One day UNF professor Katie Monnin got hit in the head by a copy of Art Spiegelman’s Maus falling off her shelf. This eventually led to her exploring comics as a literacy tool for her doctorate.
By the time she got to Kent State University to work on a doctorate in literacy, Monnin, who had worked for a few years as an English teacher in middle school and high school, was developing ideas about how to use graphic novels in the classroom.
At first she met plenty of resistance. She wanted to use Jeff Smith’s graphic novel “Bone” in a classroom and then write her dissertation on the experience. Schools wouldn’t let her do it.
But Monnin, who exudes enthusiasm for her ideas, refused to be discouraged. Today she’s an assistant professor of literacy at the University of North Florida and is at work on her third book on the subject of using graphic novels in the classroom. Appropriately, she plans to do it in graphic novel form.
She’s written a few books on the subject! Full article here.