Reflection Essay

There was a lot to take away from this course about graphic novels. I won’t lie, I was skeptical at first. I didn’t understand what I would learn from this course. I didn’t know if I would even be able to apply any of it to my teaching career. My only hope was that we would read childish enough literature, so that I would have some books to bring in to my future classroom.

I quickly realized none of these books would be appropriate to use with elementary school students. However, I also quickly understood that I would be able to take some of the elements we have learned and apply it to my future teacher self.

To start off with, I think it was important that I learn that graphic novels are not only for children. I kind of touched on this a little earlier, but I originally thought of graphic novels as literature for little kids. I thought that the content always had to be directed towards elementary aged students. This clearly wasn’t the case. An adult can enjoy a graphic novel. It was nice to see my opinion change. Even as a younger student I thought of graphic novels as an “easier read.” I always thought my peers who were reading it were one’s who were weaker readers. The fact that the books had pictures in them made them lesser than the chapter books than I was reading. Obviously I learned that this isn’t true, because graphic novels can tackle heavy topics with mature content. Perhaps my chapter books were less advanced than the graphic novels I so quickly judged.

Another helpful thing that I learned in this class was how to create a thorough group discussion. This clearly will relate to my teaching career. However, the discussion questions that I created went more in depth with things than I have planned so far when working with younger age students. The process of creating discussion questions helped with my collaboration and leading skills. It was nice to lead a discussion with peers rather than students. While there are differences in both of these, they can relate to one another. I am thankful that this is one of the projects that was mandatory, because it can help everyone. However, as a future teacher, it can help me even more so.

I also learned a little bit more about analyzing. With my misconceptions coming in, I wondered how it would be different to “analyze” a graphic novel. Analyzing a graphic novel is different from analyzing a typical novel however. I realized that taking a more in-depth look at the imagery is important when analyzing graphic novels. The words are important, but there is a reason that images are put in to the graphic novels. This is something I definitely would’ve considered skipping right over towards the beginning of reading graphic novels. The size of the panels, the size of the images, the use of color, the shape of the panels, and so much more is important to what is trying to be said.

Overall, this course pleasantly surprised me. Frankly, I had really low expectations when I signed up for this course. I needed an english credit that hopefully wouldn’t be too difficult to finish off my senior year. I am glad that I didn’t suffer too much, but I actually was able to take away multiple aspects of the class. This is especially helpful as an incoming teacher.