ECI 306 Middle Years Reading: Getting Graphic : weblog

Wednesday Apr 23, 2008

Graphic Nonfiction Review

Graphic Novel - Marie Curie and Radioactivity

1. This graphic novel is about the life of Marie Curie and her discovery of radioactivity and the elements radium and polonium. This book is sort of like a comic strip with ?bubbles? telling the story from the character?s point of view, and it also has boxes with facts throughout the story.

2. I feel the major strength of this book is that it isn?t a textbook. It tells the story of Marie Curie in a way that students can learn in a more entertaining way.

3. The major weakness of this book is that students may perceive it as being too ?babyish? for them.

4. This book goes along with the 8^th Grade Science Standard Course of Study. This book could also be used with Sixth Grade Social Studies Competency Goal 7 that ?assesses connections between historical events and contemporary issues since Marie Curie helped France in the war.

5. The book does a great job of displaying the facts in a more entertaining way. It will be a great way of breaking up the normal text readings.

6. I believe that students would not take this assignment seriously because they may perceive it as childish. I would recommend that teachers use this book during class to be sure that students actually read it. I think that some of the students may not want to admit it, but they will enjoy this reading because it is like a Superman comic book.

7. I would definitely recommend this book. I think that students could definitely respond to this book in a positive way because it is a different form of learning the material.

-Deanna Godbout

Posted at 11:44PM Apr 23, 2008 by Deanna Godbout in Graphic Nonfiction Reviews | Comments[0]

Graphic Nonfiction Title Review by Laura Smith

Summary: This graphic novel highlights Elizabeth Cady Stanton?s struggle for women?s rights. Starting at the age of eleven, Elizabeth couldn?t understand why there were no laws allowing women to vote. She met Lucretia Mott in 1840 and they held a Women?s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Mott introduced her to Susan B. Anthony, who she worked closely with until her death. Stanton and Anthony spoke about rights for both slaves and women, but their main focus was female suffrage. They founded the National Woman Suffrage Association and Stanton served as president. Stanton took a brave stand speaking about women?s rights, and her hard work paid off when the United States finally granted women the right to vote 18 years after she died.There were four chapters and they each reflected important segments in Elizabeth?s life. There were bright illustrations on all of the pages and they keep the reader interested in the story.

Strengths: The story is easy to read and is presented in an entertaining way. It is hard to remember that you?re reading about important historical characters and events because you really get into the story. I also liked how the book provided vocabulary terms at the end of the story.

Weaknesses: I do not think there are any weaknesses.

Content Area Connections: This would be a good book to use in an eighth grade English class. It would follow these DPI competency goals:

-Goal 2: The learner will explore and analyze information from a variety of sources.

-Goal 5: The learner will respond to various literary genres using interpretive and evaluative processes.

Addressing Content: I could do a unit on biographies and we could read this biography about Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It covers her life from the age of eleven until 92 and all of the accomplishments she achieved. A biography would be one type of literary genre that the students could analyze. It also addressed issues that the students would be learning about in North Carolina history, such as the Civil War and women?s rights.

Students: I think that students would respond well to this book because it is easy to read and has a lot of illustrations. I?m sure that they would prefer to read this instead of a boring textbook.

Recommendation: I would definitely recommend this graphic novel to other teachers. I wasn?t sure how well I was going to like graphic novels at first, but I have come to realize that they are really interesting and fun. It will encourage students to learn about history.

Posted at 11:38PM Apr 23, 2008 by Laura Ashley Smith in Graphic Nonfiction Reviews | Comments[0]

Graphic Novel Title

My Graphic Novel Title is Runaways Vol. 1 by Brian K Vaughan.

Seems cool! I'll let you know how it turns out (may have to read all three volumes to get the entire story, though).

Review:
1. Summary: Six teenagers come together in a fight to save the world from their Supervillian parents. They use their owns gifts of magic, superhero gadgets, and spell casting to try to infiltrate their parents' plans. Something goes awry and one the teens dies (due to his betrayal to the Runaways). By the end of the story members of the group have left (either by death, choice, or theft) and other groups have come to the aid of the Runaways, leaving you on edge until you read the rest of the trilogy.

2. The strengths of the novel include the artwork and plot. Since the novel was created by Marvel Comics, the graphics are pretty awesome. The story itself was great due to the twists and turns that were involved.

3. A weakness of the novel is that some of the events seem unbelievable (it's a comic about superheroes, so that's to be expected, I guess).

4. & 5. This novel is like a futuristic version of The Outsiders, so I would use it for 7th grade Language Arts. This novel could be used to teach students how to infer and make predictions. It could also be used to teach them about different genres of literature and how to analyze what they are reading.

6. I think that students will love this book because they would be getting to read a comic book for school (something many of them probably wouldn't think they were able to do). Since the book is focused on teenagers and the difficulties they face with building their morals, I think students would identify with this because they are usually having to make a decision between what is right and what is cool.

7. I would recommend this book, but I would be cautious about the content (a girl being sacrificed, teenage love, etc.)--so I would probably seek approval by the principal and see if he/she thinks that a permission slip should be signed before the students are allowed to read it.

~Malissa Braxton

Posted at 09:38PM Apr 23, 2008 by Malissa Braxton in Graphic Novel Reviews | Comments[0]

Review of The Arrival

Graphic Novel Review

Shaun Tan takes his readers on an adventure on the sole basis of letting the reader decide his/her interpretation of the book. His graphic novel, The Arrival is made up entirely of pictures that are strategically placed in such a way to secure the meaning of the story. The graphics in this book are amazing, they invoke the emotions of the characters within and transmit that emotion to whom ever is reading. Shaun Tan has a great talent of illustrating the issues important in today?s society through the depiction within his books. His graphics allow young readers to gain a better understanding of certain complex issues that surround them even if they are not fully aware of the issues. The story takes the reader on the journey of an immigrant who has left his family and everything that is familiar to him and come to a foreign land. The Arrival shows the very real issue of immigration through the eyes of an immigrant and the strange world they see upon arrival to a new place. Unlike the stereotypical portrayal of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and the statue of liberty being figuratively lit up in the foreground with joyful expressions on the faces of immigrants as they arrive on a ship to America; this book shows a different reaction to coming to America, that of one where the immigrants are scared, alone, and unsure of what to expect.

The strength of this book is the manifestation of emotions that are invoked through pictures; Shaun Tan illustrates captivating pictures that in some cases speak louder than words. At first, I have to admit I was skeptical about whether or not there is an academic benefit to using graphic novels. However, after turning the pages of this book and grasping all the lessons that are learned, I was convinced that graphic novels are an untapped academic resource. I do not consider this a weakness, but I could see how some might, the fact that there are no words throughout the book cause reason to not use this book in the classroom. However, I feel this book would be a great resource in a classroom it encourages inferencing skills, helps students learn to make connections within a text, encourages creativity, helps students to understand another culture?s perspective, and many other educational opportunities.

I am going to use this book when I enter the classroom. I will be certified in both Language Arts/English and Social Studies, which I have a passion for both and this book is a great resource for each of those areas. This book would serve as a great window into the eyes and perspective of immigrants to any country, Social Studies covers the history of migration and gives the raw material behind the reason and results of migration. Children respond well to any subject that they can relate to their personal lives or experience an emotion related to the information learned. This book provides the opportunity for the students to couple the curriculum of immigrants to a new country with the feelings generated by a character in that situation, from his perspective. The Arrival is a multi-dimensional resource for Language Arts/English because the book has no words the only way to gain an understanding is to inference the meaning of the pictures. As the story progresses, the reader has to make connections based off of previous pictures to gain a greater understanding of the meaning. The Arrival provides a great chance for a teacher to incorporate a writing portion in correlation with the use of the book. Having the class translate the meaning of the graphics and put the book into words is a great way to give them a chance to be creative. An activity such as this would lead to a great culminating activity where students could to present his/her interpretation of what the book was about. Each interpretation would be unique in some way and it would lend the opportunity for a great interactive discussion.

One major theme in this book is the idea of belonging. Middle school students deal with this emotion on a daily basis. Giving students the opportunity to be engaged in a book that depicts an understanding of what they are going through on a personal level, is a great tool to connect to children while teaching them important information and skills that they will need to succeed in the future. Throughout life people are faced with feeling of wanting to belong and this book relates to how any person of any age might deal with that issue. This book helps to shed light on the fact that everyone has a different understanding of life and regardless of their background or beliefs, everyone deserves to treated as an equal and not be made to feel like an alien in a new world. Students will relate well to this topic because in middle school they are faced with this notion on a daily basis. By reading this book, it has the potential to open up a discussion to those feelings and give the students the opportunity to share times when they have felt both a sense of belonging as well as a sense of loneliness. Adolescents love to talk and to have the opportunity to share their feelings; this book gives them the chance to do that. After completing the reading of this book a great follow-up activity would be having the students write a narrative about times in their lives where they have felt similar to the main character in The Arrival.

This book should be used by both pre-service and in-service teachers. The Arrival would lend the opportunity for new teachers to understand the feeling of being nervous and not belonging. A pre-service/new teacher could implement this book in the classroom to engage students in the themes and issues that are addressed each of the pages. This book is a great resource to lead to an interactive discussion on the many themes found within the illustrations. Graphic novels are a great resource that needs to be facilitated in the classroom and all teachers should be open to implementing them into their curriculum.

Posted at 01:20AM Apr 23, 2008 by Allyson Spencer in Graphic Novel Reviews | Comments[0]