Graphic Novels in the Classrooom
Gene Yang

At my first student teaching placement in Brooklyn I did a science unit project over a month. Towards the end, rather than testing them formally I gave students the options of creating a poem, rap, dance, drawing, skits, ABC book, just about anything they wanted to do. This project took more time than anticipated but it was well worth it. One of my students created a science vocabulary comic book. It was the best work I had seen from that student since I had been in his classroom. I made a copy of it because I thought it was such a neat idea and plan to use it as an example in my future classrooms. I now always include comic books as a form of graphic novels for assessment options.

“It doesn’t matter how quickly I ‘say’ the lecture. What matters is how fast you choose to read it! That rate of information-transfer is firmly in your control!”

Yangs idea of handing out “comic lectures” is a great idea. Growing up I struggled with reading and was rarely engaged because of the style of lessons that my teachers presented. As I was reading I started to wonder about how much I would have benefited from graphic novels. Some college classes are still a struggle because I am visual learner and can’t always follow at the rate a professor gives information. I’m interest to see how successful these comic lesson plans are. Hopefully they will be used in more and more classrooms and fit to the curriculum, many students would benefit from this.

Islamic Art is so interesting!! When I studied abroad I learned a lot of about the geometrical patterns of Islamic art. I was fortunate enough to see many Islamic art pieces and buildings that were designed with Islamic art. The most incredible piece that I saw was the Alhambra in Granada, Spain (picture). I spent hours looking at the architecture and all the tiny art details that surrounded me. I was able to make some connections to what I have learned about the principles of Islamic Art and what was mentioned in the article. Islamic Art is so interesting because some people find the repetition or symmetry to be simple maybe even boring but after learning about the Islamic art process I am able to appreciate each individual part as their own art piece.

Islamic Art can be connected to many areas in the classroom, social studies, history, math, science, etc. I recently just taught a symmetry lesson and after reading this article I’m tempted to teach a mini lesson on Islamic art and history and use the students examples in the lesson. The workshop described in the article explains how students quickly noticed many math concepts. Workshops like this leave long-lasting impressions on students because they are so authentic and learning not only about school but about themselves and peers. There were many activity examples, photos, and museum pieces which are great resources for the futures. Some of the activities show continuous circles or triangles and the end result is so neat and interesting to look at. It would be a great activity or lesson to show students who ‘don’t enjoy’ art or ‘are not good’ at art because it can show them that something as simple as overlapping circles can turn out to be a creative art piece.

Rube Goldberg – Inspired Drawings of How Art Is Made by Thomas A. Oakley
“What impressed me about this project was that while it is a relatively easy lesson to present, the final results will be with the students for a long time” (Oakley).

Websters dictionary defines Rube Goldberg as a comically involved, complicated invention laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation. I find comfort in the way people like Goldberg think, he uses such intense, complicated, well thought plans and ideas to describe or create a simple function. Many people can create the same outcome as Goldberg but it is his creative and long process that makes his work stand out.

The article describes how ‘good’ many students (nontraditional students) are at art. Struggling through an art project or any project isn’t always a bad thing, it is important for teachers to notice these struggles and to stay away from frustration but when we are able to get into the minds of how children think we are able to produce more creative outcomes.

I love how children can explain something in such a complicated and detailed manner but in the end it makes sense and it paints a picture of what that student is thinking or seeing. I also find it interesting how children explain things short and simple and many adults take that simple answer and fail to ask further questions. Many times what a student sees in their head isn’t always the same as how they would write or explain it.