Celebrate Teen Read Week!
from NCTE INBOX 10-11-11
Be part of Teen Read Week 2011 -- Picture It @ your library -- Oct. 16-22. One of the slogans for Teen Read Week 2011 is "If I can read it, I can picture it!" Students are encouraged to read about movies, photography, cartooning, and graphic novels. The following resources from ReadWriteThink.org and NCTE support this year's theme.
The term graphic novel was coined in 1964 by comic book fan Richard Kyle. He made an insightful distinction in the Council Chronicle (G), saying, "Graphics do not 'illustrate' the story; they are the story. . . . In the graphic story, the entire universe and all the senses are portrayed graphically."
Did you know that Language Arts published one of the first scholarly articles in graphic novel format in January 2008? That issue included Gene Yang's "Graphic Novels in the Classroom" (E-M), identified by Yang as "an essay in panels."
Jane Yolen, the award-winning author of more than 300 books, shares her writing process and invites us to understand the differences between writing for picture books, writing narratives, and collaborating on a graphic novel, as she experienced while writing her first graphic novel, Foiled (M).
In the ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan "Fantastic Characters: Analyzing and Creating Superheroes and Villains" (M), students analyze and discuss familiar superheroes and supervillains to expand their understanding of character types and conventions. 
Tune in to the Text Messages podcast episode to hear some background about graphic novels as well as specific recommendations of fantasy epics, memoirs, biographies, and adventure thriller stories, all presented in the form of a graphic novel (M-S).
In the On Demand Web seminar "Mapping Words and Images: Writing Graphic Novels with Adolescents," the presenters describe how they use the graphic novel to get their students writing authentic, personal, and creative texts (M-S).
NCTE's Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by Page, Panel by Panel, a collection of essays by classroom teachers, demonstrates how to pair graphic novels with classic literature (including both canonical and YA lit) in ways that enrich students' understanding of both and that thoroughly engage them in literacy. See more in the lesson plan "The Comic Book Show and Tell" (S).
Each chapter of Teaching YA Lit through Differentiated Instruction (S) opens with an introduction to and description of a different popular genre or award category of YA lit -- science fiction, realistic teen fiction, graphic novels, Pura Belpré award winners, nonfiction texts, poetry, historical YA fiction -- and then offers suggestions within that genre for whole-class instruction juxtaposed with a young adult novel more suited for independent reading or small-group activities.
Want more on using film in the classroom? NCTE Consultant John Golden has published two books: Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English Classroom (2001) (M-S) and Reading in the Reel World: Teaching Documentaries and Other Nonfiction Texts (2006) (M-S).
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