The Art of Reading

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Hi everyone! Welcome to "The Art of Reading".
Students generally read what teachers provide to them.
As teachers, we decide what texts are good for students. Most times, the graphic novel is often excluded.
Graphic novels are often thought to be too simple and not challenging for students because there's little analysis that can be done.
But there's so much that students can analyze with graphic novels!
Really?
YES!
Students can analyze WAY more than just what words are saying. Students can analyze: • HOW words look (typography) • how the scene is framed and laid out • the lines of the images • the point of view • the gutters (gaps between frames) • the action, posture, and facial expressions of characters • the dialogue of the characters (speech and thought bubbles) • colour choice • narrative
Sylvia Pantaleo (2014) in "Reading Images in Graphic Novels" calls these the visual elements of art and design. These elements help with semiotics - the study of signs. Analyzing all these elements simultaneously is multimodal and non-linear reading.
I LOVE to read graphic novels, but everyone says that I'm too old to be reading them. I'm told I should be reading REAL books instead.
Graphic novels are real books, Max. Sometimes they are even better for students to understand what they're reading.
Mike Cook in his 2017 article, "Now I See the Impact of Graphic Novels on Reading Comprehension in High School English Classrooms," found in a case study that students who read only the text of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" understood the story less than those who read a graphic adaptation of the story.
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
To demonstrate, students understand Shakespeare's plays much more clearly if there is a visual component, because sometimes, words simply aren't enough. Students can see images in relation to text and they understand plot, symbolism, and other literary elements much better.
Chambers' Tell Me, suggests to engage students in their reading by providing them with different levels of questioning that involves them to analyze and interpret.
Greetings, young pupils!
You can probably guess what scene this is over there.
Tell Me Questions: What does the choice of choosing Japan as the setting do for the audience? Does it affect the plot in anyway?
Check out the zoom in and framing of this second frame!
Look at how she's so fearful here. That's great expression!
Good eye, André! These depictions here are also of the same Macbeth scene but there are clear differences from my version. You'll notice that the artist chose to use a Japanese setting of the story and the script is modern English.
What you just did, André, was decode the character's facial expression.
According to Tabitha Simmons (2003) as stated in "Bringing Graphic Novels into a School's Curriculum" (2004), readers decode facial and body expression that add to symbolism of images. She also believes that this reading of expression is an important mastering as students move from childhood to adolescence.
The article has states that because students are analyzing the words and illustrations, they are effectively reading art!
When students read into the expressions of the illustrations, they are effectively using their skills in reading human expressions in reality. The idea of relaying personal experience to reading is something called reader response.
Reader response is important to understanding the interpretation of texts, including graphic novels, because students will have their own ideas of the aspects of graphic novels and come away with a different interpretation from their classmates.
Graphic novel interpretation is important because as discussed by Cook (2017), students have to use visual-verbal skills while reading. Because of the metalanguage development, Pantaleo (2014) believes that students are increasing higher level thinking in regards to visuals.
Take for instance...
On this first page from Maus, readers have to read into the bubble shapes. There are the normal speech bubbles, the narrator blocks (such as the one you're currently reading), harshly lined bubbles to indicate screaming, and wavy bubbles to indicate weaken volume.
On the second page, readers have to interpret SOUND through the visual AND the text of the gun shots.
On this third page, students would have to read layers of the illustrations - the literal and the symbolic.
Tell Me question: How does the author use the swastika symbol to represent oppression?
Cook believes that because students have to use more than one type of critical reading skill they are actually using more sophisticated cognitive thinking while reading graphic novels.
•Pantaleo (2013) thinks that students' critical thinking skills are developed through the metafunctions (ideational, interpersonal, and textual) of panel reading •Ideational - panels are used to represent specific and general ideas •interpersonal - panels allow for presentation of relationships of characters, and between producer and receiver •textual - panels help organize and group the composition
?
The critical thinking development of cognitive thought through reading graphic novels is engaging for students, but TEACHERS need to know how to educate students on multimodal texts and visual literacy skills according to Pantaleo (2013).
As you may know, getting teachers on board with using graphic novelist classrooms is difficult because of multiple factors. We've covered the idea that teachers believe that graphic novels are not challenging enough, but we've seen how graphic novel reading is much more complex than linear reading.
As graphic novels require non-linear reading skills, students will develop critical thinking skills more so than only reading linearly. Some teachers choose not to use books because they are not relevant to their subjects; however, if teachers select books that are age and content appropriate then students can enjoy reading and learning across the curriculum (Bucher & Manning, 2004).
What this means is that graphic novels don't only have to be read in the English classroom. Teachers can use graphic novels to teach a variety of subjects. Maus, as we've seen, can definitely be used to illustrate WWII in a history classroom.
Calvin and Hobbes can be used in a social studies classroom as it covers a variety of social topics like bullying...
and hierarchical power dynamics.
Tell Me Question: How does Calvin, a 6-year-old understand the term "oppression"?
Look at the ways that Bill Watson uses the lines and fonts to portray emotions.
So many things are happening in Ollman's "They Filmed A Movie Here Once."
Gaps are incredibly important to story-telling according to Low (2012). Students have to have the ability to fill in the gaps. By doing so, they are using their reader response to interconnect the panels together by relying on their experiences and knowledge. Low believes that because of the complexity of filling in gaps, teachers shouldn't use graphic novels as a stepping stone to real texts...they ARE real texts!
Tell Me Questions: • How does the author use P.O.V. In these panels? • What is the GAP of the middle panel on the page? • What does the story say of the working class?
The next pages from Ollman's work showcases how intricate story-telling can be through graphic novels. Readers will need to question and analyze the multimodal, non-linear work.
Try applying Pantaleo's suggestions of these areas: • HOW words look (typography) • how the scene is framed and laid out • the lines of the images • the point of view • the gutters (gaps between frames) • the action, posture, and facial expressions of characters • the dialogue of the characters (speech and thought bubbles) • colour choice • narrative
Schwarz (2007) sees that media literacies, social issues, and graphic novels can teach students about civil education. The significance of media literacy education is "At its core are the basic higher-order critical thinking skills - for example, knowing how to identify key concepts, how to make connections between multiple ideas, how to ask pertinent questions, formulate a response, identify fallacies - that form the very foundation of both intellectual freedom and full citizenship in a democratic society" (Thomas and Jolls, 2005).
In Short and Reeves's article (2009), although looking at the undergraduate level, took McLuhan's (1964) media research and applied it to graphics novels and student learning. Graphic novels are representative of "cool" communication media which means that "receivers must 'fill-in,' or use their imaginations to complete the communication." McLuhan states that filling-in-the-blanks requires the audience to see untrue images and movements of lines and turn them into illustrations and movement. We allow for our senses to be activated through the medium of graphic novels.
These cool media are considered to be highly interactive i.e. engaging, and the type of media that younger generations are used to. The familiarity increases the level of engagement with the story as there are multiple facets to read into simultaneously, just as the types of media they are regularly exposed to.
But aren't graphic novels only for boys? Or at least targeted towards their demographic? I don't think they're a great resource for girls.
Not true at all!
Cook (2017) found that female students who read with Poe's story with a graphic actually understood the material better than males who also had the graphic to interpret. Short & Reeves (2009) also found that 60% of graphic novel readers are female and believe that further studies is needed to see how graphic novels will balance gender representation than linear texts.
Let's use the first volume of The Walking Dead series as an example to see how graphic novels are NOT gendered. Even zombie-filled storylines can appeal to anyone.
These pages don't have a lot of dialogue, and the panels are very similar to one another with slight differences; those slight differences can enhance the MOOD and TIME of the scene which doesn't require gendering of texts. It just takes a nuanced reader to be engaged.
There are very few clear distinctions of what genders graphic novels, although graphic novels can be intended for specific age groups dependent material content and graphics.
All in all, reading graphic novels is an ART. As the form of work is multimodal and requires visual-textual reading capabilities. Readers have to be fully engaged to comprehend the complexities of the story. The non-linear storytelling of graphic novels requires a skill level that rivals and even surpasses those needed for linear reading.
The complexities of the form can be associated with high school level critical thinking and teachers can engage their students with appropriate questioning, material, AND meet curriculum expectations. Teachers should embrace graphic novels not as weaker alternative to linear texts, but as an equally challenging media form.
"Comics are not prose. Comics are not movies. They are not a text-driven medium with added pictures; they're not the visual equivalent of prose narrative or a static version of a film. They are their own thing; a medium with its own devices, its own innovators, its own cliche ́s, its own genres and traps and liberties. The first step toward attentively reading and fully appreciating comics is acknowledging that" (Wolk, 2005). "One of the challenges for those who wish to use the graphic novel in the classroom will be the search for new theory, new terms, and new ideas that will help all to analyze, evaluate, and create this medium" (Schwarz, 2007).
Additionally, incorporating graphic novels into the classroom can also be a great learning opportunity for educators, too!
Cook (2017) also found through his research that students of all groups generally find graphic novels more engaging. • Some student can understand texts better with visuals • Students liked that they can see the images and not have to imagine them • The visuals clarified questions they had on readings In opposition: • Other students found it more challenging because paying attention to pictures was necessary for comprehension • Some also believed that graphic novels lack of detail
That's true. I find I have less questions when I can see what's happening through pictures. Sometimes, descriptions confuse me.
Cook (2017) also found that teachers saw more engagement - on task, asking questions about the text, understanding the text, and liking it - from students who read graphic novels over those reading only text. He also found that teachers believed that students understood vocabulary and plot better though graphic novels than traditional texts, which is important to engagement and bridging gaps of comprehension. "Teachers must, therefore, fully consider the pedagogical implications of any instructional choices they make, including implementing graphic texts in their classrooms. Teachers must continue to scrutinize all classroom texts they choose. No one knows better the landscape of the classroom than teachers."
Choosing appropriate graphic novels for the classroom is also important. Parents, educators and students need to be okay with the content of the graphic novel according to Alverson (2014). In using graphic novels, teachers should ensure that the maturity level of students matches that of the text. Teachers should also forewarn students of violence, language, and sexuality, just as in the case of linear texts. School boards or the school itself should be fine with the text choice. It's important to also include alternative versions.
Using graphic novels in the classroom can be beneficial in many ways as we've seen today. We need to think of how we use them to create critical thinkers, engagement, and comprehension for students. Teachers should become well-practiced and comfortable in using them as a media form across curricula for students.
Graphic novels are not new, but we can use them in new ways in the classroom for student and teacher development. We need to look at graphic novels in an acceptant light as a multimodal text that allows for growth in insightful and critical thought! Thanks for joining me today!

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