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The Comic Book Curriculum: Using Comics to Enhance Learning and Life
This fascinating journey into the heart of comics connects their unique blend of entertainment and wisdom with school curriculum to invigorate teachers and students alike.
What an intriguing idea! The Comic Book Using Comics to Enhance Learning and Life shows teachers how to use these ever-popular stories to enliven any classroom. The book does not suggest replacing classic works with comics. What it does offer is ideas and techniques for using comics to generate interest in a topic and for transferring that enthusiasm to more-traditional classroom lessons.
The first section of the book introduces superheroes and the sometimes-surprising depth and thoughtfulness of comics. For example, it shows how the X-Men can be used to illuminate the Civil Rights movement, the dangers of fundamentalism, and the power of diversity. Similar treatment is afforded other popular characters such as Batman and Superman, and curriculum connections are made to topics that include the struggle between freedom and security, Norse mythology, the Holocaust, and nuclear disarmament. The second part of the book offers specific tools that will help teachers use comics as a welcome―and effective―doorway to learning.
What an intriguing idea! The Comic Book Using Comics to Enhance Learning and Life shows teachers how to use these ever-popular stories to enliven any classroom. The book does not suggest replacing classic works with comics. What it does offer is ideas and techniques for using comics to generate interest in a topic and for transferring that enthusiasm to more-traditional classroom lessons.
The first section of the book introduces superheroes and the sometimes-surprising depth and thoughtfulness of comics. For example, it shows how the X-Men can be used to illuminate the Civil Rights movement, the dangers of fundamentalism, and the power of diversity. Similar treatment is afforded other popular characters such as Batman and Superman, and curriculum connections are made to topics that include the struggle between freedom and security, Norse mythology, the Holocaust, and nuclear disarmament. The second part of the book offers specific tools that will help teachers use comics as a welcome―and effective―doorway to learning.
204 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
2 people want to read
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November 23, 2013
I am not a non-fiction reader. Reviewing this book is a bit difficult because I was never a good student (aka when I'm told to read something, my brain always gets stubborn and resists). My boss gave this to me months ago to help me understand how to use comics in the classroom and how to help teachers who might utilize our library how to as well and while I think comics/graphic novels definitely have their place, this was a massively boring read...
I did manage to get my hand on a few of the comics that the author recommends. The ones I read were definitely for high school age students and a few of them would require quite a bit of back knowledge on certain superheroes (Kingdom Come for example. As someone with little to no DC background, I was lost when anyone except the big name characters were on the page).
The author gives a break down for each comic he mentions including a potential vocab list, classroom topics to use it in conjunction with, and other ideas for lesson plans. One thing I wish it had included was more visuals. For a book about how comics can help learning, the book relies solely on text. Very small text on large pages. I recommend reading the actual comics before starting this book. The majority of the book is summary and having the actual knowledge about what the author is writing about would have made this easier to follow.
I did manage to get my hand on a few of the comics that the author recommends. The ones I read were definitely for high school age students and a few of them would require quite a bit of back knowledge on certain superheroes (Kingdom Come for example. As someone with little to no DC background, I was lost when anyone except the big name characters were on the page).
The author gives a break down for each comic he mentions including a potential vocab list, classroom topics to use it in conjunction with, and other ideas for lesson plans. One thing I wish it had included was more visuals. For a book about how comics can help learning, the book relies solely on text. Very small text on large pages. I recommend reading the actual comics before starting this book. The majority of the book is summary and having the actual knowledge about what the author is writing about would have made this easier to follow.
Displaying 1 of 1 review