The Big Picture
This one-day workshop develops professional knowledge of the power and importance of visual texts in developing literacy.
The Big Picture
There is a growing body of evidence to support picturebooks and comics as powerful tools for enriching classroom practice and enhancing literacy. Visual texts provide a route into targeted book talk, one of a number of oral language interventions, which the EEF suggests can provide "an additional six months’ progress over the course of a year".
Picturebooks "have the potential to promote children's conceptual development while simultaneously opening their worlds in fun, engaging, and compelling ways." (Early Childhood Education Journal, 2023). They provide an effective source of inferential discussion, an important part of reading comprehension. And, because they rely mainly on pictures to create a narrative, they can be used across a range of reading abilities.
Comics and graphic novels are a dynamic, rich and inclusive reading format which can engage keen and reluctant readers alike. Our research has found that children who read comics are "more engaged with reading, regardless of their age" than those who don't (Children and young people's engagement with comics in 2023, National Literacy Trust), showing that they provide a potential route into reading for pleasure.
This CPD will provide strategies to maximise the use of picturebooks and comics in the classroom.
Aims
- To develop professional knowledge of the power and importance of visual texts in developing literacy
- To explore the evidence base for the use of picturebooks and comics with a wide range of children and young people
- To gain confidence in embedding visual texts in the literacy curriculum, planning, teaching and learning
- To take away strategies and techniques to support the implementation of immediate, impactful approaches
Find out more about comics and graphic novels
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Teaching sequence and resources to run our Comics Rule! writing challenge in your classroom, exploring the exciting world of comics and graphic novels.Learn more about Comics Rule!.
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This Autumn, engage your students with the exciting World of Graphic Novels reading challenge and support their book choice, reading for pleasure and literacy skills.Learn more about The World of Graphic Novels.
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Harness the engaging power of graphic novels in your primary classroom.Learn more about Using graphic novels in the classroom.