I've been teaching Calvin & Hobbes for as long as I was a high school teacher, but now I do theoretically, especially in relation to Jan Baetens arguments about how concise a comic strip creator needs to be to articulate information in four squares (what used to be in the Sunday paper). I've done PD on this, taught classes with it, and still used it when helping new teachers to be contemplating genres in their field. To belong to mathematics, history, English, science, the arts, health, etc., you need to think in the ways of those in the profession. It fits beautifully with activity theory as a tool, rules, and community to help an individual to succeed. It still resonates, too.
Last night, it was complete silence as I ran the activities, because the genre discussion worked. Wheels were turning. We all just got it...so much so, that students stayed after class to ask, how did you lear all this? I was like, I don't know. I am simply trying to figure out how to be a better teacher.
I am simply being Zoolander and modeling what has been brought my way because it works. So, with Calvin & Hobbes, the high engagement continues. Comic strips are a great way to help new teachers to think about apprenticing others, youngsters, into the language and traditions of their fields. It works, and with planning backwards, they are starting to get it, like in-practice teachers who I've done similar workshops with, and students certified in the past.
Model comics. Discuss the genre, and have students explore the genres of their fields. Things click.
But I need to grade today and process the 28 hour work days that were Monday and Tuesday. It was a lot and when you have no time to think about it, except in blogs like this, you simply need more time to think (which is often not given to teachers).
