I’ve wanted to be a comic book writer since the second grade. I remember sitting in class and reading Spectacular Spider-Man#144 and looking at this panel of Spider-Man doing a somersault, and for some reason, it all clicked for me. I knew I would never grow up to be Spider-Man, but I could write his adventures. For the life of me I can’t figure out how I came to this conclusion when I was 7 or 8 years old, I wasn’t, nor am I, particularly clever. I do know that it has guided my decisions based on how I live my life, dress, spend my time, and the fact that I write for fun. This was one of those days in class where I finished my work early and I could sit and read. Ever since then my main goal in life has been to finish my work, so I can read comic books. We won’t go in to the lameness of that, as I don’t have a ton of space, lets just call it an obsession and leave it at that. I need to hurry up and finish because I have a nice stack of graphic novels waiting on me.
I’ve struggled with how to motivate my students, and I realized how wide the gulf was between us when I remembered I have been writing comic book scripts since the 8th grade. I write for fun. To them, writing was like being locked away in a gulag. Since I wanted to be a comic writer I sought out online advice on how to become a better writer and comic writers kept saying “read anything you can get your hands on,” so I do. Sadly, I had students read their first books in my class. You don’t have to go around the world to experience culture shock.
My multimodal component is simply the cover of Spectacular Spider-Man#144.
When do we get to read your comic book?
ReplyDeleteNever. Or maybe when I get struck by lightning and develop talent.
ReplyDeleteI think you should publish. For realz.
ReplyDeleteComic books and graphic novels are an excellent way to get kids into reading. And! There's nothing lame about turning it into a life-long passion.
I LOVE your writing! You made me laugh out loud! I really liked how you were able to see how your ESL students feel by reading about El Gaucho. Teachers who have never had an experience like that have no idea what it's like to be an ESL student. I'm glad you were able to spend some time in their shoes :)
ReplyDeleteIt seems like in every subject students have difficulties understanding at first how to write a paper in that specific content area. I remember when I wrote my first music theory paper I had no idea what I was going to write, or how. My professors just kept telling me to read music theory journals and I will understand, and it took a while but eventually I did.
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