Quote:
“Of course teachers should use comics across the curriculum, just as they might use film or poetry or painting. I can’t imagine teaching the Middle East without Sacco, the holocaust without Spiegelman, gender without Bechdel.”
-Dr. William Ayres, in an interview about his new book To Teach: The Journey, In Comics over at the Graphic Novel Reporter.
I’ll have to check this one out – my long term goal is to teach Visual Culture at a college or grad level, which obviously ties heavily into teaching and comics (and other pop culture product.) So it seems like this book would be right up my alley. The art doesn’t seem amazing at first glance, but I figure it’s worth a look (kind of like a Understanding Comics knock-off, honestly, but also combined with some strip I can’t name.)
I also read Ayres’ Fugitive Days and thought it was really very interesting. Guy got a lot of bad press last election cycle, but it was mainly using him as a tool to smear others – he’s been highly respected in his field for some time and everything I’ve read from him has been pretty good and well reasoned.
Anyway – was surprising to find out he is such a comic fan and just put one out himself!
If anyone has seen this out there, let me know what you think. It will be some time before I actually get to look at it in person, since I’ve got such a huge reading backlog.
My long-term goal is to teach and do academic research on American literature and visual culture as well. With the study of comics and comic books gaining wider acceptance these days (Maus was in the latest Norton Anthology of American Literature!) I think it’s a field on the verge of exploding and I’d really like to be a part of that growth. Thanks for pointing out this book, I’ll try and give it a look.
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It’s funny – Daniel is also currently a teacher.
What a bunch of ivory tower nerds!
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