Costumes, Capes, and Chemistry!?

My Students

Over this past year my students and I have worked hard to build a graphic novel library at our school, and that library has been a runaway hit.

My students are all in Special Education.

At our school students with learning disabilities are fully included in the General Education classrooms. We are a part of an innovative charter school system in California that employs project-based learning strategies. Students, especially those with learning disabilities, tend to flourish in this unique, hands-on, multimodal learning environment. Because of this we have become a magnet for students with special needs. Acceptance to our school is a lottery system by zip-code, therefore our school population almost perfectly reflects the county's diverse demographic. As a result, we have a significant population of students whose families are well under the poverty level. My students are creative, hard working, and resilient. They don't need to have the bar lowered for them, but rather they need a level playing field so that they can make it over the bar on their own.

My Project

Graphic novels have proven a hit with my students. The comprehension scaffolding that the pictures provide has helped turn reluctant readers into avid readers, and the more they read the better they get at it. My students are now excited about reading fiction! Now I want to use my student's enthusiasm for graphic novels, along with the comprehension support that graphic novels provide, to help my students in their core classes. Physics, history, biology, philosophy, and math, graphic novels have been written to help cover all of these subjects. The goals is to have these books will supplement the readings that the students are doing in their classes, and help master these subjects. Graphic novels and comics are good for clarifying - not simplifying.

With the support of graphic novels to understand the content in their classes my students will be able to fully participate when working in groups, they will be able to answer questions in class, and they will really be able show what they are capable of.