Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
(2002), my sources all bemoaned that graphic novels- despite their popularity- are commonly
seen as significantly less relevant and rigorous than other options. The only article that did not
address the legitimacy of graphic novels was Botshon and Plastas 2009 article about Marjane
Satrapis autobiographical text Persepolis. This article treated the graphic novel in question as a
way to introduce cultural and political literacy into the classroom, and never once questioned the
legitimacy of graphic novels as a form of literature.
Though I could not find any research on using graphic images as a tool for revision (not
hugely surprising), I did find several texts with suggestions on how to inspire students to
complete deep revision tasks. Because a significant goal of this overall project was to show
students that revision is deeper than editing for commas and spelling, I wanted to include
revision as one of my research topics. Perhaps one of my biggest surprises with this was that
there were very few recently published research or peer reviewed articles on revision. Weigl
(1976) and Otten (1988) both provided foundational definitions of revision, and guidelines for
what constituted real revision versus surface level editing, only Early & Saidy (2014) gave me
inspiration for how to implement deeper revision tasks into lessons and student activities.
However, their revision tasks were hugely time consuming and detailed, so I found myself paring
down much of their strategies when trying to implement them in my own classroom. The three
texts did, however, have commonalities in that they stressed the need for writers to really
consider the purpose behind their text as the inspiration for their revision. This aided my graphic
novel project because I wanted to students to see how changing the form of a text- from a
traditional short story to a graphic novel, for instance- could enhance the overall purpose of the
narrative.
Overall, I found that there is quite a bit of research about using graphic novels to promote
literacy with struggling readers, and quite a bit about using it as an engagement strategy in
classrooms. There was far less literature to review about the creation of graphic novels, and
revision practices within creative writing. I am not surprised by this. Graphic novels are highly
engaging, but the creation of them seems more like a project for after school groups, because
they can be a challenge to take on in a traditional classroom.
Analytic
Creating
Graphic
Novels to
improve
Literacy:
Versaci (2001)
Bitz (2004)
Gorman &
Eastman
(2010)
Morrison,
Bryan, &
Chilcoat
(2002)
Reading
Graphic
Novels to
analyze
culture:
Revision
Practices:
Bitz (2004)
Weigl (1976)
Morrison,
Bryan, &
Chilcoat
(2002)
Otten (1988)
Schwarz &
Crenshaw
(2011)
Versaci
(2001)
Early &
Saidy (2014)
Dallacqua
(2012)
Bucher
(2004)
Botshon
(2009)
Using
Graphic
Novels as
engagement
strategy:
Using
Technology in
the Classroom
Kajder (2004)
References
Bitz, M. (2004). The comic book project: Forging alternative pathways to literacy. Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 47(7), 574-586.
Botshon, L., & Plastas, M. (2009). Homeland In/Security: A discussion and workshop on
teaching marjane satrapi's "Persepolis. Feminist Teacher: A Journal of the Practices,
Theories, and Scholarship of Feminist Teaching, 20(1), 1-14.
Bucher, K. T., & M, L. M. (2004). Bringing graphic novels into a school's curriculum. The
Clearing House, 78(2), 67-72.
Ching, H. S., & Fook, F. S. (2013). Effects of multimedia-based graphic novel presentation on
critical thinking among students of different learning approaches. Turkish Online Journal
of Educational Technology - TOJET, 12(4), 56-66.
Dallacqua, A. K. (2012). Exploring literary devices in graphic novels. Language Arts, 89(6),
365-378.
Early, J. S., & Saidy, C. (2014). Uncovering substance: Teaching revision in high school
classrooms. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(3), 209-218.
Gorman, R., & Eastman, G. S. (2010). "I see what you mean": Using visuals to teach metaphoric
thinking in reading and writing. English Journal, 100(1), 92-99.
Kajder, S. (2004). Plugging in: What technology brings to the English/Language arts classroom.
Voices from the Middle, 11(3), 6-9.
Morrison, T. G., Bryan, G., & Chilcoat, G. W. (2002). Using student-generated comic books in
the classroom. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(8), 758-767.
Otten, N., & Stelmach, M. (1988). Changing the story that we all know (Creative
Reading/Creative writing). English Journal,77(6), 67-68.
Schwarz, G., & Crenshaw, C. (2011). Old media, new media: The graphic novel as
bildungsroman. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 3(1), 47-53.
Versaci, R. (2001). How comic books can change the way our students see literature: One
teacher's perspective. English Journal, 91(2), 61-67.
Weigl, B. (1976). Revision as a creative process. English Journal, 65(6), 67-68.