Does the use of comics and graphic novels (hard copy and electronic) within the primary literacy curriculum undermine the values of the classroom or do they offer opportunities for learning?
The use of comics and graphic novels in the primary classroom has been an issue that has proceeded to bring multiple curiosities and alternate views among practitioners to light. It is worth considering also the benefits and limitations that hard copies versus digital copies of texts may have, and how this could affect the way in which we encourage our children to become familiar with the process of creating meaning from what they read.
It has been said by Millard and Marsh (2001) that some have expressed the concern that children who are choosing to read comics are denying themselves the opportunity to experience more nourishing material. However I feel that this view is somewhat stunted in that it does not consider the platitude of benefits that comics can have,specifically for a child who may find it difficult to create meaning from words alone. The addition of image to text for example in a comic may aid children who are, according to the Simple View of Reading (Hoover and Gough, 1990) finding comprehension of a text more difficult.
Alternatively, Stafford (2009) doesn't seem to have an issue with comic use in the classroom but merely suggests that 'when you are selecting comic books for use with children, it is also important to ensure that they are not presented with superhero titles only' and that we must be careful in terms of the suitablilty of the comics for the age range we are teaching. In addition to the view that we must consider suitability of comics for our children, it should be expressed that some that we may deem suitable from the outisde may still have elements that could be questionable. Senior (2008:p89) conveys the view that characters 'such as Wonder Woman are seen as sensational and explicitly sexual while in others, such as The Simpsons, the language is often crude and challenging towards authority.'
During the seminar session, myself my group discussed a comic called The Hitchhiker, a spooky comic for children. We found that actually, the content of the comic was inappropriate due to the quite scary nature of the images. However we did suggest that a comic such as this, or a page specifically chosen by the teacher that is the most appropriate may be useful as a discussion point to compare and contrast genres with older children.
It should be worth considering though, that encouraging children to be eager to experience a variety of texts should be the main goal if we want our children to read for pleasure according to the National Curriculum (DfE, 2013) The use of ICT for example using the app Comic Life may aid this as it gives children a variety of templates from which they can create their own comics, as well as allowing them to express their understanding of the features of a comic and how they affecw the reader. This app has been recommended by Jon Audain (2014) who says that it is 'a great way of introducing comic writing to children or presenting a story in a different way'. My comic, Super Shapes was created using an iPad which we used to take pictures of shapes and import into our comic amd apply text and themes.
I very much enjoyed using this app and feel that this would be a great addition to my Literacy toolbox.
Bibliography:
J.Audain.,(2014)The Ultimate Guide To Using ICT Across The Curriculum, London and New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
DfE (2013) Primary National Curriculum: English Programmes of Study: Key Stages 1 &2 [online] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335186/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_English_220714.pdf (Accessed 12.10.2014)
Hoover, W & Gough, P(1990) “The
Simple View of Reading”, Reading
and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2 (2) p127-60
Millard and Marsh (2001) 'Sending Minnie the Minx Home: comics and reading choices', Cambridge Journal of Education, 31:1, 25 - 38 .
Senior,C.,(2008)Getting the buggers to Read, London: Continuum.
Stafford,T (2009) Teaching Comics in Duncan, D. (2009) Teaching Children's Literature: Making Stories work in the classroom Abingdon: Routledge (pdf)
I completely agree with the fact that it is important to check the content of comics and graphic novels before bringing them into the classroom, not only for the worry of violence but also the academic side. A comic that may be suitable for a year 3 class may not be suitable to use in a year 6 class, as the content could be too simple in terms of vocabulary, genre etc. I noticed this when I looked at a Hello Kitty comic, this would be suitable for early years children but not for key stage 1 or 2.
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