Teaching with Comics NEH Institute

I had an amazing professional development experience this summer when I spent July 15-28 in San Diego, CA, at the Using Comics to Teach Social Justice institute presented by San Diego State University’s (SDSU) Center for Comic Studies.​

Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the program brought together 25 educators from 16 different states, including K-5 classroom teachers, middle school and high school English and social studies teachers, special education teachers, and school librarians. 

While in San Diego, I attended lectures and discussion sessions, participated in comic creation and lesson building workshops, and took field trips to the Comic-Con Museum and Little Fish Comic Book Studio. 

The institute culminated in participants attending Comic-Con International, the largest comic book and pop culture convention in the world. 
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At the convention, I was able to attend workshops and panel discussions, meet book creators, interact with industry professionals, and collect free comics and memorabilia to share with students. 

Comic-Con celebrates the creative arts: writing, illustrating, performing, costuming, and more. It brings together fans and creatives and provides opportunity for interaction and mentorship. 

The convention also offers a variety of panels where educators share how they are harnessing students’ enthusiasm about comics to enhance learning. 
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The best part of the institute was networking with other teachers at the institute and learning about what’s going on in their schools. One of my favorite experiences was the day all 25 of us shared a lesson we plan to take back and implement with our students. I was blown away by the amazing and creative ideas for teaching through comics and graphic novels.

I was already using a graphic novel in my fifth and sixth-grade literature circle class prior to this workshop, and I look forward to extending comics lessons to more students in the coming year. I also hope to start a graphic novel book club. 

Interested in learning about professional development opportunities through the National Endowment for the Humanities? Take a look at their website. Applications open in mid-December for workshops taking place in the summer of 2025.