Full STEAM Ahead: Graphic Novels and Primary Sources

Collaboration is an important value reflected in the AASL Shared Foundations for school librarians (2018). Not only are school librarians expected to collaborate with classroom teachers to design opportunities for inquiry for their students, but they must also make that learning relevant for their students by connecting their learning to their own lives and interests. Graphic novels, a powerful and popular visual medium, are one way to make learning engaging for our k-12 students who live in an increasingly visual and participatory culture. While the exploration of primary sources can often feel closely linked to traditional school tasks and assessments, it can also make history relevant and interesting for our students. Connecting and pairing primary sources with graphic novels that explore curricular topics is one way to breathe life into the traditional research task of finding, analyzing, and citing primary sources.

In this session, presenters will discuss a series of professional development workshops (supported by a grant from the Teaching with Primary Sources program at the Library of Congress) that were offered through a partnership between a university and local literacy organizations. These workshops paired school librarians and classroom teachers together to collaboratively design instruction using Library of Congress resources along with popular and exemplary graphic novels that explore science concepts like the evolution of flight and natural disasters, as well as historical content related to the Civil Rights Movement. As part of these workshops, participants were able to learn from graphic novel illustrators discussing the context for their work as well as experts in designing primary-source-based learning before collaboratively designing instruction for their own students.

AASL. (2018). National school library standards for learners, school librarians, and school libraries. ALA Editions. https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/national-school-library-standards-learners-school-librarians-and-school-libraries-aasl