Graphic Novels = Awesome.

If you were to ask me what were my favorite genres of novels a year ago, I can assure you that the graphic novel would have not been located anywhere on that list. I was never into reading comic books as an adolescent, so I never really knew much about the genre, except that I assumed that all graphic novels had some sort of Manga aspect to it. Boy was I wrong. Fast forward to spring semester of my senior year at the University of Minnesota where I was taking an Asian-American Literature class. All of the books I had read previously for that class were mostly interesting, but were only read because I was required to. One day, I begrudgingly picked up the novel that was due the next week, and when I opened it, to my surprise, the book was actually a graphic novel! “American Born Chinese” forever changed my outlook on graphic novels, and now I actually have a long list of novels from this genre that I would like to read eventually.

The following fall semester, I enrolled in an Adolescent Literature class that would go towards my M. Ed in English education, and I was given the opportunity to continue reading graphic novels with the popular “Perspolis,” and now have an ever-growing list of books that were suggested to me by my instructor and by my peers including “The Pride of Baghdad,” “Maus,” and many others. In this class, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how we can use these novels in the classroom, and we were pushed to think about how we would teach our students how to read a graphic novel, as there will be students who will have never even opened up a comic book. I thought a lot about this when I brought home “The Watchmen” a couple of months ago and was trying to experience the whole novel without getting overwhelmed.

In the article “How to Teach Graphic Novel Writing,” the author said: “But the rise in interest has created a pool of frustrated talent that needs focus and direction. You step up, ready to meet them and guide them, but you don't know how. Fear not, true believer, for a few simple steps are all that keep you from guiding these poor creatures unto the greatest destiny of all.” As the “expert” in the classroom, I know that I will be expected by my students to be aware of not only how to read graphic novels, but also how to potentially write them. I will have to ask myself, “How do you decide what to draw?” What are the important aspects of the story that should be focused on?” Writing one’s own graphic novel can take more time and effort than the typical novel.

As I move on to my 4th week of student teaching for a 9th grade honors English class, I have been trying to think more about how I want to teach Romeo and Juliet to make it relevant and inspiring for my students. This will be most of the students’ first real experience reading Shakespeare and will have difficulties understanding what is going on in it due to the many allusions made to what was popular during the time Shakespeare wrote the drama. While I am going to be coming up with different ways of helping them understand how the puns were made back then in comparison to the puns they know now. I recently purchased the book “90 Classic Books for People in a Hurry” which takes 90 classic books and turns the whole plot into humorous 4-panel comics. After looking through this, I came up with the following assignment to go along with my Romeo and Juliet unit:

Name:_______________________

Partner’s name (optional):_______________________

Romeo and Juliet Graphic Novel Assignment

Due by:______________________

Now that we have finished the play Romeo and Juliet, your assignment is to create your own graphic novel version of any scene of your choosing. You may work with a partner or as individuals.

1. Pick a scene that you would like to turn into a graphic novel. Once you have done this, come to me and have me sign-off on your scene choice.

Teacher initials__________

2. Chose what type of medium you want to use for your graphic novel. Your options are:

• By hand (drawings must be clear for me to understand what is going on)
• ComicLife computer program
• Comic Book Creator computer program

3. You will each be required to post individually on your own blog about your experience turning this classical text into a more modern format. What did you learn from this? Did it help you better understand the play? What (if anything) was lost between the transformations of Romeo and Juliet as a graphic novel? What are some pros and cons for doing this activity? This response must be at least 300 words long.

4. If you worked on this project with a partner, please write a summary of what each partner contributed to this assignment. This will only be seen by me, and must be turned in on the same day that your graphic novel is due.

There is a rubric that I created to go along with this assignment, but since I couldn't get it to format properly I will be willing to email it to interested people if they comment on my blog asking for it!