Teacher Round Table

A Conversation Inspired by Ashley Dallacqua’s “Reading When the World Is on Fire: Teaching with Comics and Other Multimodal Text Sets”

Authors

  • Shelly Unsicker-Durham University of Oklahoma
  • Scott Bevill L & N Stem Acadamy, Knoxville, TN
  • Brooke Bianchi-Pennington Hardin Valley Academy, Knoxville, TN
  • Kamrin Green Charter School, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Ray Robinson Moore Public Schools, Moore, OK
  • Paul Sausville Walker Valley High School, Cleveland, TN

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2376-5275.2023.6.1.181-196

Keywords:

Teacher as Intellectual, Teacher Conversation, Graphic Novels, Text Set, Censorship

Abstract

Study and Scrutiny has focused on the publication of critical and empirical studies surrounding the scholarship and critical merits of Young Adult Literature. Because other journals provide a space for pedagogical practices concerning YA, the editors have intentionally shied away from explaining to teachers how to teach a particular title in a particular way. Still, the intention of the journal has been, in part, to support the learning of secondary students as readers and the classroom practices of their teachers. Teacher Round Table hopes to serve as a space to open the conversation surrounding YA literature, its critical merits, and ways that the research might serve teachers as they make curriculum choices about both texts and strategies. The idea is to bring teachers, as intellectuals, into conversation surrounding the scholarship of a featured study.

For this round table, five secondary teachers joined Shelly Unsicker-Durham via Zoom to focus on Ashely Dallacqua’s article “Reading When the World Is on Fire: Teaching with Comics and Other Multimodal Text Sets” from S & S Issue: 6.1. Jason DeHart, special editor, invited three of his Tennessee colleagues and Shelly invited two of hers from Oklahoma, for a conversation that included graphic novels, classroom instruction, and censorship. Words and images provided by the teachers, along with the following conversation, have been edited for clarity, style, and organization.

Author Biographies

Shelly Unsicker-Durham, University of Oklahoma

Shelly Unsicker-Durham. After 23 years of teaching English Language Arts, Shelly is a PhD candidate with the University of Oklahoma in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum, where she has also served as graduate instructor, researcher, and co-editor of Study & Scrutiny. Her favorite research pursuits include expressive writing pedagogy, teacher conversations, and young adult literature. 

Scott Bevill, L & N Stem Acadamy, Knoxville, TN

Scott Bevill, with18  years’ experience in both high school and college instruction, holds a B.A. and M.A. in English from Clemson University and a Ph.D. In English from the University of Tennessee. He credits the National Writing Project for opening up the possibility of pursuing graduate school and constantly seeking ways to grow as a teacher and learner. After taking time to explore various positions as university lecturer and high school teacher, Scott has settled into a great spot, currently teaching AP Language and English IV at a STEM-designated magnet school in Knoxville, Tennessee. His research interests have included medieval literature, history of the book, critical digital pedagogy, and digital humanities. Scott has enjoyed including comics and different media as a great way to provoke new angles for thinking and writing about classroom texts.

Brooke Bianchi-Pennington, Hardin Valley Academy, Knoxville, TN

Brooke Bianchi-Pennington has served for the last five years as chair for the English department, at a suburban high school in Tennessee. In her ten years of teaching at the same school, she has taught every high school grade at every level from inclusion to AP. In 2019, she earned her PhD in Literacy Studies with a concentration in Children’s and Young Adult Literature. For Brooke, including comics has been an essential instructional tool that moves beyond motivation and engagement with multimodal literacy. Comics have also proven helpful when working with students learning English as a second language.

Kamrin Green, Charter School, Oklahoma City, OK

Kamrin Green has taught middle school English for 15 years—10 years with Moore Public Schools in Oklahoma and five years at a downtown charter school, her current position, where she helped open grades 6-8. Both her Bachelor’s in English Education and her Master’s in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum are with the University of Oklahoma. Kamrin’s main curricular focuses are diverse literature and connecting students with books they love and characters who look like them.

Ray Robinson, Moore Public Schools, Moore, OK

Ray Robinson, a Title I Literacy Coach at a suburban, 7th-8th-grade junior high in Oklahoma recently began his 13thyear as an educator. After teaching 6th-grade ELA for 7 years and achieving a master’s degree in Reading, he made the leap to junior high, where he has found a good fit. Early on Ray noticed that the joy and love for reading he had witnessed in the elementary grades, seemed to wane in 7th and 8th. His curricular focus is to reignite that joy and love for reading.

Paul Sausville, Walker Valley High School, Cleveland, TN

Paul Sausville has 20 years’ experience from middle school to high school, with 5 semesters overlap as an adjunct professor at a local university. As a MS Related Arts Teacher, he created curriculum for public speaking, teen leadership, communications, social science, chess education, and community garden classes. He’s also taught Colonial America, as a core standards-based curriculum, Recent American History, and Journalism I & II. Learning alongside his students, he is ever learning greater reading, researching, writing, publishing, podcasting, and creative nonfiction skills, referring to his educational journey as a “fantastic voyage.” Paul’s research interests focus on thematic storylines that stretch across the post-Civil War generations: music that matters; significant social, political, economic movements; presidential powers and personalities; congress, the courts, the constitution, and conflict resolution; war and money; the resonating voices in each era, just to name a few.

References

Alexander, K. (2019). The crossover graphic novel. Clarion Books.

Bloom, J., & Martin Jr., W. E. (2016). Black against Empire: The history and politics of the Black Panther Party. University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5816/blackscholar.43.4.0163

Butler, O. (2018). Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation.

Christmas, J. (2022). Swim team. HarperAlley.

Dallacqua, A. (2022). Reading when the world is on fire: Teaching with comics and other multimodal text sets. Study & Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature, 5(1), 38-63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2376-5275.2022.5.2.38-63

Freire, P. (1983). The importance of the act of reading. Journal of Education, 165(1), 5-11.

Gaiman, N. (2006). The absolute sandman, vol 1. Vertigo.

Greenberg, I. (2020). Glasstown. Harry N. Abrams.

Greenberg, I. (2016). 100 nights of hero. Little, Brown and Company.

Walker, D. F., & Anderson, M. K., Illustrator. (2021). The Black Panther Party: A graphic novel history. Ten Speed Press.

Yang, G. L. (2013). Boxers and saints. First Second.

Zimmerman, D.(2009). The Vietnam War: A graphic history, (W. Vansant, Illus.). Hill and Wang.

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Published

2023-08-26

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2023): CENSORSHIP AND YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE: INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM, READING RIGHTS, & READING ACTIVISM

Section

Interviews

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Shelly Unsicker-Durham

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