The Visual Magic of Comics and How it can Impact the Reader
“What is literature?” Versaci asks his students at the beginning of every semester, already inferring the dislike towards the subject English. He does this not only as a way to get to know each students attitude towards English but to give them a chance to voice out their hates and or likes of the subject and its content. The negative or positive remarks from the above question gives him an idea of how to appropriately handle this next semester and tailor it to each and every students needs. One response that he was concerned about was that literature was something that people have decided was either good or bad. This is concerning because this means the student has separated themselves from writing and reading and identify it as a piece of work that is either deemed worthy or not. He states that as teachers we should strive to have our students ask questions when it comes to our grading their work. Our goal should be to encourage students to have an active role in questioning their creative work within parameters of course. This enables an active, critical and engaged readers Versaci suggests.
As future elementary teachers, we should try to entice our students in regards to literature through captivating and energized experiences and process, and create activities that will encourage to be as creative and excited to do it in the first place. We are the foundation of this child’s academic career!
Versaci’s view on comic book reading is simple that it can change the way students see literature. In his article he introduces excerpts from comic books to read to his students and has them try to investigate and analyze them to representations of real life situations. He realizes that most them have read comics but never viewed them as having a voice in mature situations and subject matter.
With Scott McCloud’s TED Talk on the Visual Magic of Comics his main idea is that not only does the comic have a visual medium but it tries to captivate the reader by allowing the reader use all of his/her senses. He back this theory up by referring to ancient artifacts of statues, columns and wall art; he uses this as a way to show that even back before published work and the internet that there was art that used the same form that comics so today. Such form as a temporal map used for time in comics, invisible lines that the naked eye to cannot see. Reading from left to right automatically for both elements.
Students in this day and age are surrounded by diverse and complex media, and sometimes they will find subject content in the classroom dull and boring. IT is the job as the teacher to use this as an advantage in the classroom to encourage the student to want to pursue their opinions and ask their questions about real life situations and of what they read.