Although it was suggested that I explore
more aspects of teaching Persepolis
in my I-Search, I have decided that it would be more beneficial to take my
research in a somewhat boring but highly practical direction this week. I am currently reading Teaching to Exceed the English Language Arts Common Core State
Standards, a self-explanatory text by Richard Beach, Amanda Haertling
Thein, and Allen Webb, that has been of great use to me in learning about the
Common Core Standards that schools in Rhode Island are currently using. As I thought about teaching comics in the
classroom, I considered the fact that I would eventually have to justify my
choices to someone in a decision making position. I feel that investigating the teaching of
comics at the secondary level in terms of
the CCSSs will give me the tools I would need to really use graphic novels
in my classroom in the future.
In Part II of this Common Core
text, seven aspects of the standards are outlined. For my purposes, I would like to focus on the
second and third aspects. The second is “Reading
and Writing Narratives, Drama, and Poetry,” and the third is “Critical Analysis
of Literary Texts.” I believe that
comics or graphic novels like Persepolis
can lend themselves to both of these aspects of the CCSSs.
The chapter on “Reading and Writing
Narratives, Drama, and Poetry” includes a specific section on responding to and
creating narratives, and it is this section that I latch onto most when
considering teaching comics in schools. Teaching
graphic novels, as I’ve discussed previously, opens up a space for creation that
other forms do not. One thing that I find
exciting about the Common Core State Standards is their emphasis on writing.
The great thing is that they do not specify what form writing should
take—rather, they consider audience and ability to convey desired information
as most important. This is where space
is created for comics or graphic novels to come into the mix.
Critical Analysis is also something
that I think comics/graphic novels lend themselves to more than people may
think. As I discussed last week
regarding Persepolis, there are
various types of critical analysis from which you can approach any literature,
but particularly graphic novels. Learning to look at literature through
different critical lenses is not only an important aspect of the Common Core
Standards; it is also an important life skill which leads to students’ future
success. The ability to change your
perspective based on the needs of a particular piece of literature translates
to success in the real world, which, I believe, is one of the goals of the Common
Core Standards at their heart.
Seeing that teaching with comics is
not only beneficial to students but also potentially sanctioned by the current
standards system for Rhode Island has definitely validated my research in a
reassuring way.
I love that you took this on a journey to find out if you could relate the graphic novel to the common core, and the fact you figured out how you could is awesome. When looking into ideas for teaching I feel like the common core may be forgotten til the very end and then it is just stressful, but you took the time and told the common core to shut up. I'm really excited to see where you go next with this.
ReplyDeleteThis is so great! As teachers, I believe one of the greatest services we can provide to our students is not to be constantly fighting "the system" (though this may be necessary from time to time), but to work within a system to meet our goals. This realization is a big part of why I haven't lost my hope for the education system: there are tons of creative and excited people who are willing to work within a less-than-ideal situation to do creative and exciting things. :)
ReplyDeleteAllie,
ReplyDeleteI too looked towards CCSS in order to show why the performing arts matters. We can’t only rely on our “right-brain activity stance”, we have to relate to the left-minded school board members too. I found too that “the great thing is that they do not specify what form writing should take—rather, they consider audience and ability to convey desired information as most important” which is a great way to reach all of the students on their own preferred style of writing.
I focused a bit of my last memo on personal narratives too! Great minds, hey, hey! What I realized as I wrote about personal narratives were that it is a form of creative writing and something that students will really enjoy doing. I’m told often by teachers that students love to talk about themselves.
Through critical analysis, the students do lean “an important life skill which leads to students’ future success.” That’s the point. They learn how to use the tools of observation and analyzing in order to make sense of the world around them and then hopefully, they think and then write about ways to improve upon it.