"Comics and sequential art are increasingly in use in college classrooms. Multimodal, multimedia and often collaborative, the graphic narrative format has entered all kinds of subject areas and its potential as a teaching tool is still being realized. This collection of new essays presents best practices for using comics in various educational settings, beginning with the basics. Contributors explain the need for teachers to embrace graphic novels. Multimodal composition is demonstrated by the use of comics. Strategies are offered for teachers who have struggled with weak visual literacy skills among students. Student-generated comics are discussed with several examples. The teaching of postmodern theories and practices through comics is covered. An appendix features assignment sheets so teachers can jump right in with proven exercises."--Publisher description.

Introduction. Graphic novel pedagogy: starting to learn together / Matthew L. Miller -- Section I. Getting Started: Advice for Beginners -- Working on understanding comics: introducing the teacher to the graphic novel / Cecile de Rocher -- Comics as literature, comics as culture: teaching graphic fiction in the undergraduate classroom / Michael Buso -- Comics make great prompts: using graphic novels to teach writing in college classrooms / Karen W. Gavigan -- Section II. Encountering Challenges: Graphic Novels in Various Settings -- "Outside the box": teaching graphic narrative in the multicultural community college / David Bahr -- Graphic interventions: introducing the graphic novel into the classroom in a small, rural college setting / Travis W. Johnson and Jeremy Reed -- (Religious) fun homes: teaching the lesbian feminist graphic novel in a Catholic university / Scott A. Dimovitz -- Section III. Writing for Multimodality: Graphic Novels in Contemporary Composition -- Multimodality 101: graphic narratives and multimodal composition / Andrew Bourelle -- Talismans: using comics to teach multimodal writing / Aaron Kashtan -- More than storyboards: maintaining a space for graphic novels in the face of film adaptation / Jason Salinas -- Section IV. Reaching Beyond Limits: Complex Teaching Methods -- Teaching Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: the construction of a modernist lesbian graphic novel / Julia Klimek -- Coming to terms with the past: teaching German history with the graphic novel / Elizabeth Nijdam -- Defending the graphic novel: an introduction to literary theory / Michael Demson -- Section V. Self-Reflexivity, Intertextuality and Other Scary Terms: Postmodernism in Graphic Novels -- Old father, new artificer: teaching Alison Bechdel's Fun Home as postmodern literature / Jeffrey Roessner and Eithne Amos -- Author/character: Persepolis as a gateway to reading metafictional novels / Rhonda Knight -- Intertextual journeys: black culture, speculative fiction and the past as text in Jeremy Love's Bayou / Qiana Whitted -- Section VI. Looking Ahead: Graphic Novel Education for the Future -- Doing justice to the graphic novel: comics as curriculum in young adult literature / Amanda M. Greenwell -- A mission: why should 21st century secondary language arts educators teach reading and writing with graphic novels? / Katie Monnin. Appendix: Best Practice Assignments. History assignment / Karen W. Gavigan ; Panel-to-panel drawing exercise / David Bahr ; (Auto)biographical short story / Scott A. Dimovitz ; Memoir assignment / Andrew Bourelle ; Comics analysis / Aaron Kashtan ; Composing a graphic novel / Jason Salinas ; Podcast assignment / Michael Demson ; Theoretical application / Matthew L. Miller ; Exploring adaptation in historical comics / Qiana Whitted ; Creative assignment / Qiana Whitted ; Prompts for close-reading graphic narratives / Amanda M. Greenwell ; Teaching the key elements of story / Katie Monnin.