Powerful Graphic Novels

School:: Emerald Coast Middle School
Subject:: Literacy
Teacher:: Margaret Walton
Students Impacted:: 120
Grade:: 8
Date:: October 7, 2021

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

The Alys Foundation - $999.79

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 119

My eighth-grade students loved the new graphic novel collections. The superhero-based novels were popular with students that like action movies. The classic literature-based novels appealed to students looking ahead to high school English classes. When the books arrived, students were anxious to take them out of the box and begin reading. The books were available daily during silent reading time. As they read a novel, they analyzed the text and then completed a graphic organizer to identify euphemisms, irony examples, and character traits. The next step was to create a digital book talk with a partner. Having 1:1 devices, students were able to create a digital book talk by using PowerPoint or a video app. After the presentations, students participated in a Socratic Seminar in which they were able to have a student-led discussion about different styles of graphic representation, themes found in graphic novels, and connections (or lack thereof) between dialogue and images. Overall, the top three favorite titles were War of the Worlds, Time Machine, and Scarlett Letter. Your generous donation of middle school level graphic novels provided reading opportunities outside our regular Springboard curriculum. I look forward to using these titles again next year.

Original Grant Overview

Goal

My goal is to build literacy skills in my eighth-grade students with superhero based and classic literature based graphic novels specifically written for ages 13 – 15. These titles cover diversity, offer sophisticated word choice, and varied sentence structure. Storylines depict present day scenarios and captivate the young teenager audience with detailed diagrams and illustrations.

What will be done with my students

My eighth-grade students will be required to read one graphic novel per grading term. Upon completion of the novel, students will analyze the text for euphemisms and dramatic irony as well as the depiction of characters though the implied messages found in the dialogue. Working in cooperative groups, students will be asked to create a digital book talk to share on our class TEAMS page.

Benefits to my students

Numerable eighth grade students read graphic novels such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Middle Grades. Once they enter eighth grade, they continue to look for novels with large illustrations and fast paced text. As an eighth-grade reader, they need to strengthen their reading pallet with complex texts. From the dedicated reader who finds all books fascinating to the reluctant reader who continues to return to the comic book style novel, all eighth graders need to build a bank of knowledge for future high school classes. Graphic novels challenge students to visualize about the elements of story. In a typical book, students decide the meaning based on sentences and paragraph structure. In comparison, diagrammatic graphic novels boost student ability to analyze each word, frame and angle for allusions, themes, societal norms, looking for signs of character development. Perfecting these skills will help our students understand the themes and norms throughout the ages – the ways that text and images all around them right now communicate 24/7 – and help them tell their own responses to literature.

Budget Narrative

Follett/Titlewave.com will provide graphic novels for 8th grade readers – a total of 29 books will be purchased (total of $743.09 + $18.55 for processing). Saddleback will provide graphic novel classics - a total of 1 books will be purchased. (Total of $153.30 + 14.85 shipping) Total grant request is 999.79.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Avengers - 4 book set	$73.72
2	DC Adventures - 12 book set	$233.38
3	Justice League - 13 book set	$505.99
4	War of the Worlds	$10.95
5	Red Badge of Courage	$10.95
6	Call of the Wild	$10.95
7	Treasure Island	$10.95
8	Scarlett Letter	$10.95
9	Huckleberry Finn	$10.95
10	The Time Machine	$10.95
11	Tom Sawyer	$10.95
12	Midsummer Night Dream	$10.95
13	Romeo and Julliet	$10.95
14	Hamlet	$10.95
15	Hunchback of Notre Dame	$10.95
16	Dracula	$10.95
17	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	$10.95
18	Processing/Shipping	$33.40
	Total:	$999.79

Please share this page to help in fulfilling this grant.