Comic Book in the classroom ( 1 )

Today the focus in education is on enhanced student learning. Therefore all curriculum materials and teaching techniques are receiving careful review.
Just as education begins to emphasize standards and achievement, an innovative method of teaching reading and writing is catching steam. Recognizing that capturing the attention of young readers is an essential component of effective teaching practices, many teachers are turning to comic books as a tool to reach struggling readers as well as students who are new learners of the English language.
Though the initial reaction to the suggested process is that educators are simply lowering their educational standards and reinforcing lazy reading habits, it is easy to see why comic books have the potential to help readers. And if they help young readers become more fluent readers, then educators believe that critics should put away their negative pre-conceived notions and give comics a try.

Teaching Reading,

Because comic books are laid out in frames, it is very easy for readers to track a story. In fact, it is also easy for those readers to both jump ahead and back as a story develops. In addition, the fact that each frame contains some text and a picture makes it much easier for readers to grasp and contextualize a story. Ultimately, the limited text in each frame is beneficial to those for which reading is a challenge.
Therefore comics are very appealing to those readers who are intimidated by and/or frustrated with long text passages. The pictures in the frames of course also add many visual cues to the story line helping students better understand the critical literary points of the story.
Those who advocate the use of comic books state succinctly: “The goal of any good teacher is to educate, even if the method seems unconventional.” Therefore if comics improve reading skills they should become a part of a teacher’s reading tool kit.