Teachers
Graphic Novel Resources for Educators
As an educator you can utilize the Get Graphic! website to learn more about graphic novels, investigate booklists, explore graphic novel news and information, and learn about graphic novel related events around Western New York. Our Get Graphic! blog offers a place to exchange ideas and see what others are reading, and our Contact list allows you to communicate with someone from the Get Graphic project for assistance in how to best utilize our website and materials.
- Nationally, 24% of Eighth Graders scored below the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress standard of basic reading proficiency.
- Only 44% of graduating high school students who took the 2016 ACT met the college reading readiness benchmark.
- The average 15-24 year old American spends over 2 hours a day watching television, but only 9 minutes of their leisure time reading.
- The graduation rate for Buffalo city schools is only 64% as of 2016.
- Locally, 30% of adults operate at minimal literacy. Countywide, 20% of all adults operate at minimal literacy.
Graphic Novels can be an important part of both educational and leisure reading for students of all ages. Graphic novels are astoundingly popular with kids and young adults, and can be as simple or complex as any other literature.
Reading graphic novels:
- Engages reluctant readers & ESL students.
- Increases reading comprehension and vocabulary.
- Can serve as a bridge between low and high levels of reading.
- Provides an approach to reading that embraces the multimedia nature of today's culture, as 2/3 of a story is conveyed visually.
- Provides scaffolding for struggling readers.
- Can serve as an intermediary step to more difficult disciplines and concepts.
- Presents complex material in readable text.
- Helps students understand global affairs.
- Helps to develop analytical and critical thinking skills.
- Offers another avenue through which students can experience art.
Graphic Novel Workshop Resources
- Powerpoint Presentation
- Graphic Novels in Middle & High School Classrooms - What & Why (pdf)
- Teaching Strategies for Graphic Novels (pdf)
- Articles, Books and Authors (pdf)
- Reliable Sources for J GN Collection Development (pdf)
- What a Real Teen Says -- High School Student Martin Kilroy on Graphic Novels (pdf)