Photo credit: Sam Howzit (CC-By-2.0)
Colorado Public Radio interviewed Colorado educator Jenn Anya Prosser who will lead a workshop called “Teaching with Comics and the Common Core” as part of Denver Comic Con next week.
“I think it can be used in almost every classroom. One of my favorite graphic novels currently is ‘Trinity,’ which is by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm. And he discusses the history of the atom bomb. He goes into the science behind it, the social sciences, who’s who, what’s going on in World War II and it could be applied to a science classroom or a history classroom.”
Look, I know for some boys in particular that comics is one of the few things they are willing to read. I would read comic books and enjoyed them, but I would have never imagined reading them in school. An introduction to good youth literature is what got me hooked on reading and I became an avid reader, and my kids have as well (two by the way have struggled with dyslexia and we didn’t overcome it with comic books). This is a fad that has no research behind it; much like the Common Core itself.
Besides with such an emphasis on informational text and getting kids “college and career-ready” how would this really fit in anyway? To use a Common Core advocate argument – in the real world students won’t be paid to read comic books. It would be much better for parents to use this as a literacy bridge at home to encourage their students to read than one implemented by the schools.
With the reduction of classical literature in the classroom this isn’t exactly a welcome trend.