"GREAT TEACHER!" Judgment Call or Objective Evaluation?

"When a high value added teacher joins a school, test scores rise immediately in the grade/subject taught...and falls if/when that teacher leaves...All else equal, a student with one excellent teacher for one year between fourth and eighth grade would gain $4,600 in lifetime income, compared to a student of similar demographics who has an average teacher." -economists Raj Chetty and John Friedman of Harvard and Jonah Rockoff of Columbia as reported in  The New York Times (1/6/12) article, "Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain"

"Those who can't do, teach. And those who can't teach, teach gym." --Woody Allen

Comedy aside, it isn't WHO makes a great teacher, but WHAT makes a great teacher and HOW do we determine "GREAT TEACHER?" Are there objective criteria or is it a JUDGMENT CALL? And what are the ramifications if it is a judgment call - especially now with the Chicago teachers' strike and teacher evaluations as a pivotal national domestic issue? 

In attempting to answer this question, let's first distinguish between "objective" evaluations and "judgment" calls:

objective  (adj.)   http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/objective

•  not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based of facts; unbiased.
• intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind rather than with thoughts or feelings
• of or relating to actual and external phenomena as opposed to thoughts, feelings, etc....existing independent of thought or an observer as part of reality

According to many, using this last definition may make it promising for us to evaluate teacher effectiveness by measuring external criteria relating what students have LEARNED.  Granted this is easier said than done, but many believe that if you measure students facility with a subject matter at the onset of the year, one can assess 'growth of knowledge' by measuring their (increased) facility with those same skills at the end of the school year (as long as we don't go overboard with continuous testing and overly consuming overblown test-taking preparations).

BUT does teaching material make someone a GREAT teacher or just a GOOD/ EFFECTIVE teacher?

Furthermore, IF one looks at the first two definitions of "objective" I wonder and am somewhat doubtful if one can objectively determine what makes a great teacher. 

So what might a judgment call look like?

judgment calls ( judgment calls plural  (also use judgement call)    ) http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/judgment%20call

If you refer to a decision as a judgment call, you mean that there are no firm rules or principles that can help you make it, so you simply have to rely on your own judgement and instinct.   

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_judgment

A value judgment is...based on a comparison or other relativity. As a generalization, a value judgment can refer to a judgment based upon a particular set of values or on a particular value system. A related meaning...is an expedient evaluation based upon limited information at hand, an evaluation undertaken because a decision must be made on short notice.

Incorporating these definitions brings us awfully close to the current debate on teacher evaluations and merit and whether these can be measured at all.  While we need to hold both educators AND their students accountable for learning, are we ready to objectively define and evaluate "GOOD TEACHER?"  

Looking back at my experiences as student, as an educator, and as parent, I think there IS A PERSONAL COMPONENT to what makes a GREAT TEACHER - there has to be.  A great teacher must relate to his or her students, make learning come alive. bring out emotions and feelings in their students while addressing student fears and passions associated with learning.

Maybe we can objectively quantify an effective teacher but must make judgement calls on "GREAT" teachers... 

Whether 'Great Teacher' is a judgment call or objective reality (I leave the continuing debate to you in the comments) I want to focus on...the making of a GREAT teacher.

 Illustration by R. Kikuo Johnson found in http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html?pagewanted=all    

THE MAKINGS OF A GREAT TEACHER:

I have been an educator for over 25 years.  I have worked as a school psychologist, as a language arts/reading teacher (grades 1,3,4,5,6,7 and 8), as a teacher-mentor, and as an educational consultant, and was actively involved as a parent in my kids' education.  I have met, observed, and taught with many, many teachers - some who were outstanding, some who were mortifying, and most who were 'good'.  Here are the TOP TEN components I have found (based on literature searches and my own experiences) that make a teacher GREAT :

• Great teachers exude INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY  and they push their students to follow and feed the curiosity they model as they constantly question the world around them. When teachers can channel and push a 'need to know' attitude, learning and remembering are much more effective.
• Great teachers exude PASSION - for their students and for learning.  Passion is motivating. It is exciting, it is engaging and it is catchy.  This passion motivates and pushes students to want more, to embrace more, and to contribute more.
• Great teachers RESPECT their students' needs and perspectives.
• Great teachers have KNOWLEDGE and expertise in the content they teach while- 
• Knowing what they know
• Knowing when they don't know 
• Knowing how to acknowledge that they don't know (this is so important for modeling intellectual curiosity which in turn is so important for true, attainable learning)
• Knowing how to find out what they don't know - or when to have their students find out what they don't know - and bringing it back to class.
• Great teachers express CONFIDENCE and COMFORT in their subject matter AND  in not always knowing ALL the answers.  Modeling 'not (always) knowing' will make it easier for your students to acknowledge what they don't know while strengthening and modeling intellectual curiosity.
• Great teachers set EXPECTATIONS high (but obtainable) for themselves and for their students, facilitating and nurturing their attainment.
• Great teachers ACKNOWLEDGE that there are all kinds of minds in their classrooms and 
• Great teachers have the FLEXIBILITY to build and integrate multi-modal components into their lessons addressing auditory learners, visual learners, students with longer and shorter attention spans, students who easily can move sequentially along steps of a problems and those who need more structure (to name just a few).
• Great teachers ENGAGE students, making the curriculum meaningful, pertinent, exciting, and getting students to critically evaluate and perceive issues in a variety of ways.
•  Great teachers form PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS with their students, listening to their needs and their comments, acknowledging the right for different perspectives while GUARANTEEING A SAFE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT for all.

Before closing I want to thank you for your visit and send you off with clips of inspiration...view them all or chose your favorites: From Dead Poet's Society: "What will your verse be?"

From Dead Poet's Society: "Just when you think you know something, you must look at it in a different way...triving to find your own voice...Dare to strike out and find new ground!"

And maybe, the question isn't "What makes a great teacher" but "What great teachers make...a god damned difference!!!!!"

 

Thanks for your visit, please leave you opinions in the comments. 

Internet Safety for Kids (Grades K-12) Growing Up in the Information Age

With the use of Internet becoming more and more integral to education and our daily lives,  I wonder at how it has grown into this wonderful yet possibly grotesque beast that very few of us at this point can live without.

Our kids and students can be plugged into the world community at the touch of an onscreen icon - at home, at play, and at school.  They use internet technology daily text-messaging, on Facebook, blogging, Twittering, watching videos, gaming, and even doing research for school. With this world-wide community at their beck and call come certain risks that we as adults are aware of, but they may not be. 

Have you ever stopped to think what happens in an internet minute - or how the digital world has literally taken off?  Intel has...take a look this staggering image:

Let me iterate a few choice data points (in case this image is hard to read). In one minute there are:

• 30 hours of video are uploaded onto YouTube and there are 1.3 million video views;
• over 2 million search queries on Google;
• 277,000 logins on Facebook and 6 million Facebook views;
• 320+ new Twitter accounts and 100,000 new tweets;
• 100+ Linkedin accounts;
• $83,000 in sales on Amazon;
•  47,000 App downloads;
• 204 million emails sent;
• 1,300 new Mobile users;
• 6 new Wikipedia articles published;
• 135 Botnet infections;
• 20 new victims of identity theft;
• 639,800GB of global IP data transferred.

The positive and negative aspects of our digital world are still unfolding and the consequences of such an unfolding, amorphous, available world are mind-boggling (at least to me - as I often feel like a 'techno-dinosaur"). There are pros and cons to their surfing explorations and as adults, we must protect our kids and teach them how to surf, much like we teach them about crossing the street.

HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR KIDS/STUDENTS SAFE?  Here are some suggestions (please add your own in the comments):

• Go online together and share safety tips: Just as you would not go into a stranger's car, don't let them venture alone onto unknown websites.  Start surfing together and find agreed-upon 'safe' vehicles. For kids in grades 2-8, I would start at FBI-SOS scavenger hunt  (see below for more details).  At this site you may want to play a few games together with younger kids, older kids can and should navigate this sight on their own.
• Before allowing kids to surf on their own, discuss together what makes a site 'safe'.  Compare and contrast the 'safety' of various sites and teach recognition skills - modeling how to recognize the safe, reliable sites. Decide together what may make it safe or unsafe.  
• Teach them NOT to provide private information - addresses (not even just the town), phone numbers, family information, age
• Talk about multiple 'identities' surfers might create and how to be careful about 'friending'
• Talk about language used and what types of sites/language to stay away from or to NEVER us.

HERE ARE SOME SITES WITH SAFETY GAMES AND INFORMATION FOR KIDS GRADES K-8: (With younger kids I recommend you watch these together and discuss them. NOTE that below I have a more extensive list of sites that kids can navigate and 'play' with on their own as they continue to learn about cybernet safety.)

• Here is an internet safety video for kids in grades K-3

• "NetSmartz Workshop"partnered with The Boys and Girls Clubs of America  has webvideos on internet safety information for young kids ("Cliky's Web World"),  for older kids ("Net Smartz Rules") and for teens  ("I-360")

Here is a link that introduces these three programs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE32bFMTDwY

• The FBI teaches internet safety through their FBI-SOS scavenger hunt at  - it consists of games for kids in grades 3, 4,5,6,7, and 8.  Each grade has its own scavenger hunt with appropriate sites they direct kids to - each with games, information, songs/raps.  At the end of the "hunt" is a quiz.  I highly recommend this site for teachers, parents, and kids.
• Here is another online safety video for pre-teens - Funmood's Online Safety Kit - Little Red Riding Mood

ONCE TRAINING WHEELS ARE REMOVED AND KIDS ARE SURFING ON THEIR OWN:

• You may want to consider downloading monitoring tools which allow you to seamlessly monitor their travels. Here are a few suggestions:
• CreepSquash- allows parents to monitor their kids' FACEBOOK activity.
• MinorMonitor - also monitors FACEBOOK activity while not invading their Facebook page.
•  For tips for online safety and online monitoring http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2011/12/online-safety-tips-and-tools-to-protect.html

• Yahoo! Safely- is the official Yahoo security tips website with sections designed specifically for parents and kids, teaching them internet safety.
• Staying Safe on YouTube - this is more about posting than viewing but is worth watching with your kid/teen:

• Google's Family Safety Center contains Internet security tips, videos and articles relating tools offered by Google as well as providing parents tips/videos and information on how to report abuse or inappropriate content on its services.

HERE ARE SOME MORE INFORMATION/GAME SITES (GRADES 3-12)  with online safety tips and tools to protect kids, provide educational vehicles for teachers and inform parents:

• The FBI teaches internet safety through their FBI-SOS scavenger hunt at  - it consists of games for kids in grades 3, 4,5,6,7, and 8.  Each grade has its own scavenger hunt and each hunt ends with a safety 'quiz'.
• Get Cybersmart with Phineas and Ferb from Common Sense Media
• PBS has their "Official Get Your Web License" site with a  "Rules of the Road" test that is lots of fun
• Carnegie Mellon University has a number of sites on websafety ("Fun Stuff" home page) includes links to:

• teaching kids about different kinds 'malware" that dance around Cyberspace (worms, adware, sypware, viruses, and trojan horses) ready to attack computers
• teaching kids about cyber-bullying and online safety through "Stuart and Scott Cyber Safety Bots" online quiz. When you answer incorrectly it explains why that was not correct.  My only problem with this is that the site doesn't allow you to go back and 'find' the correct answer.
•  Garfield  teaches life skills and Online safety (via Learninglab.org)
• tips for online safety and online monitoring http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2011/12/online-safety-tips-and-tools-to-protect.html
• Stand up to Cyberbullying video ( for middle-school kids)
• Brain Pop Jr. Internet Safety with Annie and Moby (for middle school kids) - this teaches kids what to do if a stranger sends them a message and how they can be safe on the internet relating what to share and how to keep the computer safe.
• http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/beingsmart/ has information, games, galleries and chat vehicles related to internet safety
• CyberSense and Nonsense: The Second Adventure of the Three CyberPigs... this is cute but you have to keep clicking after every sentence or two and I am not sure how it will hold your kids' attention.  Still it is worth a visit.
• Media and technology resources for educators from Commonsensemedia.org
• BrainPop provides content area teaching tools for teachers as well as providing student games and resources for internet safety

Here is a short list of some of the adcouncil cyber safety resources on youtube (from http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/The+3+i%27s+of+internet+safety):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYaWNYXpBis Online exploitation places - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfsVT5WpPSc Online exploitation acyronms - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ii031A7DuI Online exploitation exchange - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcw8n8CuSK8 Cyberbullying talentshow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seOQyMvG99w Think before you post 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwBz-hxjSLU  Think before you post 2 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w4_Hrwh2XI

Resources you can download:

• Essential Elements of ITC Literacy (PDF)
• Guidelines and Resources for Internet Safety in Schools (PDF)
• Related Resources for Internet Safety in Schools (PDF)
• Recent Studies, Surveys and Reports Regarding Internet Safety (PDF)
• Acceptable Use Policies: A Handbook
• Glossary of Related Terms (PDF)
• Division implementation Rubrics for Acceptable Use Policy and Internet Safety Program (PDF)
• Ideas for Integrating Internet Safety into the Classroom (PDF)
• The Correlation of Career and Technical Education Courses to Cyber Safety Issues (PDF)
• Cyberbullying and School Policy (PDF)
• Sexting: Implications for Schools (PDF)

I have given you a lot of options above. IF I were to recommend a place to begin, it would be at FBI-SOS scavenger hunt .  Each grade level gives kids a lot of different options and I would recommend looking at the various grade levels to determine which is most appropriate for your kids/students.

 This, clearly, is just the tip of the iceberg and as time and technology progress so will the list. Please feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments and SURF SAFELY!

Thanks for your visit.  I hope to see you again soon.

CALL FOR PAPERS... EDUCATORS, LIBRARIANS, AUTHORS, HISTORIANS...

My editor, Emily Raij from Maupin House (publishing my book Using Content Area Graphic Texts for Learning: A Guide for Middle-Level Educators - sorry but I couldn't help plugging my work) has forwarded TWO CALLS FOR PAPERS that I thought I would pass on to you.

A brief overview:

1. The first call for papers is from The Conversations Project: Interdisciplinary Conversations About Comics, Literacy, and Scholarship. The editor, James Bucky Carter, is looking for "conversations" between two figures, from different professional or personal perspectives who can create a narrative interview where each voice relates their perspective of comics in libraries, in classrooms (grades k-12), or on the drafting board.  Submissions due January 1, 2013 -see details below.  (If you want to submit but don't have a 'partner to converse with' - contact me, maybe I can help)
2. The second call for papers is from Comics and the American Southwest and Borderland.  The editors of Comics and the American Southwest and Borderlands and the University Press of Mississippi are seeking pieces addressing  the "creating, and illuminating the intersections of comics scholarship and established academic writing on the Southwestern United States, the U.S-Mexico border, and their literatures, identities, and cultures."  Submissions due January 1, 2013 -see details below.

CFP: The Conversations Project: Interdisciplinary Conversations About Comics, Literacy, and Scholarship  Dr. James Bucky Carter seeks abstracts/papers for an edited collection currently entitled The Conversations Project.

Comics scholarship has grown substantially over the last twenty years and has always inhabited an interdisciplinary domain. However, rarely do the myriad voices have an opportunity to intersect and interact like they might. This is especially true between those involved in humanities-based comics scholarship and those who explore comics from pedagogical potentialities – and an even more salient divide exists when one looks at those who are doing work with comics in the humanities and those who study comics’ k-12 applications and potentials.

The goal of the Conversations Project is to bring together leading and emergent voices in often distinctive and divergent sub-fields of comics scholarship via pairing those who study comics primarily from a humanities scholarship perspective with those who study comics mostly from the social sciences/ education/ literacy perspectives.

The editor argues that this has had a limiting effect on comics scholarship and offers the Conversations Project as a mode of addressing the issue (while, of course, recognizing that there are figures who work in and across multiple disciplines).

Each chapter of the project will be a conversation between two figures, one involved mostly in humanities-based comics scholarship and the other mostly involved in literacy/education-based comics scholarship.

Non-exhaustive examples of possible pairings:

• A children’s literature scholar might pair with a literacy scholar.
• Someone studying reader response theory in comics might pair with an education professor or practicing k-12 teacher
• A librarian of a comics collection at a university might pair with a public. school librarian or a librarian studying literacy issues associated with comics.
• A visual rhetoric scholar might pair with a social scientist studying how young people read or decode the language/systems of comics.
• A scholar of a specific cartoonist or comics work might pair with a k-12 teacher who has used that artist’s works or the specific text.
• A scholar-practitioner of Design might pair with a literacy educator or k-12 teacher.
• An art historian might pair with an Art educator or k-12 art teacher
• An academic who runs an after-school program connecting comics and literacy might pair with a practicing k-12 teacher who does the same.
• Someone who studies media might pair up with a media literacy educator.

Pairs will be instructed to craft their narrative in the form of a mutual interview, similar to and inspired by the format of the University Press of Mississippi’s Conversations series, where each voice is clearly distinguished and labeled each time it speaks. Editors will provide a brief introduction of both figures to introduce the readership to the authors, their areas of expertise, and the general gist of their arguments presented in the chapter.

Pairs might consider the following:

• What are your big questions and concerns regarding how the “other side” seems to view comics.
• How could your own work be used to advance understandings for the “other side.”
• Where do you see common ground in your work and theories and big ideas on comics, their value, use, and importance?
• Where do you and your paired partner agree? Disagree? Mine these spots for communication. Cite scholarship to assert your claims. Can you find middle ground?
• What major texts and figures inform thoughts?
• What new perspectives have you gained from working with your partner? What new avenues do you feel you may have opened up for readers who might also be looking to bridge the space between one form of comics scholarship and another?

The editor will craft a summative chapter that treats the bulk of the collection as qualitative data and will draw conclusions and make recommendations to readers based on emerging ideas, theories, and problem areas across the contributions. In this way, the book is similar to Aldema’s work in Multicultural Comics: From Zap to Blue Beetle and Your Brain on Latina Comics.

Interested parties should contact general editor Dr. James Bucky Carter at jbcarter777@gmail.com. Those who already have a co-author in mind are welcomed, but Dr. Carter can assist in finding possible partners. Once a pairing is approved, the authors should prepare a 300-500 word abstract and submit it to the editor by January 1, 2013.

*******

CFP: Comics and the American Southwest and Borderland

The editors of Comics and the American Southwest and Borderlands seek submissions for this collection, which has interest from the University Press of Mississippi. We hope the collection does for the Southwest and Border region what Costello and Whitted’s Comics and the U.S. South did for that region and Southern studies via mining, creating, and illuminating the intersections of comics scholarship and established academic writing on the Southwestern United States, the U.S-Mexico border, and their literatures, identities, and cultures.


Submissions might consider:
• The impact of comics creators from the Southwest or Border region
• The work of Jaxon/Jack Jackson, specifically
• Characters or storylines set in and/or influenced by the Southwest or Border region
• Depictions of the Southwest or Borderlands in comics
• Examinations of how non-American artists have represented the American West (Charlier, Moebius, Blain, etc.)
• U.S-Mexico relations in comics
• Immigration; citizenship; nationalism in comics from or about the region
• Race, gender, sex and ethnic studies in comics from or about the region
• Nationalism; politics; violence in comics from or featuring the region
• Liminal spaces; contact zones; politics of the region in comics
• Westerns
• Adaptations of Southwest, Chicano, Latina, or Mexican literature
• Chicana/a or Latina/o studies as frames for analysis of comics
• Class and economic issues in comics from or featuring the region
• Depictions of Native peoples from the region in comics

Submissions may explore comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, web comics, and editorial cartoons. Submissions may focus on any genre.

Please send 300-500 word abstracts to both Dr. James Bucky Carter (jbcarter777@gmail.com) and Dr. Derek Parker Royal (Derek@DerekRoyal.com) by January 31, 2013.

*******

Again, if you have any questions or need help find a conversation partner, please use the comment section as a bulletin board.  I would also love your comments and feedback.

Thanks you, as always, for your visit, I hope to see you again soon!

HELP WANTED!!

My editor just informed me that my book, Using Content-Area Graphic Texts for Learning: A Guide for Middle-Level Educators  will be out in early November!!! My co-author Katie Monnin and I are really excited!

The first part of the book introduces the mechanics of today's graphic novels and details how they've changed over the years.  It also relates why these books are such effective tools for today's classrooms (for a glimpse go to :http://departingthetext.blogspot.com/2012/09/he-yes-graphic-novels-should-be-used-to.html).

The second part of the book details how graphic novels can be used in math, language arts, social studies, and science middle-school classrooms.  We relate how graphic novels can help students with various needs (along attention, memory, language, sequencing and cognitive skills) in each of these content-area classrooms. We also explain how graphic novels can be used to meet Common Core Standards for each of these content-areas. Then, we provide two lesson plans within each content-area classroom and provide extensive lists of suggested graphic novels relevant to each subject/content area.


HERE'S HOW I NEED YOUR HELP:

•  A book launch party: If you have any ideas for a book launching party, I'd love to hear them. [We plan to make one but have, unfortunately, never been to one myself.] 

• FREE examination copies: We will be giving at least one copy of my book away to my blog readers, asking in return that you write a review on Amazon.com  IF you'd like to help with this, please let me know.

• Other ideas? If you have any other ideas to help promote this book, please share them in the comments.

Thank you as always for your visits and advice.  I look forward to your brainstorming ideas and interests in free examination copies in your comments.

Have a great week and I hope to see you here again soon! 

He## YES! Graphic Novels Meet Common Core Standards: Here's Why And A List of My Favorites

authorgreg.deviantart.com

Reading lists and teaching, like most things in life, can't remain static. They must be fluid, dynamically bending and adjusting to the times and pressing needs. And so, with the urging of my kids, graphic novels have entered my home and my classrooms.

The fact that graphic novels nicely fit Common Core Standard mandates (addressing visual and verbal literacy and the need to teach divergent texts and text structures) helps a lot. The quality selections available and the more modern feel they add to the classroom also help make them excellent curriculum additions.

Here are four general factors that led me to advocate for their classroom use:

1.   There is now a wealth of motivating, high-quality fiction, science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, or nonfiction graphic novels that lend themselves to content-area classroom use.

2.   With the growth of technology and access to the Internet, there is now an increasing need for visual and verbal literacy mastery emphasized not only in our everyday lives, but also in the Common Core State Standards.

3.   Graphic novels, by their very nature, draw the reader into the story because the reader has to construct the story by actively integrating visual and verbal components. This is both a highly creative and interactive process, which makes learning more meaningful.  

4.   Paired with prose novels and texts these books together enhance the material, make text more approachable for all, allow for in-depth critical reading and comparative discussions about verbal and visual communication, and add a definite 'cool' factor for you and your curriculum.

Here's how graphic novels address the Common Core Standards:

As stated in the Common Core Standards, Reading Standards (across the grades) for literature, information texts must "offer a focus for instruction each year and help ensure that students gain adequate exposure to a range of texts and tasks. Rigor is also infused through the requirement that students read increasingly complex texts through the grades....[incorporating and developing competence with] Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity. "

HERE are just A FEW ways Graphic novels help meet these standards in a number of ways -

• They typically use advanced concise vocabulary to tell a story which the images help the reader define the words, and these images provide additional memory associations for those words.  (Addressing Range of Reading and Text Complexity).
• Their concise language and sequential story panels help readers clearly distinguish between main ideas and details.  This is especially helpful for young readers who so frequently have trouble with this task. (Addressing Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, Range of Reading and Text Complexity).
• Comparing prose and graphic novels will also provide and excellent distinction between two very different structures of story telling as well as conversations of sentence vs. paragraph vs. chapter development. (Addressing Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, Range of Reading and Text Complexity).
• Pairing a prose version of a story with a graphic text (for example Treasure Island or A Wrinkle in Time) can help readers gain greater insights and understanding of various literary styles and text structures. (Addressing Craft and Structure, Range of Reading, Text Complexity and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas).
• As the themes, ideas, characters, and events are developed in a visually sequential manner in graphic novels, it is easy to chart their development.  (Addressing Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, Range of Reading and Text Complexity).
•  Aside from analyzing the development of existing ideas, themes, events and characters in  graphic novels, once familiar with this format, you can have students design their own graphic novels as a means of practicing and integrating the development of developing and sequencing main ideas. (Addressing Craft and Structure, Range of Reading, Text Complexity and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas).
• Graphic novels often tell a story from ONE perspective. Teachers can assign students to create alternative stories (whether written in prose or in graphic novel format) to reflect alternate perspectives. (Addressing Craft and Structure, Range of Reading, Text Complexity and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas).
• Creating graphic novels is an excellent exercise in word usage, metaphor, and creative communication.
• Organizing a graphic novel page is an excellent exercise in math (Operations and algebraic thinking, Measurement and Data, Geometry, Analyze patterns and relationships - to name a few).
• When students create their own graphic novels aside from the meeting math Common Core Standards (see above), it also addresses standards in writing (Text types and purposes, production and distribution of writing, range of writing).
• Graphic novels can (and should) be used in social studies to provide perspectives and discussions relating to National Council for Social Studies Teaching Standards: Culture and Cultural Diversity; Time, Continuity and Change; People, Places and Environments; Individual Identity and Development; Power, Authority and Governance; Production, Distribution and Consumption; Global Connections; and Civic Ideals and Practices)

HERE ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITE GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR CLASSROOM USE: 

For Grades 3-8:

•  Squish:  Super Amoeba by Jennifer and Matthew Holm  (Grades 4+) is about the world of single-celled friends (Squish, Peggy and Pod) as they navigate school, bullies and life.  These ameoba and paramecium move and interact with their environment in a very creative (and relatively true to life) way.  It is a great introduction to pond life and the single-celled world and a great way to teach distinguishing fact from fiction, and an author's use of both to tell a story.  This is a series of books including Squish:  Brave New Pond and Squish:  The Power of the Parasite
• Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke.  (Grades 2+) When her friend Joseph is reluctant to touch a "button" they found in a field, Zita just can't resist.  The button zaps Joseph into a black hole whisking him off to another world.  Zita leaps to his rescue and finds herself chasing his trail through a strange planet with humanoid chickens, neurotic robots and sweet-talking con-men. Here is a link to Ben Hatke's web pages for more characters and glimpses at Zita.
• Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (Grades 4+) is a story about how a ghost (named Emily) who is 'rescued' by Anya when she falls down a well, and helps Anya deal with the awkward teen years.  She helps Anya address her self consciousness about her looks, her friends and being popular, with Anya's embarrassment of her family (who are very ethnic), and with her rebellious, confused emotions.  It is a lovely coming of age book. 
• Bake Sale by Sara Varon (Grades 4+) weaves a salivating tale of friendship, chemistry, baking, and marching bands. It is about friends using creative ideas to help each other with life's dreams and unavoidable obstacles. Life's solutions (at least in this book) revolve around baking. There are seven recipes from classic cupcakes and cookies to sugared flower petals to marzipan.  It is wonderfully heart-warming and creative. 
• Amelia Rules by Jimmy Gownley.  (Grades 4+) Amelia McBride has to adjust to life in a new town after her parents' divorce.  She and her new friends face adolescence, bullies, gym class, cheerleaders, clubs, cliques, and many other knocks life seems to hand them. Amelia has spunk and character and in times of stress is eased and guided by her super-cool, famous aunt (rock star). Jimmy Gownley tells their story with grace and humor.
• City of Spies by Susan Kim and Laurence Klaven  (Grades 3+) This is graphic novel tells a historical fiction story depicting life in New York City in the summer of 1942.  Evelyn and her friend Tony uncover a German spy ring after seeing newsreels asking citizens to help in the war effort.
• Laika by Nick Abadzis (Grade 4+)  is about Laika the first sentient being (a dog) sent into space by the Russians in 1957, and a story of the space race. It is all about character and political trade-offs.
• The Olympians  (Zeus, Athena, Hera, Hades) (Grades 4+) by George O'Connor are a collection of books on Greek mythology. The story is true to classic Greek myth, and the illustrations and panel /page arrangements are breathtaking. Each book comes with suggested lesson plans, suggested supplemental reading lists, and a family tree of the Greek gods.  George O'Connor will be making books for each of the Greek gods.
•  Mouse Guard by Luke Crane and David Petersen (Grades 4+) a graphic novel much like Brian Jacques' Redwall series, representing life in the middle ages as lived by personified woodland creatures.
• Resistance Trilogy by Carla Jablonski and Leland Purvis - (Grade 5+)  historical fiction about friends growing up in World War II occupied France. These friends and their families must decide how they want to survive: resist, remain 'indifferent', or befriend their German occupiers. They all chose somewhat different paths and must face the resulting consequences.
•  Northwest Passage by Scott Chantler (Grades 4+) This non-fiction story-provides a wonderful account of this pivotal story in American history (with author annotation to help those novice visual readers AND provides additional reading suggestions and historical details).
• Lewis andClark by Nick Bertozzi (Grades 4+) another non-fiction visual/verbal gem recounting how the expedition was organized and the perils its members faced.
• Rust:  Visitor in the Field by Royden Lepp (Grades 4+) is a gripping story of Roman Taylor who struggles in a world similar to ours (which looks a lot like dust-bowl Oklahoma). He is trying to save his family's small farm which was devastated by a war.  One day a boy with a jet pack lands in his field and Romam begins to discover the secrets of Jet's past as he develops greater hopes for the future.  20th Century Fox has already picked up the rights to this awesome story.
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (Grades 6+) incorporates the retelling of one of the oldest Chinese Fables, the Monkey King, with two other stories - one about Wang, the only Chinese American in his school and the other about his cousin Chin-Kee the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype who comes to visit him. This book brilliantly weaves American and Chinese cultural issues and is a great 'coming of age' story and is all about cultural heritage. It is an Eisner Award winer, Michael L. Printz Award Winner, and National Book Award Nominee. 
• I Kill  Giants by Joe Kelly. (Grades 6+) Barbara is a fifth grader who tells anyone who will listen that she kills giants.  Initially we're uncertain if she really kills giants, or if she lives in a world of her own out of touch with others, or if this is one giant metaphor for her having to face huge scary issues in her life. And, while I won't ruin this powerfully told story, Barbara is an awesome fifth grader who while uncertain about herself and her physical or mental strength, faces social and personal issues valiantly. 
• Americus by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill (Grades 6+) is about a book-loving boy from Americus, a small town in Oklahoma whose mother leads the town in a book-banning frenzy.  This story deals head on with book-banning and adolescence in a sensitive, honest manner and is full of ethical dilemmas.
• The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long, Jim Demonakos and Nate Powell (Grades 6+) - a true story about a white male reporter and his family living in Texas during the Civil Rights Movement. The father must make career and life choices while trying to do the 'right thing." The struggles of segregation and the Civil Rights movement are clearly and sensitively depicted.
• The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation  by Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell (Grades 6+) is one of the BEST books I've ever read dealing with our Constitution - for kids AND adults. It describes the precipitating factors and events that led to our Nation's birth and clearly and succinctly details our Constitution's preamble and twenty-seven Amendments. It portrays the story of our history with incredible power, depth, and insight.
   

For High School Teens and Older :

•  The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation  by Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell
• BB Wolf and the Three LPs as told by JD Arnold with illustrations by Richard Koslowski (graphic novel, Grades 10+) provides plenty of twists to this classic story for teens and older. In this tale, the wolf is a Southern farmer by day (living in Money, Mississippi, 1920) and blues musician at night until the PPP try to wrangle his family's farm. While built on the story of the Three Little Pigs, this is an excellent allegory that touches on the Delta Blues, the Klu-Klux-Klan, the Jim Crow laws of the South, and the powerful effect of segregation and discrimination.  This is also an excellent lesson of how history is written by the more powerful or victorious.   
• Feynman by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick (Grades 8+) visually and verbally relates Nobel winning physicist Richard Feynman's life from childhood, to his work on the Manhattan Project, his exposure of the Challenger disaster, his work on quantum electrodynamics, and his antics in art and music. 

 

• Persepolous by Marjane Satrapi (Grades 9+) is an autobiographical graphic novel depicting Satrapi's young adult years in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution.
• Mause by Art Spiegelman (Grades 10+)  tells the story of his father's experiences as a Polish Jew Holocaust survivor.  It was the first graphic novel to win a PULITZER PRIZE.
• The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long, Jim Demonakos and Nate Powell
• Americus by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill
• I Kill  Giants by Joe Kelly
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

[Note: I have also included a few titles from the list above because they can and should be used in high school as well - although lessons around them would clearly be different.] 

HOW TO USE GRAPHIC NOVELS IN THE CLASSROOM:

• Read them critically (as you would any prose novel or text), discussing how characters, plot, and events are developed.  Discuss word usage and how these themes are related with fewer words.
• Read them critically discussing how images, color, and fonts are used to relate and relay story themes, emotions, and how characters' insights  to the reader.
• Pair them with prose novels and discuss how the story-telling changes, how the use of sentences, paragraphs and chapters change.  Discuss the use (or absence) of narration.  Compare and contrast story structure and word usage.
• Pair graphic and prose novels and discuss how metaphor is relayed differently.
• Have students construct their own graphic novels either as a geometry/math lesson or as a means of relaying story structure, story sequence and word usage.
• Use non-fiction graphic novels in science and history content area classes to introduce or enhance texts, discussing the different roles each literary format plays in relaying important information.
• JUST HAVE FUN reading beautifully illustrated texts with strongly told stories!!!!

This post just touches the tip of the iceberg.  In the comments, please feel free to leave ways you use graphic novels at home or in your classrooms, and please leave your favorite titles.

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