s: “It was becoming a movement.” He feels the medium itself is going through a renaissance, with academic interest being one reflection of this.
Teaching Punctuation, Paragraphing, and Outlining
Using comics and graphic novels in the classroom is about harnessing students’ natural interests, explains Rachael Sawyer Perkins, a teacher at Dolores Street Elementary School in Carson, California. She also believes that it’s a way to teach important reading and writing skills.
“For students who lack the ability to visualize as they read, it provides a graphic sense that approximates what good readers do as they read. Moreover, it provides an excellent way for reluctant writers to communicate a story that has a beginning, middle, and end. I think comics and graphic novels are an excellent vehicle for teaching writing, as a story has to be pared down to its most basic elements. It is easy for the students to look at a short comic strip and identify story elements.”
Perkins uses comics to teach punctuation for dialogue, and sees them as “an extremely visual way of getting across the concept of using quotation marks around narrative text spoken by individuals. The students knew that each time they saw a dialogue balloon it meant the text inside was spoken and needed to be placed in quotation marks.”
Perkins also finds that cartoons are an effective way to teach outlining skills. “Using a comic, the students were able to understand that each panel represented a paragraph. The narrative text at the top became the topic sentence of sorts, communicating the main idea of the paragraph. The details were found in the visuals and in the dialogue.”
Learning Literary Terms
Sharon F. Webster, English department chairperson and literacy coach at Narragansett High School in Narragansett, Rhode Island, believes that comics can engage students in the pre-reading stage and can serve as a connection through the reading and assessment stages.
Webster says that when she uses comics and music to teach the concept of transcendentalism, students gain a better understanding of the concept. “The quality of their understanding came through in the connections they then made to the work of Emerson and Thoreau.” (Find her lesson, “Examining Transcendentalism through Popular Culture,” on the ReadWriteThink Web site at http://www.readwritethink.org.)
She also uses comics to teach literary terms. “Many of today’s comics rely heavily on allusion, satire, irony, and parody to make a point. Students discover they might actually need to know such terms for reasons other than analyzing a Dickinson poem. Making this connection has strengthened their understanding of terms.”
However, Webster believes people often miss the sophistication of comics. “Lurking beneath the literal meaning of strips like ‘Shoe,’ ‘Calvin and Hobbes,’ and even ‘Zits’ is the chance to capture the curiosity of a student who might never have otherwise given a term like existentialism a glance. We need to take advantage of every learning opportunity to engage our students in a way that acknowledges the visual world in which they live.”
