After reading Nat Turner I really feel that there are a variety of ways to teach graphic novels in the classroom. I feel the graphic novel could be used to teach a variety of different literary terms and ideas—metaphor, flow of a story, narrative tradition, muli-genre forms, and so many other ideas.
I think in my classroom I would really like to teach a graphic novel in conjunction with a more traditional work. Not that I could teach Nat Turner, but if I could I think it would be good to teach it with other slave narratives. I really think could enhance the students’ learning process to be able to read a typical text and then to see a similar experience through a graphic novel.
I suppose as a media teacher it would seem likely that I would promote the use of different forms of media/literature for the classroom. I think the greater variety of materials we present to our students the better they can interpret anything we throw at them. I also think it forces students to look more deeply into all the things around them. I think teaching graphic novels could expand the way students look at books and other literary materials. I believe who is to say what is literature? If material has something someone can learn from it why can’t it be taught?
I think graphic novels would be an interesting way to teach different forms of writing to students. They could play Ivanhoe by rewriting portions of the graphic novel in the same style.
I am very excited about all the possibilities that graphic novels open up in the classroom and I look forward to finding more to read that may connect with lesson plans through out the year.