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Pairing Young Adult Literature and Graphic Novels: Teaching Historical Events using Multimodal Learning Strategies Maddie McClellan4 April 2014

Proposal Young Adult Literature has been in schools since the 1970s and gained in popularity astronomi-cally since but is still in the process of being recognized as pedagogically and literarily effective (Alsup 1). Traditionally, teachers and parents have focused on teaching students, “the canon,” by staying loyal to the classics. In today’s storm of Common Core standards and high-stakes testing, teachers are pressured to move towards more informational, non-fiction texts, putting even clas-sic literature on the back-burner (Malach & Bomer 205). While informational texts are certainly beneficial and applicable to the real life skills that students encounter in the work force, litera-ture, specifically YAL, is just as crucial to helping students develop as a whole. Informational text may teach cognitive skills, but YAL teaches the whole student (Alsup). If both genres are beneficial, why not teach them together to create deeper understanding? In my research, I will discover how pairing graphic novels with YA or canonical texts builds a well-rounded learning experience that teaches 21st century skills to a diverse classroom and allows for a deeper under-standing of a common theme or topic.

While YAL is considered a genre, there are many genres within YAL. One genre that has gained immense popularity is YA graphic novels. While some parents or more traditional teachers may believe that graphic novels are only for fun and do not belong in the classroom, I argue that graphic novels can be extremely beneficial in reaching student interest and teaching tough sub-jects. Graphic novels provide an opportunity to use analytical skills in a variety of ways, as they use both text and visuals to convey a message. Ching and Fook assert that graphic novels allow for students who do not understand the content through text alone may make more meaningful connections through the graphics (57); while I agree, I think the usefulness of graphic novels in the classroom extends much further than this.

One important aspect to understand about graphic novels is that they are not simply picture books--the text and graphics are not synchronous, but rather are often presented as separate pieces. For instance, in novels like Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen or Marjane Satropi’s Persepolis, we often see frames with few or no words, but the image of a collapsed house, in-jured people, or even a blank frame presents an idea bigger than words can convey. Using graphic novels in the classroom will reach a more diverse student audience and broaden students’ understanding of different genres.

Using graphic novels to teach history is effective because they provide a “unique, historical” per-spective that “promotes critical thinking” through “visual impact” (Ching and Fook 57). Reading graphic novels with a traditional text will allow students to explore genre differences and identify how the same event may be portrayed in different ways. For instance, a graphic novel uses pic-tures to convey imagery while a traditional text uses language. Students could analyze these dif-ferences and identify their effectiveness in portraying a similar message.

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Through researching Young Adult Literature and graphic novels, I have come to the conclusion that using both in my future classroom will be extremely useful, successful in the classroom, and beneficial for my students’ learning and development. This project is geared towards my peers, future teachers, and current teachers who are wondering about the benefits of teaching graphic novels or pairing graphic novels with YA or traditional texts. As examples, I suggest several dif-ferent pairings that could be used to teach historical events. The first is Maus by Art Spiegelman and Night by Elie Wiesel or A Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, either of which would be a meaningful way to teach the Holocaust. The next is autobiographical graphic novel Bare-foot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa or Fallout by Jim Ottaviani and the non-fiction text Bomb by Steve Sheinkin, ideal for a diverse learning experience about the bombing of Hiroshima. The last is Persepolis by Marjane Satropi and Journey From the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran by Ruya Hakkakiyan, both great educational tools to learn about Iran in a time of revolution. These pairings will be beneficial because they will give stu-dents different perspectives on a historical event, and the strongest tie between all pairings is war and the main characters’ persistence through immense times of struggle. All novels also deal with racism and prejudice during times of conflict. These connections will lead to fruitful discus-sion about the common themes. Using these examples, I will create a pedagogical research paper that will build my rationale for this sort of unit in my future classroom. I argue that pairing graphic novels with traditional text helps create a deeper understanding of a historical event while building 21st century skills.

While Ching and Fook explain how graphic novels can help reach struggling readers, James B. Carter, a graphic novel specialist and award-winning educator, extends that thought to show how graphic novels benefit both lower-level or disinterested readers as well as avid readers up through the graduate level. Graphic novels are not just for fun and they are not just for those who have trouble reading -- they can help convey a more meaningful story than text alone and allows for students to use 21st-century skills to analyze both the text and the graphics. Maus, for in-stance, is celebrated as one of the most unique and impacting ways of portraying the Holocaust. Pairing Maus with YA autobiography Night allows students to read different accounts of the same historical event that gives them a more informed learning experience. The importance of pairing is to make sure the novels share a common theme. Maus and Night both revolve around WWII and the Holocaust and both main characters are Jews who experience the horrors of the German concentration camps. Although Night is YA and Maus is not (YAL must be told from the perspective of a young adult), both novels are centralized around father-son relation-ships. While Elie’s and Vladek’s experiences are very different, students will still be able to make connections between the two texts to build a deeper understanding of the Holocaust.

Giving students choice between different pairings allows them to make a decision that fits best for them. Allowing choice in the classroom gives students more responsibility and autonomy. Using two different texts to teach one theme or event relates to the idea of pairing with the clas-sics, which involves teaching a YA text with a classic text in order to help students better under-stand and connect with the classic. According to Joan Kaywell, author of Adolescent Litera-ture as a Complement to the Classics, pairing YAL with classic texts solves two prob-lems: 1. Students have a hard time relating to classic novels because of reading level or “distan[ce] from student experiences” (Kaywell IX). 2. Teachers understand the “why” of incor-porating YAL into the classroom, but are uncertain of the “how.” Teaching YAL in the class-

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room helps students see that reading can be “relevant and meaningful” (Kaywell IX). Once stu-dents make better connections with reading, they will be better prepared to navigate a more com-plicated text. Using YAL in my graphic novel/traditional text pairings is just one to solve the challenge of implementing YAL in the classroom.

After researching, I plan to write a pedagogical research paper arguing the benefits of graphic novels in the classroom and using them with traditional texts to teach a historical event, as well as the capabilities of graphic novels to help create a multimodal experience that students can get excited about and relate to. This should be about 12 pages in length. I will be working with Dr. Emily Wicktor on this project, and we plan to meet every Tuesday before class.

Objectives I hope to discover research-based methods of teaching graphic novels that will lay the ground-work for creating successful graphic novel unit plans. I specify research-based methods, because the field of education changes so often that it is sometimes criticized to be based on the current trends and not as much on proof that the methods being utilized actually work. As I formulate my argument, I will consult the Common Core standards to ensure that my plan for pairing graphic novels with traditional text will reach necessary standards. I will give examples of how standards may be reached through the different pairings suggested above, and will explain how I would enact a literature unit using graphic novel/traditional text pairing to teach historical events such as the Holocaust, Iranian revolution, or bombing of Hiroshima. I hope that this pedagogical research paper will inform others about the usefulness and effectiveness of graphic novels in the classroom as well as guide my teaching practices in my future classroom.

Timeline Hand in proposal draft: March 13Continue research: March 14-April 4Meet with Dr. Wicktor to discuss revised proposal: April 1Turn in revised proposal to Dr. Wicktor: April 4Hand in revised proposal: April 7 Annotate two sources per day: April 1-4Complete reading research: April 4-6Draft annotations: April 5Meet with Dr. Wicktor: April 8Turn in three complete annotations: April 8Continue drafting annotated bibliography April 8-13Turn in complete draft of annotated bibliography to Dr. Wicktor: April 14Draft progress report: April 10Meet with Dr. Wicktor to discuss progress: April 15Turn in progress report and annotated bibliography: April 17Draft abstract: April 22Meet with Dr. Wicktor to discuss abstract: April 22Turn in completed abstract: April 24Create presentation: April 26Complete presentation: April 29Presentations begin: May 1

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Working Bibliography Alsup, Janet. “Introduction: Identification, Actualization, or Education: Why Read YAL?”

Young Adult Literature and Adolescent Identity Across Cultures and Classrooms. Ed. Janet Alsup. New York: Routledge, 2010. 1-16. Print. Beavis, Catherine. “The Literary and Artistic Merit of the Graphic Text as New Textual Genre

and Hybrid Literary/artistic Form.” Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Au-thority (2013): 1-8. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by Page, Panel by Panel. Ed. James Bucky Carter. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 2007. Print. Carter, James Bucky. "Going Graphic." Educational Leadership 66.6 (2009): 68-72. Edu-cation Source. Web. 4 Apr. 2014.Carter, James Bucky. "Graphic Novels, Web Comics, And Creator Blogs: Examining Product

And Process." Theory Into Practice 50.3 (2011): 190-197. Education Source. Web. 4 Apr. 2014.Clark, J. Spencer. “Encounters with Historical Agency: The Value of Nonfiction Graphic Novels

in the Classroom. The History Teacher 46.4 (2013): 489-509. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. Ching, Hii Sii, and Fong Soon Fook. “Effects of Multimedia-based Graphic Novel Presentation

on Critical Thinking Among Students of Different Learning Approaches.” The Turkish Online Journal of Education Technology 12.4 (2013): 56-67. Web. 31 Mar.

2014. Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition. Ed. Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler. Trans. Susan Massotty. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1995. Print.George, Marshall A. “What’s the Big Idea? Integrating Young Adult Literature in the Middle

School.” AdLit.org. All About Adolescent Literacy, 2001. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Gibbons, Louel C., Jennifer S. Dail and Joyce B. Stallworth. “Young Adult Literature in the

English Curriculum Today: Classroom Teachers Speak Out.” The ALAN Review (2006): 53-61. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Kaywell, Joan, Ed. Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics.

Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon, 1993. Print. Maloch, Beth and Randy Bomer. “Informational Texts and the Common Core Standards: What

Are We Talking About, Anyway?” Language Arts 90.3 (2013): 205-213. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. Nakazawa, Keiji. Barefoot Gen. Trans. Project Gen. San Francisco, CA: Last Gasp of San

Francisco, 2004. Print. Roberts, Mike. “Teaching Young Adult Literature.” English Journal 102.1 (2012): 92-95.

Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Sankey, Michael, Dawn Birch and Michael Gardiner. “Engaging students through multimodal

learning environments: The journey continues.” Curriculum, Technology $ Transformation for an Unknown Future (2010): 852-63. Web. 4 Apr. 2014.

Storm Fink, Lisa. “Literature Circles: Getting Started.” Readwritethink.org. IRA/NCTE, 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. Spiegelman, Art. Maus. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1973. Print. Wiesel, Elie. Night. Trans. Marion Wiesel. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1972. Print.

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