M
ASCONOMET REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
20 Endicott Road
Topsfield, MA 01983
(978) 887-2323
Fax (978) 887-7243
David Donavel, English Department Head
Extension 6266
ddonavel@masconomet.org
June 3, 2010
TO: NCAA Eligibility Center
Evaluator’s Perspective: The Graphic Novel
When, in the wake of our decision to offer a series of electives to our Grade 12 English students,
Maureen Bakis suggested that one of those might be The Graphic Novel, I was skeptical.
“Comic books?” I asked. She understood my hesitation because it was one she had herself when
she first encountered the notion that graphic novels might be considered serious literature, an
encounter she had at Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts, as part of her Master’s
program. She spoke convincingly about how a serious consideration of graphic novels involves
all the skills and understanding employed in the study of traditional word-only texts and went on
to explain that reading of graphic novels also develops other skills crucial to negotiating the
media rich world in which we all suddenly live. She reduced—but did not erase—my skepticism
and went ahead and developed the course which we offered for the first time during the 2009-10
school year.
Because I retained my doubts and because she wanted me to see firsthand the kind of work
students were doing with these texts, she invited me to visit her classes, which I did on numerous
occasions. I confess that I was bowled over. I have been teaching English for thirty four years
and have been a Department Head for the last six of those and I am pleased to report that I have
never taught or observed classes in which students were more focused, engaged, thoughtful, and
energized. Each time I visited her classes, I saw students, books open before them, actively
scrutinizing the texts, sharing insights and speculations, taking intellectual risks, making
connections and finding patterns, raising questions and expressing doubts, and generally
behaving as students do only in the fondest dreams of English teachers. I want to underscore the
fact that these are not our most powerful language arts students; that cohort was enrolled in our
sections of English AP. These students came from the ranks of those who, prior to our elective
program, usually approached literary studies in a perfunctory and discouraging manner. The
change may be due to the fact that the texts appear at first easy to read, or to the fact that an
initial reading does not take an overwhelming and discouraging amount of time (thus leaving
time for a second, third, and fourth reading), or to the fact that the combination of text and
graphics appeals to young people born into the Internet age. But whatever the cause, students
who came to the course with a history of indifference to language arts study, were all at once
galvanized. As we have noted elsewhere they were attending to standard literary fare like
symbolism, irony, satire, allusion, onomatopoeia, and metaphor and practicing those reading,
listening, speaking, and writing skills that are at the heart of any good English course. In
addition, they were practicing 21st Century Skills such as “creativity and innovation, critical
thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration” as well as developing what
one might call visual literacy.
I must report that my initial skepticism has vanished and that I am well pleased that enrollment
in The Graphic Novel has increased by about forty percent for next year. In thinking about the
apparent non-traditional nature of this course, I was reminded of some of the courses we offered
at Masconomet when I first came to work here. These included the expected such as
Composition Workshop and Major British Writers, but we also offered strange items such as
Witchcraft and, I believe, Science Fiction. This is not unusual of course. A visit to the course
catalog at almost any college—even the staid ivies—reveals the usual mix of traditional and nontraditional titles. It would appear that the central feature of a “real” English course is not so
much the texts under study or even the themes around which the courses are centered (Yale
University offers “Writing about Food,” “Habits” “Monsters and Monstrosity) but rather the
skills that the study encourages. One can practice those skills and acquire the benefits that
accrue from language arts study regardless of the content focus of a course and that is why The
Graphic Novel at Masconomet is as much a real English course as our English AP or traditional
course in American Literature that we require in Grade 11. As we have noted repeatedly,
students in The Graphic Novel are not only engaged in practicing standard English language arts
skills, they are doing so enthusiastically.
It is worth adding that it is no boast to claim that Masconomet is a good school. Our English
program is especially strong and year after year students returning from college report that they
are better prepared as readers and writers than their peers emerging from other secondary
schools, including prep schools. We take our work seriously and would not offer our Grade 12
students anything other than a solid, substantial course in English. Indeed, our decision to offer
electives in Grade 12 to replace the “one size fits all” course we ran for decades was driven by
our desire to bolster, not weaken, the skills our students take to college. Given what I have
observed and all I have heard, there is every reason to think that The Graphic Novel succeeds in
this.
I urge the NCAA to approve this course. For many of our seniors, The Graphic Novel is perhaps
the first time they have been so pleasingly engaged with text, the first time they have discovered
that they can read with skill and understanding, speak with clarity and conviction, ask
penetrating questions and develop innovative insights. It is for many of them, perhaps, the first
time they have discovered the power of their own minds. This is wonderful, gratifying to
students and teachers alike and so promising for in this course students are vigorously and
rigorously practicing the very skills likely to benefit them as they move on to college. How
ironic it would be if this experience, the one that may most handsomely set them up for success
in their subsequent education, should be the very one that makes them ineligible for participation
in intercollegiate sports.
Sincerely,
David Donavel