Scott Tingley is an elementary school teacher. He uses comics as part of his curriculum to teach reading and other fun things. John Taddeo is a writer who has a property Zoom Suit that is being used to help kids read. In this interview we discuss the use and reason of the site as well as the particular applications of a work such as Zoom Suit.
Alex Ness: Why are comics the focus of getting kids to read? Most comics today have seen their target audiences grow far older and more mature than children?
Scott Tingley: Comics shouldn't be the only thing that one uses to get kids reading, but they are a tool for differentiating instruction that has been ignored for too long. I began using some of the all ages Free Comic Book Day issues in my class as story starters and the whole idea of using comics regularly came from there. About once a month I use comics with my students, and I get the best work out of a certain few kids when I do. The best shared writing activity that my grade one class did this year was a story using a page out of "Bone" by Jeff Smith as the story starter. It was great. We sent the story and illustrations off to Smith and he sent back an original illustration taken from the story. This made the reading and writing relevant.
Alex Ness: When you create a website that suggests the term comics in the classroom, aren't there well established stigmas attached to comics and educational? I am not disagreeing here with what you are doing, I have taught in the classroom myself and I know that trying to get approval for anything non- traditional is difficult.
Scott Tingley: I know exactly what you mean. I have gotten "the look" from some teachers that I talk to about it. I get the feeling that they think what I have told them is as useful to their teaching as a website called BasketWeavingInTheClassroom would be. On the other hand, the staff at my school have been supportive, and my principal is really interested in my site and how I use the ideas in my own classroom. I think she brags about it to the higher-ups she talks to. This Fall, my school district had a boy's literacy expert in to speak to every teacher in our school district. Essentially, he told us that we as teachers need to value all of the appropriate forms of literacy that young people are reading, from motor cross magazines to comics. If we fail to take seriously the things kids are interested in, why should they take the great novels and informational texts we want them to read seriously?
Alex Ness: Is there any evidence that sequential art stories lead to learning how to read?
Scott Tingley: There are many articles that can explain in depth how comics can teach kids how to read, just Google it - it's a really exciting time for a comic fan/teacher. For me though, I have seen the excitement on a grade one student's face when I hand them a page from a comic book and tell them that this is what we are going to use for our writing assignment. Some ask if they can borrow the comics to take home on top of the reading I have assigned. It is exciting for them. When you get a child excited about something they are doing in class, that child is going to learn more and will have a better attitude towards school.
Also, books like Marvel's "Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius" and Top Shelf's "Owly" and "Grampa and Julie: Shark Hunters" are so close in style and content to the books early elementary children are reading anyway.
Alex Ness: I have found in my 4 years of column writing that sometimes the best comics for kids are those that harken to the myths I learned in grade school. Do you see anything similar to Classics Illustrated out on the market today and are they too learning centered to get past the radar kids<
Alex Ness: What aspects of your work on Zoom Suit particularly translate to use in the classroom?
John Taddeo: Not just Zoom Suit, there are so many aspects of comics in general such as expanded vocabulary and various writing and grammatical aspects, but the number one thing that Zoom Suit has going for it is that it's a fun read. I think we all remember a book or series of books that really pulled us in as kids.
If you want to pull a kid away from X-Box 360, you had better have something interesting. The characters in Zoom Suit have a contagious excitement. It reminds me of when I was a kid reading the Marvel stuff. I felt like I knew these characters. Pulled me right off the Atari every time. Zoom Suit does exactly that. Reviews have been spectacular. Zoom Suit makes comics fun again.
Alex Ness: Finish this sentence: Children upon reading zoom suit learn to:
John Taddeo: Fly.
(Flight Not Guaranteed. The writer is not responsible for death, dismemberment or paralyzing injuries resulting in use of the Zoom Suit. Offer Not Valid in Hawaii, Vermont, Guam and Portions of the U.S. Virgin Islands)
Seriously, in the case of Zoom Suit, probably not a particular thing, but they would have spent the last hour reading instead of glued to the TV and I bet we make a comic collector out of them too!
What attracted me to Comics in the Class was that Scott was interested in books beyond the scope of an ABC Book or Learn Grammar in the Comics Manner. He was legitimately interested in expanding the hobby to a fresh new audience.
Alex Ness: What would you tell a parent when they seem befuddled that comic books are teaching kids to read?
John Taddeo: That could maybe be an issue 20 years ago, but with the year being 2006, we have our first generation of "Marvel" Parents. If you were reading comics in the late Sixties to late Seventies you're old enough to have children of reading age today. These parents would absolutely love to get their kids into a hobby such as comics.
Add in the exposure that the industry has seen through Hollywood and the ever growing graphic novel section in mass market bookstores and I think you're left with a very small group that would be befuddled.
Parents are cool these days, Alex. They know what's hip. It's not like June and Ward.
Alex Ness: When offering schools Zoom Suit along with the other fine works for growth in reading skills, do you find yourself wistful to when comics were primarily for kids? It seems as though we have a greatly matured audience now and very few children reading comics.
John Taddeo: Excellent point regarding a "Matured Audience." But comics aren't for kids. That would be like saying TV is for kids or radio is for adults. The delivery system has nothing to do with the content. Nintendo took the place of the comic format as a delivery system in the '80s.
From the birth of the Marvel Universe as we know it, comics were never "just for kids." In my humble opinion, a perfectly written comic is the type that adults get a kick out of, but kids are on the edge of their seat. That was the goal on Zoom Suit.
If you're a longtime comic fan, you'll love watching Myles and Brittany make one crazy superhero mistake after another, and if you're a kid you'll be like, "that's" a great idea. A few pages later the kid will say, I didn't see that coming, where a fan like me would say, "That's because you never read Batman, you see when I was your age . . . "
. . .and that's the best way we can expand our hobby.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Thanks to Scott Tingley, John Taddeo and Ian Feller!
ONLINE ARCHIVES:
Comments:
Huber18Marion 3/14/2010 1:06:48 PM
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