The graphic novel version of the play, in my opinion, adds much to experience of reading a Shakespeare play, while taking little, if anything at all, away. Students are given a much fuller experience of the play than plain text version would allow. Some would argue that the graphic novel version of a text removes the imagination aspect of reading, however, we must remember that the play was meant to be seen, not read. — Alex Kaulfuss, Visualizing Literacy: Determining the Impact of Graphic Novels in the English Classroom on Reading Comprehension.
Sequential art may never have had its day in the sun or chance in the classroom were it not for the digital age. With digital, the image reclaimed the dominance as a mode for meaning. Sequential art and digital technology bring new possibility to the teaching of literature for young adults.
Educator and philosopher, Maxine Greene, often spoke as “teaching as possibility” and she advocated for “a
vision of art as a means to awaken each of us to how we respond to the world.”
Opening up new modes and tools for expression, communication, and collaboration provide us with more possibility than ever before to personalize the education of each student and prepare them to see and realize their own possibilities. And with this realization of improved social futures comes the possibility of a better world for us all.
This week we continue our ongoing Collaborative Critical Inquiry: What is literacy? What is literature? What might a literacies-based teaching of literature for young adults look like.
Do consider as you research and engage in critical reflection this week how integrating digital technologies into the teaching of literature for young adults will bring new possibility and challenge . . .
The Bookhenge 
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