Superman, Super Teacher: Using Comics to Teach Reading
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on April 7, 2009 Sign up now!
by Jennifer de Guzman -- Publishers Weekly, 4/6/2009 4:52:00 PM
If I had to choose a Facebook-style status for my relationship with comics, it would be "It's complicated." I imagine it's the same for many of us who work in the comic book industry. But once in a while, you meet someone whose pure enjoyment of comic books is so uncomplicated that you're both delighted and envious. For me, one of those people is Gary Shapiro, who was a fellow student in the San Jose State University graduate creative writing program. Gary has a quick smile and quick wit, and a love for comics that he has used for the past 19 years teaching reading at Harden Middle School in Salinas, California.
When he began teaching, the school had no specific remedial reading program, and Gary came up with the idea for using comics from the start. As a child, Gary had trouble learning to read, and comics were what finally got through to him. This is because comics provide what teachers call "scaffolding"—the images are the scaffolding to hang the words on, providing context to aid students in reading comprehension.
After some experimenting, Gary found that Silver Age comics work the best for his reading class because of the density of the text and story. "There's more story in twelve pages of Silver Age Captain America than there's been in the last year [of the contemporary series]," he said, noting that if students can read a complete story, they get more pleasure from reading and are motivated to read more. In reading class, Gary gives each student a copy of a comic and casts students as the characters. This way, not only do the students get the benefit of scaffolding, they learn to emotionally engage with what they're reading by acting out the parts of the characters.
With more in-class experimenting, Gary soon found the perfect story for his reading students: the classic "Superman's Return to Krypton," from Superman #141. In this story, Superman flies so fast that he breaks the time barrier and travels to the past, before Krypton exploded. On Krypton, as a regular man, Superman meets his parents and falls in love with a beautiful actress. With action, adventure, and romance, the story appeals to all of his students, who vie for the choicest roles (which Gary casts without regard for gender). Kids who once were reluctant about reading "come running into reading class to ask to be Superman," Gary said.
There's just something about the big guy in blue that ramps up Gary's students' enthusiasm. "I think you could argue that Superman is the greatest fictional character ever created," he mused. "He was created in 1938 and there's never been a month where there wasn't a story about him."
"Superman's Return to Krypton" is nearly fifty years old, but it still keeps kids engaged. Gary likes to introduce a little something extra, too. It's a common reading comprehension strategy to ask students to predict what will happen next in a story. But there's something a little more sticky in asking "Will Superman save Krypton?" than in contemplating if a non-super Superman can prevent the destruction of his home planet, and that's a time paradox.
"I tell the kids, 'Well, Superman was able go back in time to Krypton because his father shot him into space when he was a baby to save him from Krypton's destruction, and he got superpowers on Earth because the light of Earth's yellow sun, right? But if he uses his superpowers to go back to Krypton and saves it from blowing up, then his father won't shoot him into space to save him, and he won't go to Earth and get superpowers, so then how could he go back in time to Krypton to keep it from being destroyed?'"
Gary paused for breath.
"And that's when the kids go, 'Whoooaaaaa!'" I ask.
"Right," said Gary, laughing.
Jennifer de Guzman is editor-in-chief at the independent comics publisher SLG Publishing. She also writes fiction—mostly in prose, occasionally in comics—and holds an M.F.A. in literature and creative writing from San Jose State University. The opinions expressed are her own and not necessarily those of Publishers Weekly or PW Comics Week.
