What's Your Fandom? | Carrie Rogers-Whitehead | TEDxSaltLakeCity
For years, I coordinated book clubs for youth in detention. These are smart teens, but difficult to reach. I started off with the traditional book club model. You know the type. You all read the same book, you discuss the same questions. I was working with a unit that had different ages, reading levels, cultural backgrounds, and for some reading was not their first language. I was having a hard time reaching these teens, literacy is not onesizefits all, and for some of these teens, reading was nowhere near the top of their priority list. I was getting glazed over faces, disinterest, and a drop in attendance for the book club. Then came Death Note. Death Note is a manga. It's a type of graphic novel from Japan, and it's the story of Light Yagami. Light possesses the Death Note. It's a black notebook, and whomever Light writes in that notebook, they die. Soon, life came back into these students faces. And we are not just discussing the plot of the book but morality, social issues, the images so much more. Soon the kids were reading bins and bins of books. This particular unit read so much that their reading gains increased compared to other units. Two book clubs expanded to six and the kids continue to read. One teen told me, "I never read until I came here, but I sure will read once I get out." The success of Death Note wasn't just the story, but the format. Death Note is a graphic novel. It's sequential art in novel form. And it can be fiction, non-fiction, all sorts of different genres, and for all different ages. It's similar to a comic, and I doubt many of you have read them in school. I know I was never assigned any. Death Note and other graphic novels are based on fandoms. If you're unfamiliar with the term fandom, think about what gets you excited. What's that book you've read over and over again? You can't get enough of it. or that TV show you just can't wait till the next season comes out or that movie and when you see it in the theaters you're so excited you go online and tell all your friends. Everyone has a fandom. You might just not call it that. Graphic novels and the fandoms they described aren't just fun, they're a tool for learning. Richard Mayer's multimedia principle says that people learn better from words and images than just words alone. Graphic novels work with the multimedia principle, providing both that word and the image. It's theorized that you have two separate channels in your brain for processing information, auditory and visual. Each channel only has a limited capacity to process information. Look at these pictures. When you see them, your brain retrieves the concept of a dog both as a word and an image, you know what it is both ways. If you forget the image of a dog, but still remember DOG, you're still good. And if you forget the word, but still remember the image, you're still less likely to forget it. Graphic novels work with the word and the image on those two different channels. They're also wonderful for illustrating slaying and cultural concepts that you can't get through words alone. Most concepts are more complicated than dog, which is why graphic novels are so important. Learning is an active process. It involves channels in our brain, memory comprehension, but in my opinion, the most important part of learning is engagement. We learn when we care, and graphic novels and fandoms provide some of the best tools for engagement. I've also worked with another student in detention who loves superheroes. He struggles in school, but he's read all the major comics and storylines and all the different characters. And out of them, his favorite character of all time is the Hulk. The Hulk is a mildmannered scientist by day, but when he gets angry, he turns into the great big destructive Hulk. What stands out about the Hulk is not just his size, but that he's a flawed character. This teen says, "A lot of superhero characters are flawed, but can be good and do good things, and that's a comfort." This teen identified with those superhero characters which made him want to read more. I've also worked with students who are refugees. One day I brought a big bin of graphic novels into them. Even though English wasn't their first language, they immediately knew what the red S symbol meant. Superman. They were excited to read the books, but they were also excited to know that Superman was a refugee. What character do you identify with? What's your fandom? For me, the character I identified with was Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit. Oh, I love it. I read that book as a little kid. And Bilbo is a hobbit, smaller than anyone else in that universe. He doesn't have any magic. He can't really wield a sword. He goes on these amazing adventures. I was smaller, had no power as a kid, but I could go on those adventures with Bilbo. That was a challenging book for me to read at that age. And I don't think I would have gotten through it without finding that character I identified with and finding my fandom. What's your fandom? Graphic novels often get stereotyped. They're not real literature. They aren't hard enough. They're just for fun. But how I see it, what you find fun, you stay with. I see graphic novels not just as a tool for learning, but for living. Reading turns into writing, into making, into sharing, into creating supportive communities and sometimes even careers. I've known students who have struggled in school but at home write novels on fanfiction.net. I've known students that have taught themselves software just to better illustrate their favorite characters. I've known students who spent dozens of hours creating and engineering their favorite anime characters outfits. Don't dismiss graphic novels and fandoms. Instead, when you're working with students, don't just ask them what their favorite subject in school is. Ask them, "What's your fandom?" Thank you. Thank you.