Holy Reading, Batman!
By Nancy Schneider

"Travis, you can't continue to come to class without a library book." I repeated those words practically every day for the first semester of this past school year. "Travis, you've been staring at the same page for the past 10 minutes," is another comment that frequently passed my lips.

I know I'm not the only teacher to have made such comments to a reluctant reader. My plan for such readers includes keeping a classroom bookcase filled with books from virtually every genre and for various reading levels. Students are allowed to borrow one when they finish with their library book, or in the event that their book is at home.

Travis would come in and head straight for those shelves every day. He would choose the same book every time, but he failed to get past the first chapter until the end of the semester. Several of the other language arts teachers at my middle school would offer suggestions that I would try, but nothing I did seemed to motivate Travis to actually read.

A winter breakthrough. I returned to school after Winter Break with a fresh resolve to help Travis in any way I could to embrace reading. On the second day back I saw a Batman comic book in his binder. Our school's policy states that students are not allowed to have comic books on campus, but I suggested he pull it out and read from it during our 20 minutes of reading time. His face lit up and he finished it before the 20 minutes was over.

I discussed comic books with him while the rest of the class read for the remainder of the time. I told Travis that he could bring in a few comic books to keep in my filing cabinet; that way he would have them to read during reading time and he wouldn't get in trouble with the campus administration.

Connecting over comics. Comic books were both my bridge for improving Travis' reading ability and a way to build trust with a frustrated student. I encouraged Travis to come in during homeroom period and I was able to learn what particular types of comic books he liked. Having read comic books when I was a child, I was able to discuss the classic characters about whom he liked to read – Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman (all from DC Comics). His favorite comic book hero turned out to be Batman.

A visual medium. The comic book offers the reader visual aid while engaging him or her through the character's dialog. The end result is the production of a story the reader desires to learn about. Comic books offer pictures for context, introduce plot and sequencing, expand vocabulary and may help provide an alternate path into classroom discussions of higher-level text.

The discussions I had with Travis allowed me to see that he was fully capable of comprehending and analyzing what took place within the pages of the comic book. The problem was that he was a reluctant reader. He liked this genre because it reminded him of cartoons, offering him a familiar and accessible bridge into cartoons on paper.

Off and reading! It was apparent that comic books were helping this student improve his level of understanding and his reading proficiency, and the action-packed plotlines and vibrant characters were a key draw. Thus I accompanied him to the library to discover books in a similar genre. He checked out two from the "Star Wars" book series. Within two weeks he had finished reading the first book.

Travis went on to read the entire "Star Wars" series by the end of the semester. He began to openly express his opinions of the class literary pieces, demonstrating that he had read them as well. I was amazed at the transformation that had come over Travis. It is an awesome feeling to see a child's face light up when he or she finds success after struggling with a subject.

Introducing graphic novels. Though they weren't available while I was working with Travis, our librarian has since ordered a number of graphic novels. A graphic novel is in the comics tradition but is a lengthier work with a more complex storyline. I know that I might be able to use the graphic novel to entice readers in the same manner in which I used comic books with Travis. By making this genre available I can help the struggling or reluctant reader who likes or feels comfortable reading picture books.

A discussion concerning comic books and graphic novels in your classroom could allow you to identify reluctant readers who enjoy this type of genre. You could lead them to other types of genres by finding similar qualities to the material the reader enjoys. As Marilyn Reynolds, author of I Won't Read and You Can't Make Me: Reaching Reluctant Teen Readers (Heinemann, 2004) says, "Just getting reluctant adolescents to read anything can be a boon to their discovery of the joy of reading."

Nancy Schneider teaches seventh-grade language arts and is a middle and high school language arts coach in Marble Falls, TX.

January, 2007, Vol.37, No.4