Children's literature & Literacy

For this week’s readings, our authors grappled with the concept of what counts as children’s literature. Graphic novels, technology, and people’s perspectives on children’s literature were discussed. While each article asked and attempted to answer some very complex questions, I was most impacted by Brigid Alverson’s discussion of graphic novels’ place in children’s literature.

Her article, “Teaching with Graphic Novels,” impacted my own future teaching as a Special Education teacher. In one section, she described all of the vocabulary building that occurs when a child reads a graphic novel. I will be able to use this for my students with lower reading levels and learning disabilities to help improve their internal dictionaries and decoding abilities while simultaneously improving comprehension.

This recent rise of graphic novels in public schools may actually aide in improving our students’ literacy levels. With the new multi-modal learning approach becoming more popular, it seems like the promotion of graphic novels, a genre that mixes modalities, should become ever more accepted in schools.

I hope to gain the ability to know how to incorporate literature in my future classroom, whether its how to choose books for my class library or which books work best for enforcing literacy. I also hope to walk away with the knowledge and skill set necessary to analyze and teach elements of literature in my future classroom. Children’s literature has always fascinating so I hope to gain even more appreciation for the genre.