By Jessica Sanders

Using comic books in the classroom may seem unconventional to some teachers, however, many educators have found that they provide a variety of benefits in the classroom, including:

• Easy to track storylines
• Bright, attention-getting imagery
• Familiar characters that students want to read about
• New vocabulary, not otherwise found in children’s books

If you’re not sure how to bring comic books in the classroom, use these tips and lesson ideas.

1. Use comics as a bridge between what students already know and what they have to learn. (NCTE)

2. Differentiate instruction by using various adaptations of the same comic book. (Edutopia)

3. Analyze the inaugural March 2941 cover of Captain America when teaching about World War II. (iSchoolGuide)

4. Use comics to help students break down complex ideas and better understand plotline. Imagery makes this task much easier. (MacInstruct)

More: 7 Tools to Improve Reading Comprehension

5. Uncover different genre types with this small group lesson plan. (ReadWriteThink)

6. Make statistics more exciting with the comic book, “The Manga Guide to Statistics.” (Wired)

7. Encourage students to learn new words by having them draw their own comics. They’ll have to search for the right terms to help their characters express themselves. (Scholastic)

8. Improve your classroom library by adding digital comic books. (Mashable)

9. Pair popular comic books with classic literature. For example: Lead students from Batman to Hamlet. (Edutopia)

10. Use comic book characters to promote good behavior in the classroom. “…The Hulk shows us how to smash editing, Captain America and Superman remind them of the school rules of being safe…” (ComicBooks.About)

11. Encourage students to do more creative writing by having them write their own version of their favorite comic book. (Newsarama)

More: How to Inspire Creativity in the Classroom With Technology

12. Make 17th century science and history more exciting with Smithsonian’s webcomic, “The Secret in the Cellar.” (Smithsonian)

13. Use comic books to bring science lessons to life. (Graphic Classroom)

14. Teach students about how images enrich a story and can be used as storytelling elements. (Bright Hub Education)

15. Make lessons about onomatopoetic words come to life with the Bam! and Zing! of comic books. (ReadWriteThink)

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