Dr. Katie Monnin, an assistant professor of literacy at the University of North Florida, has been an outspoken proponent of graphic novels in the classroom, citing their synthesis of text and image as a way to bridge multiple literacy skills and prepare readers for 21^st Century media comprehension. She is also author of the upcoming book Teaching Graphic Novels: Practical Strategies for the Secondary ELA Classroom from Maupin House. We spoke to Katie about graphic novels and their place in “the greatest communication revolution of all time.”

BookShelf: What made you aware of the educational potential of comics and graphic novels?

Katie Monnin: I would have to say that wanting to reach out to younger readers and validate their interest, choice, motivation and schema for comics and graphic novels made me aware of their value. In other words, I wish someone would have done this for me as a young reader. In fact, I find it ironic that over twenty-five years after Gardner’s theory on multiple intelligences we still tend to place too much value on print-text literacy learners. The theory of multiple intelligences would tell us that there are other types of literacy learners in our classrooms, and that we should reach out to them too. Comics and graphic novels reach out to both verbal-linguistic learners and visual-spatial learners simultaneously.

BookShelf: You are in the process of completing a book about graphic novels and secondary ELA instruction. What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

Katie Monnin: I hope that readers will take away two primary ideas from Teaching Graphic Novels. First, I hope that they will come away with a better, more appreciative understanding for why we should value comics and graphic novels in the classroom. Second, I hope that they come away with some concrete reading strategies that they can actually take into their classrooms, some practical, teacher-friendly strategies that align to the standards and to their students’ interests.

BookShelf: In Teaching Graphic Novels, you discuss applications of comics in teaching across several categories: fiction, nonfiction and language learning, to name a few. Is there something about graphic novels that makes them ideal teaching tools in any category? Or are different attributes of graphic novels applicable to teaching different subjects?

Katie Monnin: Comics and graphic novels are ideal teaching tools not because they are relevant to any given subject (even though they are!), but because they are one of the only genres of text that address what it means to be a young reader growing up during the greatest communication revolution of all time.

Modern teachers and students are living during a time in history when how we read, write, and communicate has changed, globally. Advancements in technology have brought image literacies front and center stage, alongside print-text literacies. Image literacies and print-text literacies now share the stage, and to be a literate member of today’s society you must be a competent reader of both. Everywhere we go, everything we do, seems to activate our literate knowledge of images and print-text literacies together. From seeing billboards along the side of the road, to sending email over the computer, to listening to and viewing our iPods, to going to a movie, and even to reading modern textbooks, images and print-text literacies are all around us. The graphic novel is one way that teachers can help students be more competent readers of both print-text and image literacies, thus I see the graphic novel as the primary literacy learning tool that will help modern students become modern readers.

BookShelf: What sort of material do you look for in terms of graphic novels to use in the classroom?

Katie Monnin: When Will Eisner wrote A Contract with God in the 1970s he coined the term “graphic novel.” His intention in writing the first graphic novel (and coining that term) was to show people that an image-based story could operate on the same literary level as canonical, print-text literature. Thus, adopting the styles and conventions of traditional, canonical, print-text literature (like deep development of theme, characterization, plot, setting and so on) he added the element of images, proving that images and print-text could work together on a literary level. So, when I look for graphic novels to use in the classroom, I look for those that really tell a good, literary-level story. 

Teaching Graphic Novels will be available this fall from Maupin House.
www.maupinhouse.com/monnin.php
ISBN-13: 978-1-934338-40-7

To learn more about Katie Monnin and Teaching Graphic Novels, visit teachinggraphicnovels.blogspot.com.