Webcomics in the Classroom
As a creative writing major studying to teach future generations of creative writers, I am very interested in potential new teaching aids within the literary field. Webcomics are one such teaching aid which most teachers do not utilize in their classrooms. Comic books and graphic novels have been used in the classroom
for years to teach students about genre, key elements of stories, and in some cases even history. A recent trend turning classic novels and plays such as Romeo and Juliet into comic book and graphic novel representations has made the use of the medium even more widely accepted by teachers of primary and secondary education. Rocco Versaci in her essay "How Comic Books can Change the way Our Students See Literature: One Teacher's Perspective" believes that comics can "help students read beyond the page in order to ask and answer deeper questions that the given work suggests about art, life, and the intersection of the two," which is why they are useful in the classroom (Versaci). Without acknowledging the potential usefulness of webcomics and comics in a classroom environment, teachers may be missing out on an important tool that could aid them in their teaching.
In an article featured on Education World's website, Linda Starr mentions an interview with English educator Stephen Cary where he states that "with their emphasis on engaging content and an expanded use of visual material, [comics] are an especially effective medium in the context of brain-based teaching, which emphasizes hands-on, manipulative-based activities," and many teachers feel that comics are conducive to essay writing (Starr). Another reason to use comics in the classroom stems from their simple use of language. In Comics as Culture, M. Thomas Inge points out that after a study in which an individual looked at sixteen daily comics for a month, “he found that 80% of the vocabulary was composed of simply primary-school words,” which make comics a good tool for students struggling to learn how to read (Inge 17). That is not to say that all comics use basic words, but many comics follow this trend.
Many would argue that because comics use such basic language, they are not very good learning tools. However, many of the books used to teach in middle school classrooms such as E. B. White’s The Trumpet of the Swan use the same pattern of word choice. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is also well known for using mostly primary-school words, with the inclusion of slang, and was once banned from schools. Another consideration is that not all comic books and graphic novels use quite so many primary-school words. Just like in novels and short stories, language choice differs from artist to artist. Comics also carry the potential to help students develop the ability to make connections between what is said and what is not. In an article featured in the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) website, Cat Turner mentions that "every part of each frame plays a role in the interpretation of the text, and hence, graphic novels actually demand sophisticated readers," meaning that comics can be used for more than simply teaching elementary students and early middle school students to read (NCTE).
Rocco Versaci encourages teachers to give their students the opportunity to explore literature with comics and gain their own understanding of it without adding in their own biases. She claims that students need the creative room to learn, and having the opportunity to learn about and explore the literary value of comics both as a teaching aid and as a medium on their own is an important key in nurturing the start of literary learning. The same can be said of webcomcis in the classroom. If comic books and graphic novels have a place in teaching students about genre, characterization, and ancient plays, webcomics have the same ability as well as the added bonus of teaching students about the potential of internet-based literature.
In
today's society, internet-based medium has grown in importance and
should not be left out of classroom discussions. This medium has the
same potential as comics to act as a useful tool for not only
strengthening the reading ability of younger students, but also helping
students lean about important literary elements like metaphor,
symbolism, and rhyme. In addition, webcomics can teach students about
the interactive and multimedia potential of internet based literature
like abstract and visual poetry. Teaching these elements can help show
students that there's more to literature than just reading books
that they might not enjoy and writing essays. Literature is about
understanding and analyzing as well as growing and creating.
The teacher-oriented website Comicsintheclassroom.net includes a list of webcomics that teachers could consider using in their classrooms. The website is written by Scott Tingley, an early years teacher in the New Brunswick who believes in the potential comics and webcomics have within the classroom. In the lesson plans section of the website, Tingley advocates that comics and webcomics can be used for teaching young students about quotation marks, onomatopoeias, and other elements of writing. He also suggests that the webcomic-based lesson plans can be modified to teach older students about important elements of creative writing such as creating images that act as clues within the text, and developing and using good word choice.
Bringing webcomics into the classroom is an important consideration for creative writing classes for the same reasons as comics and graphic novels, as well as elements which are unique to the medium. Additionally, creative writing classes could teach students about the basics of webcomics and how to interpret them in the same ways a creative writing class might teach students to understand and interpret poetry. In order to teach students to fully understand the literary value of a webcomic, they can be taught about drawing conventions used in webcomics, typical aesthetic choices, mood changing visual techniques, common uses for sound or music to set the mood, as well as various literary elements one might learn about for a novel or short story. Although teaching something with such wide potential is difficult, it is not imposable. Teachers of creative writing continue to teach poetry even though it has nearly limitless potential, and some teachers have even begun including visual and abstract internet poetry in their courses. It is time to take the next step and add webcomics to classrooms and creative writing classes.
Carla Vangrove studies English with an emphasis in creative writing at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Her central focus in these studies is not how creative mediums fit within the literary field, though she enjoys researching this on the side for her writing arguments class. As a creative writing student, she believes in not entirely limiting the literary potential of mediums without thoroughly researching the medium and considering all arguments for and against it.
