HI,
I just got out of my grade twelve workplace class and WOW!!!!! We looked at the Saturday Comics. We talked about them, and what sorts of things they liked. It was a fantastic discussion!! And then we went to task on picking out five comics each in the various issues that I've saved over the last year. They had to write about what they liked in each of them, what was funny and was there a deeper meaning in them? ie. a hidden message. The students were able to see inner meaning. It was to say the least COOL! I'm still not very happy with the notion of "funny", and I think I need to work on a rubric or scale for that sort of thing to make it easier, but that will be next week. They also had to look at the sort of audience that would read it and I got them to start realizing that importance of artwork or pictures versus the role of dialogue or key words. The final sort of analysis was whether or not they actually liked the comic.
The other thing that I forgot to mention was from the movie Dangerous Minds and the scene about the kids starting out with an 'A' as opposed to earning one. After all, some would say that it is harder to hold onto an 'A' than to rise to the level of one. The carrot worked within the movie, and I faintly remember thinking that sort of thing years ago when I was in teacher's college. So, in fit of whimsy I pulled it out of thin air and told the kids that the graphic novel unit was one where each kid had a solid mark in the 'A's' and it was up to them to hang onto it. We also had a discussion about the issue. Most had not had a super mark since about grade six. Self-esteem was definitely an issue and most still truly wanted one.
Now I know that the mark concept is a behaviour modifier, both for the students and the teacher. Well, it has worked so far for this unit and I guess my job is to work to maintain the level of cooperation and energy in the classroom. Their's of course is to hang onto their newfound marks. Maureen, my practising educational assistant was also blown out of the water by their participation and eagerness to succeed. These students were not the ones who entered the class in September, but then again, maybe they were. Maybe they wanted me to change, perhaps getting away from a content foreign to them like Death of a Salesman and returning to something that they read when they are working the long shifts at the local lumbermart or gas station is the approach to go. Familiarity doesn't always breed contempt. In this case, comics opened up a whole new way of proving that they can see inner meaning and success.
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