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Independent degree project second cycle

Huvudområde: Engelska

Major Subject: English

The Walking Dead and the Graphic Novel in the Classroom

A study of how graphic novels can be used in two Swedish Upper Secondary classes.

Christoffer Lindgren

MITTUNIVERSITETET

Avdelning för humaniora

Examinator: Anders Olsson

Handledare: Martin Shaw

Författare: Christoffer Lindgren

Utbildningsprogram: Kompletterande Pedagogisk Utbildning, 90 hp

Huvudområde: Engelska

Autumn, 2015

Table of Content

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1

Background ................................................................................................................................ 1

Aims and Theoretical Background ............................................................................................ 3

Previous Research ...................................................................................................................... 8

Results and Analysis .................................................................................................................. 8

Assignment 1: Introduction to Visual Literacy and the Graphic Novel ................................. 9

Assignment 2: Reading Comprehension ............................................................................. 11

Assignment 3: Cliffhangers and Dramatic Tension ............................................................. 13

Assignment 4: Visual and Literary Analysis........................................................................ 15

The Final Assignment: Creative Writing and Thinking ....................................................... 17

Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 19

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 22

Works Cited ............................................................................................................................. 24

Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 26

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Introduction

This essay will present and discuss the use of the graphic novel The Walking Dead by Robert

Kirkman (2006) in a classroom environment. I intend to show how the use of the graphic novel

interacts with and fulfils many of the criteria of the curriculum for English 5 and 6 and how

graphic novels can be used to teach students about:

Visual literacy

Literary analysis

Creative writing

Creative thinking

Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to work with a graphic novel as an educational tool

during a seven-week project in an English 5 and an English 6 class. The English 5 class

consisted of 16 students, and there were three lessons per week, which meant that a total of 18

hours and 40 minutes was spent in the classroom. The same amount of time was also spent in

the English 6 class, which consisted of 20 students and two lessons per week. The lessons

focused on assignments that encouraged the students to work with new literary skills. The

lessons were also combined with the feedback they had received on previous work, in order to

help the students improve and understand the literary skills they were working with. Each

assignment was introduced with a lecture where I instructed the students how to work with the

assignments. The assignments consisted of essays and group discussions.

There were many other graphic novels that suited the project, but The Walking Dead was

the material that was available. I also had previous knowledge of the graphic novel. The project

was aimed at the English 5 and 6 courses. I structured the project by using formative

assessment, assessment for learning and scaffolding.

Background

In this section I will present and discuss the development of the graphic novel and how it has

recently become used in educational environments.

The first comics were printed in the late 1800s, and according to Andrew Edgar and Peter

Sedgwick (2008, 54), these first comics were developed to inspire mass literacy amongst

British children. The first American comic came in the early 1930s and was motivated by the

rise of printing technology (Eisner 1985, 7). The American comic originated in a purely

humorous form, however, during the peak of comic books in the 1940s and 1950s, when

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famous comics such as Superman and Captain America were created, there was a transition

which included adventure- and fantasy-based comics (Edgar and Sedgwick 2008, 54). The

comic book later branched into the graphic novel during the late 20th century. These graphic

novels included deeper realism and irony, and attempted to connect the reader with the

characters by telling stories of heroes who were realistic, and fallible people (Edgar and

Sedgwick 2008, 54-55).

The term “graphic novel” was coined by Will Eisner when he described his graphic novel

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories (1978), which is considered to be the first

work of the genre (Illinois 2010). It depicts four short stories about working-class Jewish life

in New York during the Great Depression and is very different to the superhero comics that

existed during the 1940s. However, during the 1980s “three classical graphic novels were

published: Watchmen, by Alan Moore; Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller;

and Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, by Art Spiegelman” (Illinois 2010). Both Watchmen and Batman

are based on superhero comics whereas Maus is akin to A Contract with God and Other

Tenement Stories since it tells the story of a Jewish person and their experiences through the

Holocaust.

Teachers have begun the process of making graphic novels into educational tools by

working with them in different subjects. An example of how teachers are beginning to use

graphic novels in a classroom environment is the graphic novel Maus. This graphic novel can

be used for historical purposes because it allows the reader to follow a story told by

Spiegelman’s father and his experiences as a Jew during the Holocaust. Spiegelman received

the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for Maus. The graphic novel can be used as a text to teach students

about the Holocaust or, as Valarie Phelps (2011, 57) claims, “be taught alongside other

Holocaust works such as The Diary of Anne Frank”. By using Maus to represent Holocaust

literature, there is evidence that teachers are beginning to see value in using graphic novels in

the classroom.

Furthermore, another graphic novel used in a classroom is Shaun Tan’s The Arrival

(2007), which uses a wordless narrative to show a story about isolation from the point of view

of a migrant, while using visual metaphor to assist the storytelling. In the article “The Power

of Words and Pictures: Graphic Novels in Education” (2011), Jesse Karp explains that due to

immigration being a common and relevant topic in the curriculum, a graphic novel can create

a layered experience by adding visual emotion and empathy in the text, which is “something

most history texts don’t-or can’t-do”(2011, 34). Therefore, The Arrival is a suitable

complement to textbooks when discussing and working with immigration. Karp provides

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example questions: “Why aren’t words used in The Arrival? What effect does this have on the

reader?” (2011, 34-35). These questions can be used in a discussion about language barriers

and why the use of visual metaphor is important.

Furthermore, Lila Christensen (2006, 228) discusses using graphic novels about the

Middle East in Graphic Global Conflict. Christensen uses Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi,

which features Satrapi’s early childhood in a “privileged, educated, progressive and political

Iranian family”. Persepolis describes how she was forced to wear a veil in public and that

political dissidents had been tortured and killed. The situation that she was brought up in is

very different from what the situation is in Europe today. Therefore, discussions about how life

is different and what freedom of speech means are possible topics.

In this essay I would like to show how The Walking Dead series by Robert Kirkman

functions as an educational tool. In the introduction to the first graphic novel in the series, Days

Gone Bye, Kirkman explains that The Walking Dead is a character-driven story where the

journey is more important than the destination. Kirkman hopes to “show you reflections of

your friends, your neighbours, your families and yourselves, and what their reactions are to the

extreme situations on [sic] this book” (“Introduction”). By showing how he imagines people

would react in the depicted situations, the graphic novel attempts to convince the reader that it

is not a stereotypical zombie story, but instead a story about human behaviour and survival in

a post-apocalyptic world. The graphic novel can be used to create many different types of

assignments and discussions. In a classroom, The Walking Dead creates opportunities to work

with creative writing and thinking, literary analysis and cultural aspects that are mentioned in

the curriculum for English 5 and English 6.

The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic story where the main protagonist Rick Grimes,

a small-town police officer in Georgia, US, tries to survive in a world overrun by zombies

together with and his family and friends. As the story progress, the characters are pushed to

their limits, and Kirkman attempts to show how people might react when they are trying to

survive in extreme conditions.

Aims and Theoretical Background

Before I began this project I explained to the students that their results and discussions would

be part of my study, and that they would be anonymous.

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The aim of this paper is to present what happened during the project at my internship,

what the aims of the project were, and to reflect on what went well and what could have been

improved. The aims of the project were to show:

How graphic novels can be used as educational tools.

How the graphic novel The Walking Dead can be used as an educational tool.

Why graphic novels should be used as educational tools.

How graphic novels fulfil the curriculum for English 5 and 6 in areas such as: reception,

written and oral production, literary analysis, moral values, and creative writing and

thinking.

What the educational benefits of combining visual literacy and traditional literacy are.

How formative assessment, assessment for learning, and scaffolding provide structure

for education and longer projects.

To achieve these aims I set a series of educational goals for each lesson and assignment. The

general goal for each assignment and lesson was to allow the students to work with reception,

production and interaction. However, the central goals varied depending on the focus of the

lesson or assignment. The group discussions focused on human behaviour and values by

comparing the graphic novel to reality, and I asked the students to motivate their opinions and

to relate the text to their own experiences and emotions. The written assignments focused on

creative writing and reading comprehension. Additionally, I constructed the lessons by using

formative assessment, assessment for learning, and by adapting the assignments to be within

the zone of proximal development of the majority of the students. I also analysed what went

well and what could be improved shortly after a lesson or assignment in order to improve future

lessons and assignments. The analyses included reflecting on the formats of the assignments,

and if another format would be beneficial for the students.

The written assignments and the oral discussions will form the material that is analysed

in this essay. I will discuss some of the positive and negative aspects of using the graphic novel

as an educational tool. The assignments varied in form: classroom discussions, individual as

well as group discussions, short written essays, and lastly a longer written essay. Most of the

tasks focused on creative thinking and writing, while at the same time the students had to

analyse different aspects of the graphic novel. Examples of the topics they have worked with

are: facial and body expressions of the characters, character personalities and traits.

The graphic novel has become a subject of investigation for educational purposes, and,

according to Fredrik Strömberg (2015), the graphic novel has a history of being looked down

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upon as educational material (Serier i undervisningen 2015). This view derives from the

difference between highbrow and lowbrow literature. When defining literary value, Andrew

Edgar and Peter Sedgwick state that some works, rather than being considered great when

published, receive validation at a later time. Their literary value also seems to have implications

for the legitimacy of power structures in society (Edgar and Sedgwick 1994, 4). The dominant

culture in society determines the validity of literature, and because culture spreads through

media such as literature, it strengthens its position as the dominant culture. Therefore, what

becomes highbrow literature is chosen by the societal elite to define what is seen as culturally

valuable and to provide literature that society should aspire to read (Edgar and Sedgwick 2008,

82). In contrast, lowbrow literature concerns that which is not imbued with cultural value. An

example of this is the comic book, which was seen as the cause of all youth problems in Sweden

during the 1950s and 1960s, and was frowned upon by all pedagogical institutions (Serier i

undervisningen 2015). However, during recent years the benefits of graphic novels and how

they can interact with the curriculum are being discussed. Lila Christensen mentions: reading

comprehension, topics about ethics, values and existential questions (2006, 227-228) as

examples of these benefits. Depending on the graphic novel, certain areas of the curriculum

may be more forthcoming than others, but the ones I have mentioned as the aims of the project

are part of the most prominent in The Walking Dead. Prior to the project, I analysed the material

to see if graphic novels were a good source of material for teaching and education. When I

chose to use the graphic novel as an educational tool I applied learning theories from Dylan

William and Paul Black – assessment for learning – Jerome Bruner – scaffolding and Lev

Vygotsky – social constructivism.

Social constructivism and scaffolding are two theories that have a great deal in common,

and it is difficult to discuss one without the other. Social constructivism emphasises the

collaborative nature of learning and is a form of cognitive constructivism. It stresses that

learning is part of a social construct and not simply the assimilation of new knowledge (Berkley

2015). Lev Vygotsky (1978, 86) claims that when teachers define the level of a learner they

assess them through tests. This means that teachers assume that a learner’s development is

assessed by what they can do on their own. Furthermore, Jerome Bruner (1983, 60) defines

“scaffolding as a process of ‘setting up’ the situation to make the child’s entry [into the current

subject or assignment] easy and successful and then gradually pulling back and handing the

role to the child as he becomes skilled enough to manage it”. Thus, when applying scaffolding

to students, the teacher helps them to understand how to accomplish a task until the point where

they are able to solve a similar task by themselves. When the students are able to do this, they

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enter what is called the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Berkley 2015). Scaffolding

exists not only through teacher assistance, but also through student collaboration. The ability

of each learner varies while receiving assistance, but this does not mean that the student who

fails at a task independently will fail while collaborating with others. The level of development

at which the learner is able to solve problems independently is their “actual development” level

(Berkley 2015). Therefore, both scaffolding and social constructivism claim that learners need

to be brought into the ZPD in order to progress. Thus, both teacher assistance and collaboration

with peers can cause the transition into the ZPD to happen.

Another educational tool that can be used to find the ZPD is assessment for learning. This

is a term used by Black and William (2010) to “refer to all those activities undertaken by

teachers—and by their students in assessing themselves—that provide information to be used

as feedback to modify teaching and learning activities” (82). The results of the assessment

becomes formative assessment when used to adapt the assignments and classroom activities to

suit the students’ needs. This information is valuable to teachers, as it allows them to adapt

their assignments and lessons to their class’ necessities. An example of formative assessment

is when a teacher walks around in the classroom making observations and giving immediate

feedback by helping students when a problem is observed. Rather than waiting and constructing

a lesson about the observed problems, the teacher attempts to solve the issue(s) directly.

However, how the teacher deals with an issue depends on the number of students who

experiences it. If there are more than a couple of students, it is ideal to adapt future lessons to

discuss and solve the problem (Black and William 2010, 86). Simultaneously, if the problem

exists with only a few students, discussing and explaining directly will both save time and

allow the students to progress with the rest of the class, and not fall behind. Afterwards, it is

important to reconnect to the issues and see if any progress in solving the problem has been

made. The reconnection can be done with smaller assignments or tests, to allow the students to

show that they have understood the problem. The practical application of these theories in the

classroom allows the process of assignment and lesson development to reach a state where the

students are continuously challenged, and focused on areas that they need to improve. There is

also the element of feedback, which may provide students with insights about their own study

techniques and their ability to assess their own learning (Black and William 2010, 84). I

decided to use these theories because they work well together and are similar. The way the

students work also provides a great deal of information about their understanding of the subject:

if they need additional assistance or if they work independently.

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The graphic novel is more than a novel: while a novel is text-based, the graphic novel

contains both images and text that needs to be decoded to understand what is happening in the

frames and the plot. The frame is the main part of the graphic novel where the narration takes

place. Novels narrate their stories through descriptions which are interpreted by the reader. The

graphic novels, on the other hand, narrate their stories through frames that consist of images,

speech bubbles and captions which visualises what happens. The images need to be decoded

and interpreted in order for the reader to understand how the story is progressing. To be able

to decode what occurs in a frame, the student needs to analyse dialogue, captions, fonts,

imagery and shading. For example, when a character shouts, the font changes to visualise that

the character is shouting. Similarly, the shading of a frame can alter how the content is

perceived. If a character is angry they, often have darker shades in their features to signify their

emotion (Eisner 1985, 16-30). In order to process this decoding, the students are required to

work with visual literacy. Frank Baker argues that, today, much information is communicated

visually through television and the internet. This visual information needs to be understood by

analysing and decoding the material (2012, 44). In graphic novels, students need to be able to

understand what happens in the frames and what the characters imply through physical

expressions, rather than just reading it. In traditional literacy a character might be described as

angry, but in a graphic novel the image has to be read to understand that a character is angry.

Scholars and teachers are beginning to realise that teachers and students live in a media-

dominated society, where the traditional literacy of reading and writing is no longer sufficient

(Schwarz 2006, 59). Students need to supplement their critical thinking with visual literacy

since they need to be able to read more than just text; they need to read films, TV shows, web-

sites, and short video clips. Students who have grown up in a multi-media society are faced

with a lot of visual stimuli and information through the use of several types of media.

Consequentially, Alverman and Hagood argue that students today “must acquire the analytic

tools necessary for critically ‘reading’ all kinds of media texts, film, video […]” (2000, 203).

By working with graphic novels, the students develop tools which they can apply to

information they receive from all types of media. To develop these tools, students need to pay

attention to literary elements such as character, plot and dialogue. Moreover, they are required

to analyse and interpret the visual elements of the different frames, which includes shading,

colour, and frame layout.

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Previous Research

There has previously been research conducted about using graphic novels in a classroom

environment. For example, Jesse Karp (2011) discusses that using students’ visual vocabulary

as learning tools through graphic novels increases student enthusiasm. Furthermore, Lila

Christensen (2006, 227) claims that the visual components of a graphic novel support reading

comprehension and make “stories accessible to readers at all levels”. Additionally, Serier i

Undervisningen is a Swedish organisation that encourages the usage of comics and graphic

novels in classroom environments. For example, they provide free resources for teachers on

how to use comics and graphic novels as educational tools.

I chose to use these sources in my project, because the authors express ideas similar

to the aims I wanted to achieve. Furthermore, these authors discuss different aspects of using

graphic novels and what the benefits are, which were useful for me in understanding, planning,

and constructing a literary project based on a graphic novel.

Results and Analysis

In this section I will explain the process of planning the lessons and what each lesson was

aiming to achieve in relation to the curriculum. I will discuss each assignment individually

through examples from the assignment, as well as short discussions about how the students

managed the tasks. Each assignment aimed to allow the students to work with different parts

of the curriculum. Furthermore, as the students in class 5 and 6 had similar skill levels, I will

not discuss them as separate classes. I will use examples from individual students from both

classes without distinction.

Before I began this project, I considered what components are needed to make a literary

project work. The project required a literary glossary (Appendix), a class set of the graphic

novel and a method to analyse the graphic novel. The glossary is composed of different words

that were chosen from other literary glossaries, as well as words I have previously used in other

literary analyses. Each student received a printed glossary, and the glossary was also available

on an online platform, from which the students could download it.

Prior to the first assignment, I introduced and handed out the literary glossary. The words

were discussed in class and the students worked with them in order to get an understanding of

the different parts of the graphic novel. During the project I realised there were words missing

from the glossary, such as dramatic tension. I added this term and introduced and explained it

in class.

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After each assignment, I evaluated what issues the students had faced, and arranged a

lecture focused on these problem areas. These lectures functioned as repetition to allow the

students further progression within the subject, as discussed by William (2014, 7-8). However,

it is also important to note that the difference in level of English may influence how a student

expresses themselves, which may not be lack of visual literacy, but a lack of vocabulary.

Lastly, the selection of examples are chosen from students who either struggled or were

at an advanced level. However, the selection of examples from these two groups of students

were randomised. The choice to use examples from these two groups was to show a clear

difference in how the instructions and assignments were understood.

Assignment 1: Introduction to Visual Literacy and the Graphic Novel

In the lessons that led up to the first assignment, I talked to the students about what a graphic

novel is. I also introduced The Walking Dead and what it was, but since a lot of students had

seen the television series with the same name before, discussions regarding the story and plot

of The Walking Dead arose. When I defined graphic novel as a post-apocalyptic story, I

assigned the students into smaller groups in order to discuss what the term post-apocalyptic

meant. The discussions included bringing up examples of different apocalyptic events, such as

nuclear holocaust, viral diseases and global warming. I asked the students to think for a while

about how they would react if the people in the classroom were the only survivors of such an

event? After this discussion, we read the introduction to The Walking Dead, which led to a

discussion about its content.

The first assignment aimed at teaching the students how to read a graphic novel and how

to identify what can be seen in the different frames. An additional benefit was that I could gain

an understanding each student’s level of English. The lesson where the students began working

with the assignment I held a lecture with examples of how images can be analysed and what

important parts of a frame might be. We also examined and discussed the first and second page

of The Walking Dead. Before they began working with the assignment, the students had to read

up to page 12. The assignments’ goals were for the students to write a short text about:

What happens to the main character?

What does he see in his surroundings?

How does he react?

What goes through his mind?

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These questions were introduced and put into context with the different parts of the graphic

novel and words that I had previously introduced. I would argue that when looking through a

character’s eyes, it is important for the reader to be able to distinguish what the character is

focusing on. This ability to understand the focus of the characters in a graphic novel is

important because a characters reaction depends on what they focus on, rather than what is in

their peripheral vision.

During the assignment I noticed that some students had not understood the instructions

completely. These students wrote very short and basic texts of what happened, and attempted

to summarise all 12 pages into a few sentences. Student 1 provides the example:

I wake up. Where am I? I realize I’m in a hospital.

Where is everyone? I guess I’ll try the elevator so I can get out of here.

What is that thing? Is it alive?

Why’s that door blocked? Let’s have a look. HOLY CRAP! I have to get out of this place.

Maybe I can take that car, shoot, it’s looked. What the hell has happened.

Student 1’s description of what happens in the graphic novel is very brief and fragmented. The

student’s text describes what happens, but without providing any information that repositions

the reader between the different situations. While this was supposed to be a short text, I

instructed the students that their texts should be able to be understood without the graphic

novel, since they are writing out the thoughts and reactions of the character, including a

narrative of what happens to him. The information in the example is brief, and between some

sentences there are gaps in of information where the reader does not understand the progression

of what happens to the character. The lack of information indicates, as Schwarz (2006, 59)

argues, that the student had not understood how to read the visual information in the graphic

novel, nor how to merge both textual and visual information into their own text.

However, some students had understood the instructions better, and Student 2 wrote the

following example:

I continue walking and see a curious looking door. It has been closed off by an object.

I’m very afraid of what’s on the other side, but want to know what happened. Many things

is going through my mind. Is everyone dead? Is that why everything is turned off? Is the

horrible smell coming from rotten bodies? Behind the door I see a lot of rotten bodies

lying on the floor, the tables and one is standing right in front of me. They are coming

towards me and they are making a messed up sound. Are they all dead?

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Student 2’s description of what happens is coherent, and explains both what the main character

thinks, as well as how he reacts. While it is not obvious what the character focuses on, there is

an attempt to show that the focus is constantly shifting, which might be the student’s

interpretation of how the main character reacts. According to Eisner (1985), this attempt

indicates that the student is beginning to understand how to decode a graphic novel and

distinguish different aspects in an image (140)

There is a clear contrast between the two students’ texts, and here it becomes noticeable

that a majority of the students had issues decoding information from the visual elements of the

graphic novel and rephrasing it using their own words. Many students also had issues with

writing a coherent text, and their texts were a combination of coherent and fragmented

paragraphs.

Moreover, I understood there was a need to further explain how to decode a graphic novel

and what the word “detail” meant. Even though I had assisted the students during the class, it

was still necessary to have a short lecture after the assignment to allow the students to discuss,

think and explain the different aspects of an image. These discussions and explanations were

the beginning of the feedback process that I used to determine the level of English and visual

literacy for each student. The feedback also allowed me to prepare the following assignments

and lessons to include more detailed instructions (Black and William 84, 2010).

Assignment 2: Reading Comprehension

Prior to the second assignment the students had read up to page 32 in the graphic novel. The

assignment was a group discussion that focused on:

What is the story so far?

What has the main character learned?

How is the dialogue presented?

What type of imagery is used?

Describe the different settings visited.

The assignment focused on literary analysis, and allowed me to observe how the students had

read the graphic novel. In the English 5 class there were four groups of four, and there were

five groups of four in the English 6 class. Each group also had to assign a student to write a

brief summary of their discussion and hand it in.

During the discussion, the different groups focused on different parts of the story.

However, the majority of the discussions began by going through the questions very quickly

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before deciding upon a question to discuss further. With this in mind, a few groups initially

failed to keep the discussion going for a longer period of time on their own, and this resulted

in short and brief answers without properly addressing each question. Before I assisted them

they had mostly answered the questions as if this was a test rather than a discussion. Below is

an example from Group 1:

Rick got mixed emotions, he is sad, angry, happy and more.

That Rick is going to Atlanta to find his family.

These answers are evidence that the discussion was brief. The range of emotions that the main

character displays is broader than sadness, anger or happiness. Simultaneously, the graphic

novel display more than the main character searching for his family, which the student has

omitted. That the students had misunderstood the instructions could indicate that I was not clear

when I introduced the assignment and that I could have spent more time explaining and

showing the students what the aims of the assignment was. Initially, Group 1’s answers gave

the impression that the assignment was outside of their ZPD. However, after talking and

instructing the group it was apparent that the assignment was at an appropriate difficulty level

for them. However, despite being able to discuss and analyse the graphic novel, the students

were showing evidence of not having understood how to decode the imagery. According to

Vygotsky, this lack of understanding might indicate that the tools to read the graphic novel had

not yet matured in the students, but were in the process of maturation (Vygotsky 1978, 87).

Moreover, the groups that held discussions without much teacher assistance were more

descriptive and observed many different details. Below is an example from Group 2:

There is a lot of emotions, in one page there are sadness and in another there are

happiness. Like when he finds the horse, he is happy and get hope that he will get to the

city anyway, without fuel.

He is going to the city to find his family and get them secured. That’s the only thing he

wants right now. Morgan and Duane is still hiding.

While this group’s submitted report was not as descriptive as their discussion, there is evidence

to see in the example that they understood the assignment better than Group 1. Groups 2’s first

answer is similar to Group 1s, but Group 2 have added examples to further explain their

statement. Groups 2’s discussion contained detailed explanations, and the group members

provided examples to support their opinion. They examined setting, physical expressions, and

dialogue. As a group, they managed to keep the discussion going and discussed details and

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opinions, and they were able to motivate their reasoning. The details from the discussion

signify that the tools to decode the graphic novel had progressed enough to the point where

they could work with, and finish the assignment. Furthermore, the students gave feedback to

the rest of the group during the discussion, and this included self-assessment when the students

assessed and discussed their opinions during the assignment (Black and William 2010, 85).

Some of the students in the advanced groups were not advanced students, however, during the

discussion these students had similar results as the more advanced students because they

received support from the rest of the group. The example proves that the group was in the ZPD

and that the support from the group created scaffolding for the weaker students, which is

explained by Walqui (2006, 163).

This assignment shows how scaffolding can be achieved in two different ways: both

through support by peers, and through teacher assistance. The results also show that the

students reached the aims of the assignment and began to understand how to decode a graphic

novel as well as pay attention to the different aspects of visual literacy.

Assignment 3: Cliffhangers and Dramatic Tension

By the third assignment, the students had finished the graphic novel, both at home and in class.

The third assignment focused on the students’ ability to recognise cliffhangers and what

constitutes as a cliffhanger. The assignment was an individual essay, and I encouraged the

students not to discuss the assignment with their peers in order to focus on what they themselves

believed to be a cliffhanger. The goals of the assignment were:

Describe what happens in the frames, and why you want to continue reading.

How are the characters presented?

Describe the narrative of the dialogue.

Provide examples of dramatic tension and explain what causes it.

The assignment aimed for the students to identify different literary devices such as dramatic

tension and narrative.

Initially, the students had difficulties finding different cliffhangers. There are several

cliffhangers in the graphic novel. As a consequence of the difficulties, I reintroduced what

cliffhangers were, and how to recognise one. After this repetition, most of the students managed

to identify a couple of different cliffhangers. They could also motivate why they saw suspense

in parts of the story. Below is an example from Student 3:

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In one of the frame, Glenn flipped the cart, so all the guns were spread out all over the

ground. That was one of the first good cliffhangers that really made me want to continue

reading. During that moment in the comic the undead people started to surround them as

well. What will happen to all the guns and ammo? If Glenn and Rick don't pick up the

guns again, did they enter the city unnecessarily? I’d care more about my own life than

picking up the guns again, and go back later when it has stopped raining. That made me

want to continue reading, because will they just leave the guns, and try to get to a safe

place, or will they maybe die trying to claim the guns again?

Student 3 described the cliffhanger very briefly, but managed to explain thoroughly why they

felt compelled to continue reading and what the suspense in the scene was. The student also

described the dramatic tension by asking if the characters might die if they were to attempt to

reclaim the weapons, or if their venture into the city was a waste of time. The student

understood the emergency of what happened in the dialogue by reading the phrases “Oh God”

and “Hurry!”. However, the dialogue itself only portrays a sense of urgency and panic. Only

by combining traditional literacy and visual literacy can it be understood how the characters

are overwhelmed by zombies and how impossible it seems to pick up the guns that have been

dropped on the ground. This means that the student has combined, as Schwarz claims, the

traditional literary elements of character and dialogue together with visual aspects of the

imagery (2006, 59). Furthermore, through the combination of literacies, the student had a better

understanding of plot and the different literary devices.

However, the level of detail and description in the answers varied amongst the students.

One student had understood the assignment, but instead decided to summarise the cliffhangers

they found, and afterwards motivated how the dialogue was presented and what caused the

dramatic tension:

When it begins to rain and they are going back to the camp the zombies are notice them.

Because you don´t know if they can go back to camp alive or like a zombie. It is like you

don´t know what going to happen to they.

Compared to Student 3, Student 4 describes the situation in a simplified manner. The

description is limited to facts, and the only emotion described is the uncertainty of the

cliffhanger. The simplification shows that the instructions were not clear enough for this

student, and while the student understood the basics of the assignment there was a

misunderstanding concerning how to motivate the choice of cliffhangers. What is important to

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note is that the final sentences of Student 4’s essay reveals that the student had understood

some of the literary devices that the assignment focused on:

There are a lot of dramatic tension in the walking dead. You doun´t know how

they are going to act in next page. When you read the book you thinks you know

watt they are going to do but they don’t do it like you thinks.

Here Student 4 shows that they had a basic grasp of dramatic tension and that they recognised

that it reoccurs in the story. Despite the lack of specific descriptions and motivation of the

cliffhanger, the answer reveals that the student was aware of what the element of suspense was,

and that it was important. However, as previously stated, this was not the aim of the assignment,

since the motivation, why the students regarded the cliffhanger to be a cliffhanger, had to be a

part of the description instead of a separate answer. It could be argued that the student would

have been able to merge the two parts had this not been an individual assignment. Vygotsky

(1978) states that what a student knows is not simply determined by what they manage

independently, but also by what they can achieve with some assistance. Therefore, if the

students had been allowed to discuss their essays with their peers, the results might have been

different. Collaboration and peer assistance will be further analysed in the discussion section.

Assignment 4: Visual and Literary Analysis

Assignment 4 was a written essay where the students were asked to write about their favourite

character, focusing on the following questions:

What does the character look like and how is their physical state?

How does the character feel about what has happened, and what is currently happening

around them?

Describe the character’s personality, values and how the character react to different

things. Do some of their values make them react in a certain way?

In order to answer the questions in the assignment, the students had to motivate why they saw

certain personality trains in their chosen character by providing examples from the graphic

novel. The assignment was aimed at the students’ ability to read graphic novels through the

combination of visual and traditional literacy.

Assignment 4 was the first longer essay since the beginning of the project, and there was

noticeable progression in the students’ ability to decode graphic elements through visual

literacy. However, this did not mean that all of the students understood the assignment directly.

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The instructions had to be explained to a few students. There was also a discussion about “what

if I do not have a favourite character?”, which led to an alteration of the title of the students’

assignments into “describing a character”. It can be argued that this adjustment created an

opportunity for these students to understand what they were supposed to do.

Furthermore, the overall quality of the students’ productions had improved. However,

there were students who struggled with some aspects of visual literacy. The following is an

example by Student 5:

His values is that he values his family above all. He would probably die for his family I

mean he traveled all the way to Atlanta for his family based on someone he just met said.

Luckily they were there and he could reunite with them. That is the only time he cries in

the entire book and that proves that he really really loves his family and that he would do

anything for them.

The student provides a very basic description of what their character’s values are. For example,

the student only mentions family values, which is only one aspect of his values presented in

the graphic novel. The examples and motivations for the character’s values provide limited

information that the graphic novel was understood. However, it is clear that the student has

partially understood what character values are. Student 5 claims that family values are the most

important values for the character, which indicates that the student found other values, and for

some reason chose not to compare them. However, the student wanted to further explain what

the character feels, but did not manage to do so. This resulted in an additional vague

description:

I would say that he shows every emotion there is, he is happy sometimes, sad sometimes

and angry sometimes.

Student 5’s description is vague and could describe any human being. Assignment 4 could have

been improved by providing clearer instructions and alternative methods for the students to

present their findings. After the assignment I considered alternative methods such as handing

out sample texts, and changing the format of the assignment into a presentation. Student 5’s

examples are brief and vague, which suggests that the student does not completely understand

how to decode the visual elements of the graphic novel. The examples suggest that the student

understood traditional literacy, as they provided basic emotions and values which are both part

of speech. However, as the student only displayed basic information it is possible, as Schwarz

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(2006) discusses, that the student does not understand the visual elements enough to describe

what is seen.

However, while some students struggled with visual literacy and required further

instruction, other students had a better understanding of visual literacy and understood how to

apply to the assignment, as seen in an example from Student 6:

Glenn is the first person who actually explains what these things are to Rick, and warns

him to not let them bite you. The way he explains to him shows that he is pretty

experienced with zombies, since he’s probably the one who has to deal with them the

most. He doesn't seem like he’s freaked out about what has happened, more like he has

come to peace with it

Student 6 describes the character with more detail than Student 5, and the details in the visual

elements analysed are visible. By explaining that the character’s language is based on

experience reveals that the student has reached a level of maturity in their visual literacy. By

describing the character as calm and being at peace with the situation suggests that the student

was able to decode character expressions and thought patterns through imagery in the text,

which, according to Eisner is one way to understand the abstract events happening in the story

(1985, 127). The development of visual literacy skills progressed in the ZPD to the point where

the student finished the assignment without assistance. The student’s understanding of the

imagery, suggests that the scaffolding that the student previously needed could be withdrawn

before the final assignment.

The Final Assignment: Creative Writing and Thinking

The final assignment was a written essay in which the students had to independently write a

short story about one of two characters and what happens to them between page 1 and 55. There

is minimal information available in the graphic novel about what happens to either character

during these pages, which allowed the students creative freedom. The goal of the assignment

was for the students to:

Create a fictional short story taking place during the course one month

Write from the point of view of one of two assigned characters

Describe how the character would react in different situations.

To achieve these goals the student would need to have understood the graphic novel and

analysed their character throughout the graphic novel by combining both visual and traditional

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literacy. The aim of the assignment was to combine what they had learned from the graphic

novel’s story and to use creative writing and creative thinking to write a short story.

There were only 13 submissions for this assignment, which was the least number of

submissions for any assignment. However, it is interesting to note that it was not only the

advanced students who submitted the assignment. There were also students who struggled with

their English and literary skills. The most common problem was that the students had not

understood parts of the instructions or that they had misspelled the name of their character.

However, despite these problems, there were no problems with their creative ability or their

interpretations of the graphic novel. An example of creative ability and interpretation is seen

in Student 7’s example:

When Lori heard about what had happened she was shocked. Her husband had just been

shot and she did not know what to do, should she go get Carl from school? Or would she

rush to the hospital to see her wounded husband.

Student 7 began the short story by revealing the character’s immediate response and emotion,

while including a brief hint of what sort of values the chosen character has. The student’s

description of the dilemma reveal that the student had analysed the character before writing the

assignment. An important aspect of the chosen character’s personalisation is her strong

physical reactions and emotions. According to Baker (2012, 44), the student’s observation

show that they managed to decode the information in the image as well as understand the

purpose of the images, and turn it into text. Furthermore, Student 7 also wrote:

She got home but stayed in the car. She thought about what had happened and started to

believe that it was some kind of a dream. She shrugged that thought away and went in.

Shane had bought pizza for dinner and Carl was happy to see his mommy again. They ate

the pizza and talked for some time but when Carl asked were daddy were, Lori started

crying and Shane explained what had happened. Carl didnt say anything. He just stood

up and went upstairs.

What is shown in this example is a repetition of the same knowledge that could be seen in the

student’s previous example. Considering the student’s decision to write about the character’s

concern for her son’s feelings and how she reacts, it is shown that the student’s ability to

understand, analyse and reconstruct both visual and textual information into their own words

was in a late stage of maturation.

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Furthermore, Student 8 had a different approach to the assignment and began the short

story with:

Shane picked up his gun and shot that redneck that just brought his partner down. The

redneck fell down on the ground lifeless. Then Shane called for an ambulance and started

CPR on Rick. He had tried to get Rick back to life for over 10 minutes before the

ambulance arrived and lifted Rick up and placed him on a stretcher and lifted him in to

the ambulance.

Student 8’s introduction to their short story is more direct than Student 7’s, and lacks

explanations about how the character reasons regarding his actions and what his emotions are.

This suggests that Student 8 has not fully grasped how to read and analyse information through

visual literacy. Comparing to Student 7, who successfully decoded information from the

images, Student 8 had only decoded superficial information, which means that the student

lacked understanding in the decoding process and how the visual elements work. This lack of

understanding suggests that the student would need to further work with visual literacy to

transfer information from the graphic novel into a short story of their own. Despite

improvements, the student requires feedback and assistance regarding both visual literacy and

creative writing. Throughout the text, the student avoided describing the character’s emotions

in detail. When portraying an emotion, the student wrote that the character is angry or worried

which are two surface emotions. The depiction of surface emotions means that the student

ignored the character’s inner conflict. The usage of surface emotions further proves that student

8’s visual literacy abilities had not yet matured.

Discussion

In this section, I will discuss my results and analyse what went well and what can be improved.

In contrast to the result section, I will discuss the classes as two separate classes.

After each assignment I analysed and evaluated what had happened during the lessons

and how the students had understood the assignment. Initially, there was a great deal of

feedback from the students and I had to alter the preliminary instructions for future

assignments. These alterations were a result of the first assignment failing to achieve its aims,

and to be inside the students’ ZPD. The failure was a consequence of the students not

understanding the instructions, which led to a lack of detail in their essays. Subsequently, I

understood that the aims of the first assignment were not fulfilled. At this point I had an

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understanding of the English and literacy levels of the students, and thus I could adapt each

assignment to be in their ZPD. However, the need to alter the instructions could have been

prevented by providing a more thorough instructional lecture. The instructions could have been

be put into context with examples from the graphic novel together with a digital presentation

to show what information can be decoded in an image. The instructions could have included

providing a better example of an essay format, which the students could look at to better

understand how to produce the required format. These types of instructions could have

prevented the short and incoherent essays, and would have allowed the students to better

convey what they had understood.

Moreover, after each English 6 lesson, I used the criticism I received as well as the flaws

that I noticed in my instructions or lectures, and altered them for the English 5 lessons, which

all took place after the English 6 lessons. According to William (2014), the difficulties

experienced by one group can be used to modify the lectures and instructions for another.

However, the alterations in the instructions may not be applicable to all classes, but as a

consequence of the similarities between the classes, the alterations were relevant (William

2014, 7). By using the feedback from one class and applying it to another class before the

possible issues arise, the teaching becomes more efficient. Due to the scheduling, the English

6 group never received the same benefit as the English 5 group.

Additionally, I noticed that the students were more engaged when they were allowed to

discuss and talk to their classmates about what they were doing. This engagement supports the

use of social constructivism as explained by Vygotsky (1978), and I would argue that it is

beneficial not only from a learning perspective, but also from a classroom morale perspective.

For example, the final assignment had the fewest submissions, and this could have been a

consequence of the students working outside of the classroom, as well as scheduling issues due

to school holidays. However, assignment 3, which was also an individual assignment, had a

large number of submissions. However, the details and explanations in these essays were not

as descriptive as the examples in the discussions of assignment 2, or in the essays of assignment

4. Therefore, I argue that the lack of collaboration can be disadvantageous for some students.

Scaffolding, which is part of both teacher assistance and collaboration, offers these students a

forum to express their ideas, which might not have occurred to them otherwise. (Vygotsky

1978, 86).

Moreover, assignment 2, which was a group discussion, allowed the students to express

their thoughts and ideas freely and with more detail. Even the groups that had issues managed

to further explain their thoughts and ideas after teacher assistance. Similarly, in the groups that

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worked independently, each student participated and discussed with more detail compared to

when they were working on their own. During the discussions, the group members helped each

other, which provided new opportunities for them to share what they knew (William 2014, 7-

8). Furthermore, it can be argued that the students became more proficient by being allowed to

discuss their ideas and working with the abilities that were relevant to the assignment. It is

important to remember that assignment 2 was early on in the project, and it is understandable

that the students had not become proficient with visual literacy.

However, during assignment 4 it became possible to see that students from both classes

were more comfortable with visual literacy and their ability to read graphic novels, as the

students were able to describe character traits with increased detail. Progression was also

visible in the students who struggled. As stated in the result section, the overall quality of the

students’ work and understanding of visual literacy improved in both classes throughout the

project. However, as Walqui argues, it is important to understand that while some students

struggled with decoding the different emotions and details they read, it may not mean that they

did not understand what they read, but may have lacked the English vocabulary and self-

confidence when trying to explain what they had understood (2006, 161).

Moreover, the students had issues explaining narrative and what a cliffhanger consisted

of, which indicates that the instructions for assignment 3 were insufficient. Furthermore, it was

apparent that feedback and scaffolding was a necessity for the students’ abilities to develop.

The words “narrative” and “cliffhanger” had been introduced a few weeks prior to assignment

3, which meant that the repetition lecture given for this assignment was too brief since they

struggled with the concepts. The repetition lecture could have been improved by addressing

additional issues and by re-introducing the concepts. The structure of the lesson and assignment

would require more time and examples of how to write about the different concepts. The

alteration of the structure also includes, as previously mentioned, that this specific assignment

could have worked better if the students had been allowed to share and discuss ideas. In

comparison with assignments 2 and 4, the students’ language and grammar needed

improvement, which could be a direct result of not being able to talk and peer review together

with their classmates.

Furthermore, the students had similar issues in the final assignment, as they did in

assignment 3. It can thus be concluded that the feedback the students received was insufficient

and that I failed to provide enough scaffolding and instruction. However, as previously stated,

the assignment was mostly written outside of the classroom, and there was a school holiday in

the middle of the writing period. Ultimately, this can have affected the assignment and I should

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have altered the time constraints of the assignment to better suit the classes. The scheduling

was also affected by my internship coming to an end. However, there is evidence in the results

which shows that the students’ ability to work with creative writing had improved. The final

assignment was the one which relied the most on creative writing.

Admittedly, there are aspects of the project which could have been done differently and

have potential benefits. For example, assignment 3 or 4 could have been presented by the

students with a digital presentation, allowing them to work with something other than

discussions and essays. Furthermore, a digital presentation would enable students who

struggled to express themselves in text to better demonstrate their understanding through visual

elements. It could also have functioned as a way for the students to work with their own visual

literacy by using images and presenting their analysis digitally. In my opinion, the alterations

of the instructions worked well, despite the issues that existed. As I altered some instructions

from the English 6 lessons for the English 5 lessons, I noticed that the students understood the

instructions better, and began working earlier. Furthermore, the students’ questions focused on

vocabulary and grammar, which means that they needed assistance with the content rather than

the instructions. In hindsight, by not allowing the students to visually present their

understanding of visual literacy, I may have halted their progress as I focused on written

English instead of combing spoken and written English, which would have shown if the

students could combine the visual and traditional literacy.

Conclusion

The aim of the project that I have conducted was to show how graphic novels can be used as

educational tools, and why they should be used as educational tools. To achieve this, I used the

graphic novel The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. I analysed how certain aspects of the

curriculum for English 5 and 6 functioned as a framework for the use of graphic novels in the

classroom environment. I also chose to use formative assessment, assessment for learning and

scaffolding as the educational foundations of the project. I chose these theories in order to assist

the students’ learning. Moreover, I combined visual and traditional literacy to analyse what the

educational benefits were.

To achieve these aims, I held lectures in which I explained the relevant literary concepts.

I also provided assignments which focused on different areas of literary analysis, creative

writing, and reading comprehension. During the assignments and lessons, the students were

given feedback and the opportunity to discuss the issues that had arisen. According to

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assessment for learning, the feedback and discussions would allow the students to improve

their literary abilities. The Walking Dead provided sufficient material to be analysed and

discussed, while at the same time allowing the students to work with visual and tradition

literacy. The combination of literacies provided the students with the educational tool to further

understand how to decode information in images and visual media. I also evaluated and

analysed the students’ results and discussed how they had used the different literacies, as well

as analysing what went well and how the project could be improved. Ultimately, my project

proved that graphic novels can be used as an educational tool in the classroom, and that the

students’ progression in English and literacy abilities was evident. It is my belief that this

project could lead to other graphic novels being used in classroom environments, and to be

beneficial to other subjects as well.

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Works Cited

Primary Sources

Kirkman, Robert, 2006. The Walking Dead Vol 1: Days Gone Bye. Berkley, Ca: Image Comics.

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Practice in “New Times”." The Journal of Educational Research: 193-205. Accessed December

20, 2015.

Baker, Frank W. 2012. Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom. Eugene, Or: International Society for

Technology in Education.

Berkley, 2015. "Social Constructivism”. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-

contents/learning-theory-research/social-constructivism/.

Black, Paul, and Dylan William. 2010 "Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom

Assessment: Formative Assessment is an Essential Component of Classroom Work and can Raise

Student Achievement." Phi Delta Kappan, 81-90.

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Edgar, Andrew, and Peter Sedgwick. 1999. Key Concepts in Cultural Theory. London: Routledge.

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Eisner, Will. 1985. Comics & Sequential Art. Tamarac, Fla.: Poorhouse Press.

Illinois, 2015. "The History of Graphic Novels." Graphic Novels in the Classroom. Accessed December

8. http://courseweb.lis.illinois.edu/~gray21/GraphicNovels/.

Karp, Jesse. 2011. "The Power of Words and Pictures: Graphic Novels in Education: Use Students' Visual

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1065. Western Kentucky University

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Strömberg, Fredrik. "Forskning Kring Serier Och Pedagogik." Serier I Undervisningen.se. Accessed

December 8. http://Serier i undervisningen.se/forskning/.

Vygotsky, Lev. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Edited by

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Appendix