Covid19 is changing how we teach as school's go online, and/or as some turn to homeschooling, and/or pod teaching and traditional classroom strategies don't work. These new teaching venues pose challenges for structuring "class" time, motivating, interacting, monitoring, engaging, and even the use of texts, structure and class design.
Join me and three other talented educators Talia Hurwich, Rachelle Cruz, and Laurence Tan as we detail and demonstrate how we've learned to incorporate comics into online classrooms via Comic-Con@ Home.
NOTE: This post includes:
Our Comic-con@Home "Teaching Graphic Novels Online" panel (right below).
A link to our slide presentation (including MORE information than is on the video: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nvlQARLfQVvze3wDISXtiSXPmxC5G-zHw2QSYANkfVs/edit
A brief summary of panel highlights and MORE information than is on the video (as our time sadly ran out).
As we note in our video, we're all still trying to figure it out and while we have some really awesome tips, we'd love to hear from you and keep this community, venue, and forum going. So please send us your questions and/or comments via the "Contact Us" link (https://www.meryljaffe.com/contact).
Panel Highlights
Online teaching is different from classroom teaching.
The traditional classroom/lesson structures don't work well online because:
We can't use our physical presence to help keep our students in their seats (or focused).
We also cannot control distractions students themselves may have in their homes/rooms.
As a result we need to:
Intersperse bursts of directed teaching, student activities (projects, group work, discussions, etc.), and student interactions - while monitoring student engagement and participation.
We also have to be more flexible in terms of the tools and resources we use. We spend most of our time on this video discussing resources and the tools we've had to develop, find, and use.
Comics are a great resource because:
Their images, fonts, colors and page/panel design elements make us stop to think and process.
Research indicates that all types of learners/readers/students find them meaningful, motivating, and engaging.
You can buy one digital copy that can be used easily online, with close ups, panel highlights and so much more.
We are all learning how to navigate these times with new tools, techniques - we hope this video and post helps us expand our community as we share our resources and what we are learning about them.
The video has loads of resources from all of us but we have more so please stay in touch!
CNN iReport Post-Panel Interview
Chris Morrow at CNN iReport contacted me and Talia Hurwich after our panel. For for our 'post-game' interview please check it out:
Let's continue this conversation. I'd love to hear from you - with your ideas, questions, comments. You can log in and leave a comment or just go to the "contact" prompt and leave it there. I look forward to hearing from you.