Encourage Reluctant Readers to Love Reading with Comics
My students need 81 graphic novels, including Naruto, The Wallflower and Black Butler volumes, because the pictures and easier format excites struggling and beginning readers, and this pulls them into the world of reading.
Imagine that you need to check out a book for your language arts class, but you don't like to read, or you can't very well because you're learning English. My students have this problem every day, but thanks to our small graphic novels section, they have an attractive option. But they need more!
Our school is a middle school in Alaska, and we serve a diverse student body of seventh and eighth graders.
About 25% of our students are ethnic minorities and immigrants, including many who are just learning English. Our students come from many countries such as Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, Russia, Pakistan, Philippines, Iran, Samoa, Cambodia, Israel, Norway, Nigeria and many other places. There are also many Alaska natives who grew up in villages speaking their native language before moving to the city, and they also are also learning English.
My Project
Struggling readers and beginning English learners can't read on grade level, yet they still need to, and usually want to. They don't want to be seen with books that are considered "babyish" so they gravitate towards graphic novels. Even though these books have lots of pictures, they are thick (so they're not babyish!) and they have complicated plots and characters. They are also accepted as cool by all the students. Studies have shown that reading, comprehending and interpreting comics is harder than just reading plain text, so students actually work harder and end up understanding the text and story better when they are done. In my experience, students who get hooked on graphic novels will read them voraciously, usually at the pace of their peers. They often switch over to traditional text format once they get comfortable with reading. I have seen many students make that leap. They become comfortable coming into the library every day, and they finally ask me for something different!
All students deserve to find a book that they can fall in love with and that hooks them on reading.
I know the books that will do this, but our budget has been slashed over the last few years, and I have not been able to buy them. Our old graphic novels are well loved (having been checked out hundreds of times each!) and are falling apart. They need to be replaced and updated. Please assist us by providing students with the materials that will help turn them into lifelong lovers of reading!
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