As someone who was never into comics as a child, falling in love with graphic novels and their applications in the ELA classroom was a sweet surprise. But really, it shouldn’t be because graphic novels combine all my favorite ELA things: great literature, vivid imagery, and deep analysis. Just like the books themselves, teaching with graphic novels is an art form and this guide will equip you with everything you need to get started!
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog!
Creative and Cost-Effective Ways to Use Graphic Novels
One of the biggest challenges to implementing graphic novels in the classroom is cost. Class sets of books can be expensive, but here are some budget-friendly tips to get around this:
- Use Free Previews
Many publishers and book retailers offer free previews of their graphic novels online. These often include the first few chapters or selected excerpts. Share these digital snippets with students to spark their interest or use them as tools for mini-lessons. If you don’t want to link to Amazon, check out Overdrive previews instead!
- Leverage Your Local Library
Libraries are goldmines for graphic novels. Talk to your school or public librarian about borrowing multiple copies or exploring their inter-library loan programs. You might even ask them to help curate a collection specifically for your students.
- Use a Single Copy for Read-Alouds
If a full set isn’t in the budget, one copy can still go a long way. Highlight key scenes by projecting pages using a document camera or simply showing the pages as you walk about the room. This method works particularly well for introducing literary concepts like mood and symbolism.
- Introduce Graphic Novels in Literature Circles
Instead of purchasing full sets, pick a small selection of graphic novels and incorporate them into literature circle rotations. This allows students to discuss different texts in small groups before sharing insights with the class.
Teaching Core ELA Skills with Graphic Novels
Graphic novels are visually engaging and packed with opportunities to teach essential ELA skills. Here are some of the best ways to use them in your classroom:
1. Teach Summarizing Skills
Graphic novels are masters of summarization. By design, they condense stories into the most essential dialogue and visuals. This makes them perfect for teaching students summarizing skills.
How to Do It:
- Pick a section of a traditional text and compare it to its graphic novel adaptation.
- Discuss how the creator chose to depict key ideas visually.
- Have students practice summarizing the same section with pen and paper or a digital tool like Storyboard That.
Example Text Pairing: Compare F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby with its graphic novel adaptation. Discuss how the illustrations capture the opulence of the Jazz Age and summarize the text without losing meaning. I especially love teaching with graphic novels to help with the confusing and slow start of The Great Gatsby (what is an egg land formation again!?). It truly helps hook students and start them off on a confident note with this classic!
2. Develop Visual Literacy
We live in an image-saturated world. Teaching students how to “read” visuals is now a core literacy skill. Graphic novels make this easier by blending illustration and text in a way that feels meaningful and accessible.
How to Do It:
- Analyze how color, shading, angles, and composition affect the mood, tone, or character development in a specific panel.
- Have students create their own visualizations of literary scenes or characters inspired by prose texts.
Key Graphic Novel Example: The Romeo and Juliet graphic novel adaptation demonstrates how visuals can deepen our understanding of the classic text. If you teach Romeo and Juliet, this graphic novel is a must! Gareth Hinds sets the stage by visually portraying the division between the feuding Montague and Capulet families. By using distinct color palettes for each family—cool blues for the Montagues and fiery reds for the Capulets—the illustrations portray their conflict before a single line is spoken. This is where teaching with graphic novels becomes interesting because it’s easy to think that graphic novels are more for striving readers, but they can add depth and complexity to any unit when you go beyond the words on the page!
3. Explore Mood
Mood can be tricky to teach through traditional texts alone. With their vivid use of art and shadows, graphic novels can help students understand how authors create a certain “feeling” in their work.
How to Do It:
- Identify the mood of a specific graphic novel scene and ask students to find evidence in both the visuals and the words.
- Ask students to notice how each author/artist creates mood. What elements do they use for the different mediums?
- Challenge students to change the mood of a panel by altering the illustrations or dialogue.
Example Graphic Novel Activity: When teaching “The Raven” or a short story like “The Pit and the Pendulum” or “The Oval Portrait”, use Poe: Stories and Poems: A Graphic Novel and ask students to explain how the use of dark, shadowy illustrations and sharp contrasts contributes to its mysterious and eerie mood. What colors are used? What might be their color connotations? What other imagery contributes to the mood?
4. Teach Symbolism
Graphic novels often rely on recurring symbols to deepen their narratives. Because these symbols are visual, students can easily identify and analyze them.
How to Do It:
- Choose a recurring image or symbol and discuss its meaning.
- Tie this back to lessons on symbolism in prose or poetry.
Key Graphic Novel Example: The graphic adaptation of Beowulf uses the image of Beowulf holding Grendel’s head and includes the imagery of a cross. This highlights the tension between pagan and Christian ideals, making it a perfect springboard for analyzing complex themes in a visual format. Knowing I needed extra engagement when teaching Beowulf, this was the first graphic novel I ever bought for my classroom. Just one copy served me so well over the years and students loved our visual story time sessions!
5. Support English Language Learners (ELL)
Graphic novels are incredibly effective tools for ELL students. Studies show that visuals significantly aid English language learners, so graphic novels can provide context and visual vocabulary, helping these students build confidence and comprehension.
How to Do It:
- Pair ELL students with a graphic novel version of a traditional text they’re studying in class. This will provide visual context for key themes and vocabulary.
- Use graphic novels to introduce ELA skills in a way that’s easy to understand.
Example Resource: In addition to YA graphic novels like A Long Way Down for independent reading, Shakespeare graphic novels and classic adaptations of graphic novels provide ELL students with the visuals they need to make learning more accessible.
Build Lifelong Skills Through Engaging Texts
Teaching with graphic novels offers something for every learner. Reluctant readers often find graphic novels more approachable due to their visual nature while advanced readers will love analyzing a text and its visuals in a whole new way. From teaching summarizing and mood to supporting ELL students and visual literacy, the possibilities are endless. Plus, incorporating this medium into your curriculum is more cost-effective than you might think.
So, if you haven’t already, it’s time to bring graphic novels into your ELA classroom. Start with one or two titles and watch as your students get more out of the classics than ever before!
