Using Graphic Novels to Engage Students With Learning Disabilities During Fluency Instruction

Choose Instructional Materials

Reading interest inventory surveys are an important tool for teachers to use as a way to get to know students before beginning reading instructional interventions. This is especially true for students identified with LD who struggle and are often disengaged from reading. Students with LD in reading are more likely to be motivated to read and engage in on-task behavior when they are provided with texts that are of interest to them (Gavigan, 2011; MacSuga-Gage & Simonsen, 2015). Surveys can be found for free online, only take a few minutes to administer, and can be conducted one-on-one or in a group. When choosing texts, a reading interest survey will be crucial in helping teachers determine the genre that will be most motivating to students. They should also be conducted periodically throughout the school year as student interests evolve and change. A sample interest survey has been included in Figure 1. Once interest surveys are conducted, teachers will be able to make informed decisions about the reading genre that will best support instructional interventions. Teachers typically can find a variety of graphic novels in their school or local libraries.

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Figure 1.

Sample reading interest survey.

It is important to note that the graphic novel medium is quite diverse. When searching for texts for elementary age students, teachers may come across works with a wide range of content that may or may not be appropriate for young children. Teachers may find graphic novels in the Superhero, Manga, Nonfiction, Adaptations and Spinoffs, Human Interest, Satire, Action and Adventure, Science Fiction, Crime and Mysteries, Fantasy, and Horror genres (Pawuk, 2007; Weiner, 2002). Teachers should be sure to examine texts to make sure the content (e.g., violence and inappropriate images) is appropriate for the age group that will use the texts. A list of graphic novels appropriate for elementary age students is provided by genre in Table 1.

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Table 1.

Graphic Novels by Genre.

Graphic Novel Series	Genre	Description
A Binky Adventure	Adventure, Fantasy, Humor	Surrounds the adventures of Binky, a cat, who lives on a space station. (Grades K–2)
Goosebumps	Horror	The series involves horror stories based on the Goosebumps books. (Grades 3 and up)
My First Graphic Novel	Adventure, Mystery	Follows the adventures of different characters across books in the series. Introduces kids to graphic novels. (Grades K–2)
The Box Car Children	Mystery	Surrounds the children from the Alden family as they solve mysteries. (Grades 3–5)
The Chronicles of Claudette	Adventure, Fantasy	Follows the adventures of Claudette as she protects her village from dragons, monsters, and giants. (Grades 2–5)
The Adventures of Ook and Gluk	Adventure, Humor	Follows the adventures of cave boys, Ook and Gluk, as they travel in time to the future. (Grades 2–5)
Zita the Spacegirl	Adventure, Fantasy	Surrounds Zita’s adventures through space as she tries to save her best friend who has been abducted by aliens. (Grades 2–5)

Check Readability

Once teachers choose texts, it is important to match text readability with the target student’s reading level. Texts used during fluency instruction should be at the student’s instructional level (i.e., texts that can be read with 90%–95% accuracy with few errors; Allington, 2001). Online readability calculators are one method for determining the reading level of a piece of text. Some examples of the online readability calculators include the following: (a) readabilityformulas.com, (b) online-utility.com, and (c) storytoolz.com. They require the user to enter sentences from several paragraphs in the text. However, these tools often do not take into account other factors in the text such as vocabulary and sentence structure (Spadorcia, 2005). Therefore, teachers may also examine the vocabulary and sentence structure in the first few chapters of the target text and take into consideration the extent to which they will be providing instructional supports through modeling, choral reading, and independent practice. When examining vocabulary in text, teachers may look for words that can easily be connected to words students already know (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2013). Teachers should consider avoiding texts that contain sentence structures that are too complex and get in the way of student comprehension.

Prereading

Prereading activities such as previewing and predicting help support comprehension because students are actively responding and engaging with text (Stokes, 2001). Previewing and predicting activities may include highlighting key vocabulary, pictures, and text passages essential to comprehending the text. When choosing vocabulary, consider words that are useful, important to the meaning of the story, and words that are repeated throughout the story (Beck et al., 2013). Haager and Vaughn (2013) found that using graphic organizers (GOs) can also facilitate the process of previewing and predicting and have had positive effects with students identified with LD in reading across grade levels. Teachers can find many different GO templates online. When searching for organizers to support the use of graphic novels, it is important that they include a place to record predictions throughout the reading. In addition, stopping and predicting during reading helps support comprehension of the text and allows students to see that changes to original thinking are normal as details emerge. Teachers may want to preview the text ahead of time to determine the most appropriate points to stop and check predictions. Finally, the use of images within graphic novels can also assist students with visualization, a critical component of comprehension.

Repeated Reading

Graphic novels typically have extensive narratives and will require multiple sessions to complete. Teachers may use some planning time to analyze the text for stop and check points. Teachers may examine the total number of pages in the text and designate major stopping points to mark each instructional section. Teachers can reassess initial decisions based on the actual pacing of instruction. They also may consider placing sticky notes within these check points so students may answer comprehension questions, summarize the reading, or make connections to the reading. Teachers may choose to stop at the end of each paragraph or group of paragraphs, section of text, or page of text. Some guidance question, summary, and connection prompts are provided for teachers in Table 2.

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Table 2.

Stop and Check Sample Questions and Prompts.

Comprehension Questions	Summary Prompts	Connection Prompts
So far, what is the text mainly about?	Summarize the most important details from the text so far.	What connections do you have to story details so far?
What new words have you learned so far?	List any words you don’t understand so far.	Can you make any connections to the vocabulary we have learned so far?
Who are the most important characters in the story so far?	Summarize some of the main characters in the story so far.	Do the story characters remind you of anyone you know?
What are you excited to learn more about after reading the story so far?	Summarize the details you found most interesting in the story.	Is there anything you would have differently in the story so far?

Teachers will also need to plan methods for repeated reading (e.g., choral, echo, independent) and the 1-min timing. Repeated readings, whether teachers use choral or echo reading, will be beneficial for modeling prosody and increasing reading rate and accuracy. Finally, the 1-min timing accompanied by a fluency chart is a beneficial culminating activity for the repeated reading step (Sutherland & Snyder, 2007). Especially for reluctant readers, they can serve as a motivational tool because students can track their progress and set goals for future lessons. Fluency charts are available for free online or teachers may create their own using their preferred word processing tool.

Extension

Written responses help support student understanding of text (Wallace, Pearman, Hail, & Hurst, 2007) and serve as a concluding activity for the lesson. One example of a written response template that would be conducive to graphic novels is a comic strip writing template. The template allows reluctant writers the option of drawing a response to the reading while including short captions to support the drawing(s). Comic strip templates are available free online at websites such as comicbookproject.org and makebeliefscomix.com. They come in the form of one or more panels for drawing and captioning. The written response also lends well to follow-up discussion about the reading in that teachers may discuss the drawing as a way of summarizing the text with students and elicit predictions about future readings.

Planning

Mrs. Olive begins the planning process by helping Grant complete a reading interest survey. Through the survey, she finds that he likes scary stories and discovers a set of graphic novels surrounding the Goosebumps series (see Stine, 2006) in the school library. Mrs. Olive decides to use this series to implement comprehensive fluency instruction. She allows Grant the opportunity to choose a book from the series and he chooses one called Creepy Creatures.

Once she chooses to use the text, but before instruction, Mrs. Olive must engage in some additional preparation. The novel contains three different stories that fall under the same theme. She examines the length of each story to determine whether it is realistic to read in its entirety and complete the additional activities she would like to include. Mrs. Olive determines that each story is approximately 40 pages long and therefore designates several major stopping points during each story to mark each instructional session. She plans to reassess her initial decisions based on the actual pacing of instruction.

Mrs. Olive then looks at the readings designated for each instructional session and places sticky notes to mark places she would like Grant to stop to respond to a comprehension question, summarize the reading so far, or make a connection to the reading. Mrs. Olive chooses to engage in choral and independent repeated reading activities followed by the 1-min timing. Finally, as she knows Grant does not like to write, she identifies a comic frame that will allow Grant to respond to each reading by drawing and include minimal writing. The frame contains a prompt at the top of the page that states, “What do you remember most from the passage?” The frame also includes one pane for drawing with a caption bubble. There is also space for a caption at the bottom of the page.

Prereading

Mrs. Olive explains to Grant that they will be reading a graphic novel during their time together. She allows Grant to flip through the pages of the text and asks him how it differs from traditional texts. Mrs. Olive explains that the story is contained within boxes and word balloons and that they will read from left to right and top to bottom. Because the book has long chapters, she tells Grant that she has divided each chapter so they do not run out of time. Mrs. Olive begins instruction of the first story in the novel by reading the title and discusses vocabulary words that are repeated throughout the chapter and are important to understanding the chapter such as adventure, explore, and imagination. She also previews a few passages of the text and highlights some of the images. She asks, “Based on the chapter title and images we have seen from the chapter, what do you think this portion of the chapter will be about?” Mrs. Olive records Grant’s prediction on a GO and then asks, “Why do you think that is what this part of the chapter will be about?” Mrs. Olive also stops at designated points throughout the reading to determine whether Grant has made any changes to his original thinking about the reading based on new and emerging information.

Repeated Reading

Mrs. Olive then tells Grant, “I am going to read a portion of the chapter out loud. Please follow along as I read.” Mrs. Olive models the first four pages of the text. While reading, she stops periodically to ask Grant to answer comprehension questions, summarize the reading, or make a connection to the reading so far. In an effort to improve Grant’s reading rate, accuracy, and prosody, Mrs. Olive engages in a variety of repeated reading practices. First, they choral read the text. Grant then rereads the same portion of the text independently. Mrs. Olive then tells Grant, “Now that we have practiced this portion of the story, let’s do our 1-minute timing.” She starts the timer and Grant reads the designated portion until it is complete or until the timer beeps. Grant shades in his words correct per minute on a fluency chart. Mrs. Olive also returns to Grant’s prediction to analyze his original thinking about the reading.

Extension

Mrs. Olive finishes the lesson by asking Grant to use a comic frame to create a written response. She structures his response by prompting him to draw the most important part he remembers from the reading and provide appropriate captions. When Grant completes his response, Mrs. Olive discusses his drawing and asks for a rationale for his choice. Mrs. Olive completes the session by asking Grant what he thinks he may read about during the next session.

In the upcoming weeks, Mrs. Olive and Grant continue reading the graphic novel using the instructional procedures that have been illustrated. After completing the book, Mrs. Olive can continue reading other stories in the series or move on to another series.