Students in Mrs. Kathy Sekera's 7th-grade English classes at Trafford Middle School recently read and analyzed a historical nonfiction graphic novel entitled The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown, which was provided to her classroom through a Donors Choose online grant entitled "Exploring the Graphic Novel Genre." The new books provided the students a valuable opportunity to interact with this visually appealing and engaging genre, examining elements, format, text structure, author's purpose, central idea, and key details, among other factors.
After interacting with this graphic novel, students began a writing unit. They wrote a text-dependent analysis response to a given prompt focusing on how the key details in the text support the central idea, supporting their claims with evidence from the text. Their prior interaction with the graphic novel greatly aided them in this process.
Sekera surveyed her students after the unit and received feedback including, "I like how the author uses moody colors to convey that it was gloomy," "I enjoyed the graphic novel because it allowed me to see a visual representation of the story,” and "I liked how all the panels are laid out and some connect to show progression."
Chrystian Rodriguez and Connor Schmidt compare their notes on graphic novel content
Sisters Melodie and Katelynn Funk discuss various aspects and features of the novel
Dustin Heidenreich and Roman Catello review their graphic novel walkthrough packets
Nathan Showman and Jordan White compare their notes on graphic novel features and content
Riley Wagner takes notes on graphic novel features and content