Target Audience: Kindergarten – 5th grade students
Instructional Design Process: ADDIE method
Analysis – The objective of our lesson is to teach students about the essential agreements in the library during media orientation. The essential agreements cover book care, library manners, checkout and book return.
Design - Orientation will be a group conversation followed by a reading of the book The Library Dragon and a discussion about the comic. The comic will be shown on the interactive board and then passed out on bookmarks for the students to take with them. The lesson will be completed within their first 45-minute weekly block.
Development – The following week, the students will enter the media center and return their books to the book drop. The librarian and teacher will observe this happening. At the beginning of the lesson, the students will review the importance of returning their books to the book drop.
Implementation – The procedures for book checkout and return will be reviewed the first month of classes. The students will come up with their own essential agreements for this process. Once all classes have participated, the librarian will post the most common essential agreements near the circulation desk.
Evaluation – Throughout the year, the librarian will assess how many books have been returned to the shelf instead of the book drop. If the amount is excessive, the librarian will review the essential agreements and the comic during the weekly lesson.
Lesson: All students are required to go through media center orientation every year. The purpose of orientation is to review the procedures in the library. Once orientation is complete, open checkout may commence. During orientation, the librarian will use the comic to demonstrate proper checkout procedures as well as help students become more independent in the library.
Using comics and graphic novels in the classroom is important. Many teachers tend to shy away from this type of literature. In my experience, a lot of them do not consider graphic novels real books or books that will help with reading goals. Using comics in any lesson boosts engagement as well as generates an interest in reading and helps them to think critically while discovering a new genre. This is true for all classrooms.
In creating this comic, we used the following multimedia principals:
Personalization principle: The comic is presented in a conversational style. This is a realistic portrayal of an informal conversation that takes place between librarian and student. Students will have an easier time relating to this comic because of the simple narration.
Multimedia Principle: The comic employs words and pictures in comic format to engage students about a routine but important task in the library.
We also used the following visual elements:
Color: the bright primary colors of the comic draws in the reader.
Shape/Form: Many of the shapes used in the comic are inorganic: circles, squares and rectangles that triggers the instant recognition that the comic takes place in a library.
Line: The lines of the arrow draw your eye upward toward the bookshelves, which is heavily mentioned in the narration of the comic.
Definitions:
Comic: Usually, a serialized story that is told continuously with words and pictures and recurring characters.
Graphic Novel: Usually, a self-contained story with a beginning and an end, also told with words and pictures.
Cartoon: A cartoon is a single frame drawing trying to communicate a certain idea (political or humorous).
The main difference between these three types of visual literacy is their length. A comic is usually read as a strip (maybe 4 -6 panels) in a newspaper or as a collection in a book. Usually comics continue with a story in different strips. A graphic novel is a book that contains an entire story written and drawn in panels. The story has a beginning and an end. A graphic novel may have a sequel or be in a series, but it otherwise isn’t continuous. A cartoon is usually just a one-panel drawing that communicates a simple message.
I enjoyed this assignment as it allowed us to dive deeper into the world of comics and graphic novels all while using our creativity. It was somewhat challenging to learn a new website and to come up with a good idea to use with students. Graphic novels are such a big hit with my students. I think it’s important to try and incorporate this type of visual literacy into more of my lessons. Students would love to create their own comics using the website we used, storybookthat.com. They could create comics about anything they are learning about in science or social studies. Or, they could create one about the dictionary or the research process!