Worth A Thousand Words by Meryl Jaffe

Worth A Thousand Words by Meryl Jaffe

A MORE EFECTIVE COMON CORE LITERACY TOL IS ALREADY IN YOUR STUDENTS' BACKPACKS

Graphic novels have deeply complex stories that exemplify many Common Core standards as well as advanced literary concepts. They are also a literary format students are increasingly turning towards. Many graphic novel readers, who may shy away from the classics and academic texts, often don't consider this an act of reading at all; and yet they are engaged and motivated by these texts. Worth A Thousand Words shows teachers and parents how to bring graphic novels into the classroom and exploit student interest and the real literary merit of these texts to help diverse learners meet mandated educational goals. Backed by research and packed with lesson plans, activities, assessments, and book lists, this book is an invaluable resource for educators seeking more meaningful, exciting ways to engage students on the literary field of play. This book relays how to:

• Distinguish graphic novels from comic books and learn where to find them
• Understand how graphic novels can improve teaching and motivate students
• Dissect the graphic novel's page to reveal the complexity that informs visual and verbal literacy, critical thinking, and sequencing skills
• Integrate graphic novels into lessons on character development, literary devices, prose, math, social studies, science, and more
• Learn what to expect in terms of progress and how to engage the support of faculty, parents, and administration

Appropriate for K-8 students in ELA and content area classes, Worth A Thousand Words provides teachers with a practical toolbox for bringing graphic novels into existing curricula.

This book--scholarly yet accessible, as well as fun to read--is essential for educators and parents alike. Whether you're a librarian, a tutor, an English or Social Studies teacher, or a frustrated parent trying to encourage your child to read more, or to read more deeply, Jaffe and Hurwich's compelling work is for you. --Elisheva Gould, Middle School Learning Specialist & Language Tutor

MERYL JAFFE, PHD, is an educational consultant, teacher mentor, and an instructor at The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, where she teaches critical reading and visual literacy to talented middle school students worldwide. Her passion for using, reading, and integrating graphic novels into curricula has given rise to her online column Using Graphic Novels in Education as well as the booklet Raising a Reader! How Comics and Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love to Read!, published with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

TALIA HURWICH is a former Middle School language teacher, and assistant librarian at a private school in New York City, as well as a former ELA instructor and curriculum mentor with The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. She is currently a doctoral candidate at NYU, researching graphic novels, games, and multimedia in the classroom and their effect on students' literacies.