The School of Comics and Graphic Novels

For Teachers, Librarians and Other Educators

Thursday, Nov. 17, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Room 7128 (Building 7, 1st Floor)

The School of Comics and Graphic Novels is designed to demonstrate how comics, and now graphic novels, can work in your classroom.  Attendees will also be shown practical examples of how comics and graphic novels have been integrated into curricula, as well as lists of titles that work in classrooms.

 

10 a.m.: Introduction and Welcome:

Carol Fitzgerald, founder of GraphicNovelReporter.com.

 

Session 1: 10:05 - 10:55 a.m.: Comics About Scientists? What a Dangerous Experiment! with Jim Ottaviani

Jim Ottaviani holds advanced degrees in nuclear engineering and information and library studies. He is the world’s preeminent writer of comics and graphic novels about science, whose best-known work, Two-Fisted Science: Stories About Scientists, featured biographical stories about Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton and Niels Bohr.

 

Session 2: 11 - 11:50 a.m.: Lesson Plans that Merge Comics Into the Core Curriculum with Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson is a K-4 Technology Instructor at Mathews Elementary in Nixa, Missouri. He is a contributing author to several literacy textbooks and the Editor-in-Geek of The Graphic Classroom, a website dedicated to comics literature in education, covering all levels from pre-emergent reader to post secondary.

 

Lunch: 11:50 a.m. - 12:50 p.m.

 

Session 3: 1 - 1:50 p.m.: Classroom Lessons from the Comic Book Project With Dr. Michael Bitz and Nadja Sailesman

Dr. Michael Bitz is the executive director of the Center for Educational Pathways, a nonprofit organization that establishes creative pathways to academic success for underserved youth. He is the founder and director of the Comic Book Project, an educational initiative that has reached more than 100,000 youths, in which students write, design, and publish original comic books that are then distributed to other youths as motivational and literacy-building tools.

Nadja Sailesman operates an after-school program for NYC Mission Society in Central Harlem, the goal of which is to increase literacy and develop children’s social and emotional abilities through the arts. Each year, the school forms a Comic Book club, in which approximately 25 students get to experience the joy of creating their own comic books.

 

SESSION 4: 2 - 2:50 p.m.: Keynote Presentation by Gene Luen Yang: The Role of Comic Books and Graphic Novels in Today’s Classroom

Gene Luen Yang is a teacher and the author of several award-winning and groundbreaking comics and graphic novels, including American Born Chinese, which became the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and which won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2007. His latest work is Level Up, a graphic novel written by Yang and illustrated by Thien Pham.

 

The School of Comics and Graphic Novels is made possible in part with the support of GraphicNovelReporter.com

Author(s) and Guest(s)

Jim Ottoviani

In their illustrated biography, Feynman (First Second Books, $29.99), Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick present the larger-than-life exploits of Nobel-winning quantum physicist, adventurer, musician, and one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century: Richard Feynman. Ottaviani is the world’s preeminent writer of comics and graphic novels about science, whose work includes a biography of Niels Bohr.  Myrick is the author and illustrator of Missouri Boy.

 

Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson is a K-4 Technology Instructor at Mathews Elementary in Nixa, Missouri, where he teaches 500 students per week. He is also the Editor-in-Geek of The Graphic Classroom, a website dedicated to comic literature in education covering all levels from pre-emergent reader to post-secondary. He is a contributing author to several literacy textbooks including: Teaching New Literacies in Grades K-3: Resources for 21st-Century Classrooms, Teaching New Literacies in Grades 4-6: Resources for 21st-Century Classrooms, and Rationales for Teaching Graphic Novels.

 

Nadja Sailesman

Nadja Sailesman operates an after-school program for NYC Mission Society in Central Harlem, the goal of which is to increase literacy and develop children's social and emotional abilities through the arts. Each year, the school forms a Comic Book club in which approximately 20-25 students get to experience the joy of creating their own comic books.

 

Dr. Michael Bitz

Dr. Michael Bitz is founder and director of the Comic Book Project, an internationally-recognized educational initiative that has reached more than 100,000 youths. Through the program, students write, design, and publish original comic books that are then distributed to other youths as motivational and literacy-building tools.

 

Gene Luen Yang

Level Up (First Second Books, $15.99) is Gene Luen Yang's latest graphic novel for ages 12 and up.  Dennis Ouyang parents want him to become a doctor. Dennis just wants to play video games—and he might actually be good enough to do it professionally. Four adorable, bossy, and occasionally terrifying angels arrive just in time to lead Dennis back onto the straight and narrow: the path to gastroenterology. Yang has written and drawn a number of highly-regarded graphic novels, including American Born Chinese, which won an Eisner Award and was the first graphic novel to become a National Book Award finalist.

 

Schedule

Thursday, Nov. 17, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Free, registration required

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Location

Miami Book Fair International * Miami Dade College
300 NE Second Ave., Miami, FL 33132
Room 7128 (Building 7, 1st Floor)