I really enjoyed this book. I had never really read a comic before (besides the ones in the paper), so I wasn't sure what an entire book based on that would be like to read. I thought it was very good and I think that it has many good aspects that can be used to teach with. I like the idea of dealing with stereotypes which goes right along with Monster, but I also like the idea of maybe teaching the students how to write their own comic. One of the things that we are discussing in my Methods class is that we shouldn't be to worried about what our students are writing about as long as they are writing. Of course there are boundaries to that, but I think that if writing comics is what gets students to write, then that's ok.
I thought that the article that we read was interesting, as well, although there were a few points that were a little questionable to me. When he discussed that " students won't explore their place in and influnce on society if they aren't confident writers in the first place" (8). I don't know if I completely agree with this, because I don't think that people have to be confident writers to be successful in society. I felt like he was saying that if you don't writer confidently, you won't be confident in your life. Writing may not be that important to many people, but that's doesn't mean that they aren't confident in their life now.
I also didn't the the part where he said that if there is a negative connotation spoken to a person (for example their race), they shouldn't be worried about it, because that shows more about the other person than them themselves. Although this may be true in a way, I still think that it will upset them. When someone is being called a name that makes fun of their race, they are going to take offense to it. I know from personal experience when I was in Chicago, we were in a prodominately black neighborhood, and went to a Burger King. There were 6 of us and we were the only white people there. Most of them stared at us, but we even heard someone say, look at the snow bunnies. It makes you feel awkward, and that's not even as bad as he N- word (in my opinion). I just had a hard time with this part.
However, I did like that he had examples of other teachers at the beginning of the article. I thought it was neat to read the different ways that they taught.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree with what you said about the negative slurs and how we should just brush it off. I think that goes with the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." I don't know about the rest of you, but words really do hurt and stay with you. I'd rather get beat. Although what he says makes sense on paper, when emotions tie into it, for the most part people will be offended.
ReplyDeleteActivity Alert: I think it would be fun to have students create a brief comic strip that identifies them, or provides a scene from their lives that provides a piece of their identity. This could be a good activity to open a semester when you don't know the students and they don't know you.
ReplyDeleteI like that idea. I think students could have a lot of fun with that. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLove the comic book writing idea! The only thing I would mention is giving people an option to play on their strengths. Similar to what we did in our activity in our group teach, I think options are really important. If a student HATES to draw but likes to write, they could write it in short story form (or non-fiction short essay?) so that they aren't completely turned off by the drawing aspect. I speak from experience :) - I hate drawing and would have freaked out in class if a teacher said "draw a comic" because I'd be too aware of the fact that it would not come out well drawing-wise, that I wouldn't focus on the writing at all, and might not even turn something in. But the idea that kids who DO love to draw and love comics would have the opportunity to express themselves in that form is a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you and Paige. Words are powerful. They can be used to build up or tear down, and I'm sure that every person can remember an instance when they were attacked with words. We may know that someone's ignorance is the reason for their words, but it still causes doubt!
ReplyDeleteComic Life is a great program that is available on MAC computers. I use it in terms of students writing stories with themselves as main characters. They use the photo booth option on the MACs to take photos of themselves doing various things and input it into the comic strip. It's crazy, but fun.
ReplyDelete