Getting Graphic: Effective Literacy Learning with Comics and Graphic Literature
By Bev DeMonyé
Our recent October 21 professional development event, Getting Graphic was attended by over 150 educators. They came from school districts throughout the province and we were excited to have approximately 30 students! Our four presenters did a fabulous job of offering participants a wonderful balance of information.
- Jo-Anne Naslund, Instructional Programs Librarian, University of British Columbia, reviewed criteria for the selection and evaluation of graphic texts for teaching purposes and independent reading.
- Kathie Shoemaker, Author/Illustrator, addressed the process of creating graphic literature.
- Margot Filipenko, Senior Instructor, University of British Columbia, brought new meaning to the term graphic literature as a multimodal genre and explained why teachers should use comics and graphic literature in the classroom.
- Dionne Risler, Grade One Teacher from Collingwood elementary, explained how she uses graphic literature with her students to teach both reading and writing.
This was truly an event that had wide appeal to many educators at different levels and in different teaching situations!
As an added bonus, Vi Hughes, President of CWILL (Children’s Writers and Illustrators of BC Society) arranged for a group of BC authors to attend the conference and provide participants with an opportunity to review their publications that have a highly visual aspect and relate to current curriculum. For more about CWILL, go to http://www.cwill.bc.ca/
Kidsbooks provided an on site store for the convenient previewing and purchasing of books. For further information about the books at our conference go to http://www.kidsbooks.ca/default.aspx
Next year on Friday, October 19th, 2012 (Provincial Professional Development Day) we will be sponsoring another event at the Executive Inn in Burnaby. We have arranged for Dr. Steve Layne to be our presenter. Dr. Layne is on the International Reading Association board of directors and is a world renowned speaker. Visit his website at http://www.stevelayne.com/
For more information go to the Upcoming Events section of our website.