With visual media production and consumption on the rise, educators from the
elementary grades through college are finding it increasingly vital to work with
visual texts in their classrooms and to offer their students opportunities to
read and to represent ideas visually. The growing popularity of manga, comic
art, and graphic novels among readers of all ages, and particularly among
adolescents, and the growing credibility of comic art and graphica as
literature, has fueled a movement dedicated to bringing comic art into content
area and literacy-rich classrooms.
The New England Comic Arts in the Classroom conference offers K-12 teachers and
preservice teachers an introduction to bringing the richness of comic art and
graphic novels into their classrooms as well as specific strategies to
incorporate sequential art and visual storytelling into their literacy-based
curriculum.
We welcome two outstanding keynote speakers for this inaugural conference: Raina
Telgemeier, author and creator of Smile, a true story “sure to resonate with
anyone who has ever been in middle school, and especially those who have ever
had a bit of their own dental drama,” and Dr. Michael Bitz, Executive Director
of The Comic Book Project, an arts-based literacy and learning initiative funded
by the non-profit Center for Educational Pathways and Dark Horse Comics. The
goal of The Comic Book Project is to help children forge an alternative pathway
to literacy by writing, designing, and publishing original comic books.
In addition to the two keynote addresses, the conference will also offer
smaller, professional development workshops by K-16 educators. We expect to
offer two sessions of one-hour workshops during the morning, and participants
will choose from a menu of offerings.
Participants will enjoy a continental breakfast and lunch.
For further information, contact Dr. Jennifer Cook (jcook@ric.edu) or Michael
Gianfrancesco (michaelg@necac.net)