Comics and Graphic Novels are POWerful!

Comic books in classrooms have only become widely accepted within the last decade. The use of comic books as a part of classroom curriculum is still being studied for its efficacy in helping students improve in areas such as literacy, information retention, connection to fellow students and helping to express their own narrative in school. Studies done on classrooms that use comic books for varying subjects have shown student increases in text comprehension, metacognition and a better connection to the topic being presented. Comic books have been stigmatized as a “lazy” or ineffective way to teach literacy. Now is the chance to change all of that. Lets bring comics as a part of multimodal literacy into classrooms and homes as part of a way to engage children in reading!

Bonus Tip: Comics, just like movies, television shows and music albums, are usually rated for their target audiences. Look for ones rated either “E” for Everyone or “T” for Teens and younger. A lot of comic book stores also have sections devoted to various age ranges.