A Comic Epiphany

     I made a connection that really hit home with me between a point raised in Chapter five of Wilhelm's YGBB and Dr. Mortimore's article. Wilhelm states: "Much of what these students revealed to me made me begin to believe that these students did not 'see' anything when they read, and that therefore they could not experience and think about what they had read. They had no ownership over the process, and no sense that it could work for them in personally meaningful ways" (158). We as teachers need to teach students the strategies and motivate them to own their own stories and reading processes. We need to remind them that a book is what you make it; so they should each make it their own! I think many students, well most all students actually, are disappointed when they hear that the entire class will be reading the same assigned text. But if we can help them to understand that a text's meaning varies for each and every reader, maybe they will crack it open and read! The characters, conflict, and themes of a story will resonate differently with all of our students; and we need to remind them of that to create a sense of individuality, (something very important to secondary students).
     This is where Dr. Mortimore's article and the use of comic books in our classrooms comes into play. My favorite convention discussed is the "gutter," and not just because its name makes me laugh. The gaps or gutters in a comic allow readers to use their imagination and make the story their own. One reader may kill off the protagonist, while another murders the villain. And so I think we can use comics in our classrooms to teach the strategy of visualizing and creating meaning that students can then extend to more complex and longer novels. For example, I could assign all of my students the same comic to read and ask them to fill in each gap with their own picture and words of what they think is happening. I would then ask each student to share with the rest of the class their take on the story, or their own story rather. I can almost guarantee that each and every one will be different in some way, whether the variations are significant or small. This exercise would prove to a class that everyone interprets a story differently, when he/she really takes the time to engage and visualize it. It also provides great practice for imagery in reading, which can eventually transition to the mental imagery Wilhelm suggests "good readers" use.