0:00:00.760,0:00:02.216
When I was in the fifth grade,

0:00:02.240,0:00:06.616
I bought an issue[br]of "DC Comics Presents #57"

0:00:06.640,0:00:09.376
off of a spinner rack[br]at my local bookstore,

0:00:09.400,0:00:13.096
and that comic book changed my life.

0:00:13.120,0:00:16.496
The combination of words and pictures[br]did something inside my head

0:00:16.520,0:00:18.056
that had never been done before

0:00:18.080,0:00:21.776
and I immediately fell in love[br]with the medium of comics.

0:00:21.800,0:00:24.976
I became a voracious comic book reader,

0:00:25.000,0:00:26.696
but I never brought them to school.

0:00:26.720,0:00:32.536
Instinctively, I knew that comic books[br]didn't belong in the classroom.

0:00:32.560,0:00:34.976
My parents definitely were not fans

0:00:35.000,0:00:38.096
and I was certain that my teachers[br]wouldn't be either.

0:00:38.120,0:00:40.376
After all, they never used them to teach,

0:00:40.400,0:00:44.296
comic books and graphic novels were never[br]allowed during silent sustained reading

0:00:44.320,0:00:47.816
and they were never sold[br]at our annual book fair.

0:00:47.840,0:00:50.416
Even so, I kept reading comics

0:00:50.440,0:00:52.056
and I even started making them.

0:00:52.080,0:00:55.096
Eventually I became a published cartoonist

0:00:55.120,0:00:57.920
writing and drawing[br]comic books for a living.

0:00:58.680,0:01:00.936
I also became a high school teacher.

0:01:00.960,0:01:02.256
This is where I taught:

0:01:02.280,0:01:05.096
Bishop O'Dowd High School[br]in Oakland, California.

0:01:05.120,0:01:07.656
I taught a little bit of math[br]and a little bit of art,

0:01:07.680,0:01:09.056
but mostly computer science,

0:01:09.080,0:01:11.496
and I was there for 17 years.

0:01:11.520,0:01:13.376
When I was a brand new teacher,

0:01:13.400,0:01:16.536
I tried bringing comic books[br]into my classroom.

0:01:16.560,0:01:19.656
I remember telling my students[br]on the first day of every class

0:01:19.680,0:01:21.776
that I was also a cartoonist.

0:01:21.800,0:01:24.896
It wasn't so much that I was planning[br]to teach them with comics,

0:01:24.920,0:01:28.936
it was more that I was hoping comics[br]would make them think that I was cool.

0:01:28.960,0:01:30.376
(Laughter)

0:01:30.400,0:01:31.776
I was wrong.

0:01:31.800,0:01:33.776
This was the '90s,

0:01:33.800,0:01:38.096
so comic books didn't have[br]the cultural cachet that they do today.

0:01:38.120,0:01:42.056
My students didn't think I was cool.[br]They thought I was kind of a dork.

0:01:42.080,0:01:44.976
And even worse,[br]when stuff got hard in my class,

0:01:45.000,0:01:48.296
they would use comic books[br]as a way of distracting me.

0:01:48.320,0:01:50.936
They would raise their hands[br]and ask me questions like,

0:01:50.960,0:01:53.296
"Mr. Yang, who do you think[br]would win in a fight,

0:01:53.320,0:01:54.576
Superman or the Hulk?"

0:01:54.600,0:01:55.616
(Laughter)

0:01:55.640,0:02:00.696
I very quickly realized I had to keep[br]my teaching and my cartooning separate.

0:02:00.720,0:02:04.136
It seemed like my instincts[br]in fifth grade were correct.

0:02:04.160,0:02:07.200
Comic books didn't belong[br]in the classroom.

0:02:07.800,0:02:09.240
But again, I was wrong.

0:02:09.800,0:02:11.856
A few years into my teaching career,

0:02:11.880,0:02:16.776
I learned firsthand[br]the educational potential of comics.

0:02:16.800,0:02:20.336
One semester, I was asked to sub[br]for this Algebra 2 class.

0:02:20.360,0:02:24.656
I was asked to long-term sub it[br]and I said yes, but there was a problem.

0:02:24.680,0:02:28.376
At the time, I was also[br]the school's educational technologist,

0:02:28.400,0:02:30.296
which meant every couple of weeks

0:02:30.320,0:02:33.736
I had to miss one or two periods[br]of this Algebra 2 class

0:02:33.760,0:02:36.576
because I was in another classroom[br]helping another teacher

0:02:36.600,0:02:38.696
with a computer-related activity.

0:02:38.720,0:02:41.856
For these Algebra 2 students,[br]that was terrible.

0:02:41.880,0:02:44.496
I mean, having a long-term[br]sub is bad enough,

0:02:44.520,0:02:47.640
but having a sub for your sub?[br]That's the worst.

0:02:48.360,0:02:52.216
In an effort to provide some sort[br]of consistency for my students,

0:02:52.240,0:02:55.096
I began videotaping[br]myself giving lectures.

0:02:55.120,0:02:58.736
I'd then give these videos to my sub[br]to play for my students.

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I tried to make these videos[br]as engaging as possible.

0:03:03.240,0:03:05.376
I even included[br]these little special effects.

0:03:05.400,0:03:08.256
For instance, after I finished[br]a problem on the board,

0:03:08.280,0:03:09.896
I'd clap my hands

0:03:09.920,0:03:12.336
and the board would magically erase.

0:03:12.360,0:03:13.776
(Laughter)

0:03:13.800,0:03:15.360
I thought it was pretty awesome.

0:03:16.160,0:03:19.016
I was pretty certain[br]that my students would love it,

0:03:19.040,0:03:20.256
but I was wrong.

0:03:20.280,0:03:21.656
(Laughter)

0:03:21.680,0:03:24.536
These video lectures were a disaster.

0:03:24.560,0:03:27.136
I had students coming up to me[br]and saying things like,

0:03:27.160,0:03:29.416
"Mr. Yang, we thought[br]you were boring in person,

0:03:29.440,0:03:32.896
but on video, you are just unbearable."

0:03:32.920,0:03:34.536
(Laughter)

0:03:34.560,0:03:39.896
So as a desperate second attempt,[br]I began drawing these lectures as comics.

0:03:39.920,0:03:42.376
I'd do these very quickly[br]with very little planning.

0:03:42.400,0:03:45.216
I'd just take a sharpie,[br]draw one panel after the other,

0:03:45.240,0:03:47.936
figuring out what I wanted[br]to say as I went.

0:03:47.960,0:03:49.696
These comics lectures would come out

0:03:49.720,0:03:51.816
to anywhere between[br]four and six pages long,

0:03:51.840,0:03:56.816
I'd xerox these, give them to my sub[br]to hand to my students.

0:03:56.840,0:03:59.056
And much to my surprise,

0:03:59.080,0:04:01.896
these comics lectures were a hit.

0:04:01.920,0:04:05.456
My students would ask me[br]to make these for them

0:04:05.480,0:04:08.416
even when I could be there in person.

0:04:08.440,0:04:12.536
It was like they liked cartoon me[br]more than actual me.

0:04:12.560,0:04:14.616
(Laughter)

0:04:14.640,0:04:18.336
This surprised me, because my students[br]are part of a generation

0:04:18.360,0:04:20.255
that was raised on screens,

0:04:20.279,0:04:23.496
so I thought for sure they would like[br]learning from a screen

0:04:23.520,0:04:26.056
better than learning from a page,

0:04:26.080,0:04:27.736
but when I talked to my students

0:04:27.760,0:04:30.976
about why they liked[br]these comics lectures so much,

0:04:31.000,0:04:35.376
I began to understand[br]the educational potential of comics.

0:04:35.400,0:04:38.016
First, unlike their math textbooks,

0:04:38.040,0:04:40.616
these comics lectures taught visually.

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Our students grow up in a visual culture,

0:04:43.480,0:04:46.216
so they're used to taking in[br]information that way.

0:04:46.240,0:04:49.016
But unlike other visual narratives,

0:04:49.040,0:04:53.856
like film or television[br]or animation or video,

0:04:53.880,0:04:56.736
comics are what I call permanent.

0:04:56.760,0:05:02.416
In a comic, past, present and future[br]all sit side by side on the same page.

0:05:02.440,0:05:05.856
This means that the rate[br]of information flow

0:05:05.880,0:05:08.600
is firmly in the hands of the reader.

0:05:09.560,0:05:13.576
When my students didn't understand[br]something in my comics lecture,

0:05:13.600,0:05:17.816
they could just reread that passage[br]as quickly or as slowly as they needed.

0:05:17.840,0:05:21.816
It was like I was giving them[br]a remote control over the information.

0:05:21.840,0:05:24.736
The same was not true of my video lectures

0:05:24.760,0:05:27.536
and it wasn't even true[br]of my in-person lectures.

0:05:27.560,0:05:32.296
When I speak, I deliver the information[br]as quickly or slowly as I want.

0:05:32.320,0:05:35.696
So for certain students[br]and certain kinds of information,

0:05:35.720,0:05:40.656
these two aspects of the comics medium,[br]its visual nature and its permanence,

0:05:40.680,0:05:44.336
make it an incredibly powerful[br]educational tool.

0:05:44.360,0:05:46.336
When I was teaching this Algebra 2 class,

0:05:46.360,0:05:50.576
I was also working on my master's[br]in education at Cal State East Bay

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and I was so intrigued by this experience[br]that I had with these comics lectures

0:05:54.680,0:05:59.776
that I decided to focus[br]my final master's project on comics.

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I wanted to figure out[br]why American educators

0:06:02.800,0:06:08.016
have historically been so reluctant[br]to use comic books in their classrooms.

0:06:08.040,0:06:10.136
Here's what I discovered.

0:06:10.160,0:06:12.816
Comic books first became[br]a mass medium in the 1940s,

0:06:12.840,0:06:15.256
with millions of copies[br]selling every month

0:06:15.280,0:06:17.416
and educators back then took notice.

0:06:17.440,0:06:21.416
A lot of innovative teachers began[br]bringing comics into their classrooms

0:06:21.440,0:06:22.776
to experiment.

0:06:22.800,0:06:26.656
In 1944, the "Journal[br]of Educational Sociology"

0:06:26.680,0:06:30.256
even devoted an entire issue[br]to this topic.

0:06:30.280,0:06:32.656
Things seemed to be progressing.

0:06:32.680,0:06:35.056
Teachers were starting[br]to figure things out.

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But then along comes this guy.

0:06:37.400,0:06:41.376
This is child psychologist[br]Dr. Fredric Wertham,

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and in 1954, he wrote a book[br]called "Seduction of the Innocent,"

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where he argues that comic books[br]cause juvenile delinquency.

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(Laughter)

0:06:51.000,0:06:52.616
He was wrong.

0:06:52.640,0:06:55.016
Now, Dr. Wertham was actually[br]a pretty decent guy.

0:06:55.040,0:06:58.096
He spent most of his career[br]working with juvenile delinquents

0:06:58.120,0:07:03.336
and in his work he noticed[br]that most of his clients read comic books.

0:07:03.360,0:07:07.096
What Dr. Wertham failed to realize[br]was in the 1940s and '50s,

0:07:07.120,0:07:11.256
almost every kid in America[br]read comic books.

0:07:11.280,0:07:14.616
Dr. Wertham does a pretty[br]dubious job of proving his case,

0:07:14.640,0:07:17.976
but his book does inspire[br]the Senate of the United States

0:07:18.000,0:07:20.096
to hold a series of hearings

0:07:20.120,0:07:24.120
to see if in fact comic books[br]caused juvenile delinquency.

0:07:24.720,0:07:27.456
These hearings lasted[br]for almost two months.

0:07:27.480,0:07:31.976
They ended inconclusively,[br]but not before doing tremendous damage

0:07:32.000,0:07:36.176
to the reputation of comic books[br]in the eyes of the American public.

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After this, respectable American[br]educators all backed away

0:07:40.560,0:07:42.376
and they stayed away for decades.

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It wasn't until the 1970s

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that a few brave souls[br]started making their way back in

0:07:47.360,0:07:49.416
and it really wasn't[br]until pretty recently,

0:07:49.440,0:07:51.136
maybe the last decade or so,

0:07:51.160,0:07:54.056
that comics have seen[br]more widespread acceptance

0:07:54.080,0:07:55.856
among American educators.

0:07:55.880,0:08:00.016
Comic books and graphic novels[br]are now finally making their way

0:08:00.040,0:08:01.896
back into American classrooms

0:08:01.920,0:08:05.736
and this is even happening[br]at Bishop O'Dowd, where I used to teach.

0:08:05.760,0:08:07.656
Mr. Smith, one of my former colleagues,

0:08:07.680,0:08:10.616
uses Scott McCloud's[br]"Understanding Comics"

0:08:10.640,0:08:14.616
in his literature and film class,[br]because that book gives his students

0:08:14.640,0:08:19.736
the language with which to discuss[br]the relationship between words and images.

0:08:19.760,0:08:23.656
Mr. Burns assigns a comics essay[br]to his students every year.

0:08:23.680,0:08:27.616
By asking his students[br]to process a prose novel using images,

0:08:27.640,0:08:30.176
Mr. Burns asks them to think deeply

0:08:30.200,0:08:32.135
not just about the story

0:08:32.159,0:08:35.176
but also about how that story is told.

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And Ms. Murrock uses[br]my own "American Born Chinese"

0:08:38.320,0:08:40.096
with her English 1 students.

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For her, graphic novels

0:08:41.760,0:08:45.536
are a great way of fulfilling[br]a Common Core Standard.

0:08:45.560,0:08:48.456
The Standard states that students[br]ought to be able to analyze

0:08:48.480,0:08:54.200
how visual elements contribute[br]to the meaning, tone and beauty of a text.

0:08:54.760,0:08:57.976
Over in the library, Ms. Counts[br]has built a pretty impressive

0:08:58.000,0:09:00.336
graphic novel collection[br]for Bishop O'Dowd.

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Now, Ms. Counts and all[br]of her librarian colleagues

0:09:03.560,0:09:06.576
have really been at the forefront[br]of comics advocacy,

0:09:06.600,0:09:10.096
really since the early '80s,[br]when a school library journal article

0:09:10.120,0:09:14.456
stated that the mere presence[br]of graphic novels in the library

0:09:14.480,0:09:17.256
increased usage by about 80 percent

0:09:17.280,0:09:21.336
and increased the circulation[br]of noncomics material

0:09:21.360,0:09:22.600
by about 30 percent.

0:09:23.240,0:09:26.656
Inspired by this renewed interest[br]from American educators,

0:09:26.680,0:09:31.616
American cartoonists are now producing[br]more explicitly educational content

0:09:31.640,0:09:34.336
for the K-12 market than ever before.

0:09:34.360,0:09:37.536
A lot of this is directed[br]at language arts,

0:09:37.560,0:09:39.616
but more and more comics[br]and graphic novels

0:09:39.640,0:09:43.136
are starting to tackle[br]math and science topics.

0:09:43.160,0:09:47.656
STEM comics graphics novels[br]really are like this uncharted territory,

0:09:47.680,0:09:49.120
ready to be explored.

0:09:49.920,0:09:52.416
America is finally waking up to the fact

0:09:52.440,0:09:56.616
that comic books[br]do not cause juvenile delinquency.

0:09:56.640,0:09:57.656
(Laughter)

0:09:57.680,0:10:01.856
That they really do belong[br]in every educator's toolkit.

0:10:01.880,0:10:05.216
There's no good reason[br]to keep comic books and graphic novels

0:10:05.240,0:10:07.296
out of K-12 education.

0:10:07.320,0:10:08.976
They teach visually,

0:10:09.000,0:10:11.760
they give our students[br]that remote control.

0:10:12.520,0:10:15.216
The educational potential is there

0:10:15.240,0:10:16.976
just waiting to be tapped

0:10:17.000,0:10:18.680
by creative people like you.

0:10:19.440,0:10:20.656
Thank you.

0:10:20.680,0:10:23.760
(Applause)