Teaching “New Rhetorics ” with Graphic Novels

1. Teaching “New Rhetorics” withGraphic Novels Gretchen Schwarz Baylor University NAMLE Conference July, 2011

2. WhyRhetorics? The term rhetoric is much debated… + The media are multiple… Aristotle’s definition: the faculty of discovering in the particular case all the available means of persuasion

3. New/Multiple Literacies… Based on New London Group, and scholars like Kist, Lankshear & Knobel, and Tyner (and others)… “Today’s students must learn how to decode, understand, and create messages with many forms of print and nonprint media.” (p. 1, Literacy in a Multimedia Age by Adams and Hamm, 2001)

4. Visual (plus) Literacy in Composition “For students who have grown up in a technology-saturated and an image-rich culture, questions of communication and composition absolutely will include the visual, not as attendant to the verbal but as complex communication intricately related to the world around them.” ( D. George, p.32)

5. A Brief History of Visual in Persuasion The Bayeux Tapestry (@1077), ordered by some relative of William the Conqueror, gives the story of the Norman Conquest (from the Norman point of view).

6. The OrbisPictus(1658) by Comenius The first school textbook with pictures! Mostly informative… But children’s literature today…

7. The Broadside… 18th Century—politics, ads, and ballads…

8. The Political Cartoon

9. The graphic novel, in particular… In the USA • 1895 Outcault’sYellow Kid & newspaper comic strips (for the unwashed masses) • 1930’s birth of the comic book & Superman

10. And • 1950’s gore, Mad, and censorship (from The Crypt to Wertham)

11. AND THEN • 1960’s Underground comix (counterculture adults have something to say) A lot about themselves… and the war, etc.

12. NOW • 1990’s on—growth, critical acceptance, use in school (led by library media center specialists) Influence of the Internet, many movies, more publishers … part of popular culture… including nonfiction

13. Analyzing graphic novels http://motherjones.com/media/2010/11/comic-book-slideshow/01 *See my lists of persuasive graphic novels online (NAMLE)! Plus terms list.*

14. Some Scholarship & Resources --From communication studies , rhetoric and comp, literacy, education, ed. technology, etc. Adler, S. (2011). Silence in the graphic novel. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 2278-2285. Gillenwater, C. (2009). Lost literacy: How graphic novels can recover visual literacy in the classroom. Afterimage, 37(2), 33-36. George, D. (2002). From analysis to design: Visual communication in the teaching of writing. College Composition and Communication, 54(1), 11-39. Hassett, D. D., & Schieble, M. B. (2007). Finding space and time for the visual in K-12 instruction. English Journal, 97(1), 62-68.

15. Messaris, P. (1998). Visual aspects of media literacy. Journal of Communication, 48(1), 70-80. Natharius, D. (2004). The more we know, the more we see. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(2), 238-247. Rezabek, L. L. (2005) Why visual literacy: Consciousness and convention. TechTrends, 49(3), 19-20. Yancey, K. Blake. (2004). Made not only in words: Composition in a new key. College Composition and Communication, 56(2), 297-328.

16. http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/ http://Diamondcomics.com http://www.geneyang.com/comicsedu/print.html Various university sites including Mississippi State, Univ. of Wisconsin, etc.

17. Bitz, M. (2010). When commas meet Kryptonite. New York: Teachers College. Brummett, B. (2011, 3rd ed.). Rhetoric in popular culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Eisner, E. (1985). Comics & sequential art. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press. Frey, N., & Fisher, D. (Eds.) (2008). Teaching visual literacy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Groensteen, T. (2007). The system of comics. Jacksonville, MS: University of Mississippi.

18. Herrington, A., Hodgson, K., & Moran, C. (Eds.). (2009). Teaching the new writing. New York: Teachers College and the NWP. McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics. New York: HarperPerennial. Monin, K. (2010). Teaching graphic novels. Gainesville, FL: Maupin House. Murray, J. (2009). Non-discursive rhetoric. Albany, NY: SUNY. Tabachnik, S. (Ed.) (2009). Teaching the graphic novel. New York: MLA.

19. Urbanski, H. (Ed.). (2010). Writing and the digital generation. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. Varnum, R., & Gibbons, C. T. (2001). The language of comics. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. Versaci, R. (2007). This book contains graphic language: Comics as literature. New York: Continuum. Williams, B. T. (2009). Shimmering literacies. New York: Peter Lang.

20. There is a synergy between words and pictures in comics such that their combined effect is greater than or different from what might have been predicted. The Language of Comics, p. xiv

21. Creating Graphic NovelsA Few Resources • Slate, B. (2010). You can do a graphic novel. New York: Alpha Books. • Davila, V. (2004). How to draw graphic novels. New York: Tangerine (Scholastic). • McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics. New York: Harper. • Chinn, M. (2004). Writing and illustrating the graphic novel. New York: Barron Ed.

22. And online… http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/index.html • Comic Creator http://www.bitstrips.com/ • Bitstrips Wikihow, Turorials, YouTube, Facebook, software, etc.

23. In summary, • Graphic novels use languages (word and picture) to tell stories, convey information. + • Graphic novels often have an agenda, argument, point of view. So: You can use graphic novels to teach persuasion, rhetoric, the core of media literacy, for both analysis & composition.

24. A graphic novel is a comic book that you need a bookmark for. Art Spiegelman And it can be a powerful work of art-literature that argues, provokes, persuades, moves us. Gretchen Schwarz