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The authors document research completed in 10th‐grade language arts classes where a canonical play was read alongside a graphic novel in the hopes of shifting student understandings of power and privilege in literature. Using teacher action research as a methodological framework for this qualitative study, a teacher and researcher engaged in long‐term fieldwork and participant observation as a means of investigating what happens when nontraditional texts are paired with canonical works in diverse secondary classrooms. Findings illustrate that by placing a work of the dominant literary study tradition in dialogue with a contemporary graphic novel, students accessed multiple perspectives that allowed for emotional, academic, and critical learning. Additionally, findings speak to the value of multimodal composing as a way to privilege student voice in conversations across various literary narratives and forms.

Authors and columns in this department explicitly focus on adult literacy, addressing issues of research, policy, and practice relevant to a wide range of adult learners in different contexts.

This study examined the impact of remix journaling as a new media literacy practice on undergraduate students’ engagement and ownership of learning. Using arts-based pedagogy combined with new media literacies, this study chronicles students’ perspectives on knowledge-building, expression, and social agency through remix journaling. Findings suggest remix as a contemporary literacy practice that expands and enhances students’ critical thinking while cultivating authentic classroom cultures that bridge digital worlds by supporting reader engagement and the development of media literacies. Findings have implications for educational professionals, administrators, librarians, and media specialists seeking low-tech, high impact strategies for cultivating new media literacy practices in their classrooms and school communities.

As reasons to promote the inclusion of graphic novels in the curriculum expand, many teachers have yet to incorporate graphic novels into their teaching repertoire. In this article, two teacher educators describe a systematic approach that they use to teach preservice teachers how to read graphic novels, focusing on specific strategies in three major areas: visual literacy, key graphic novel vocabulary, and synthesizing images and words. The goal is to promote the use of graphic novels by preservice teachers for multiple purposes in future classrooms. These strategies are shared to encourage inservice teachers to develop a level of comfort with graphic novels by systematically trying out the strategies themselves and considering the addition of graphic novels to their curriculum.

Children's literature text sets can be powerful tools for teaching students about diversity and literacy, engaging students in authentic purposes for literacy practices while exploring complex issues such as Islamophobia. The authors discuss how an intermediate public school teacher integrated a children's literature text set project exploring Muslim characters and communities to foster students' critical thinking, deepen their comprehension, and develop their empathy. Discussion of the texts and multimodal responses inspired students to engage in further inquiry, reflect on stereotypes, and implement a social action project: a pen pal exchange with students in Bangladesh, a Muslim country. This unit provided a safe space for students to explore a complex issue while developing critical literacy skills. As students better understand and learn to empathize with diverse others through text, they realize that people share more similarities than differences, decreasing the potential for Islamophobia in classrooms and society.

Expanding definitions of literacy requires classroom instruction that provides multiple pathways for students to demonstrate their understanding of the content and communicate knowledge. Privileging the use of visual and multimodal texts as valued school communication may create equitable practices for students who are new to English or struggle with literacy for a variety of reasons. The authors explore the roles that the Talking Drawings strategy played in supporting students’ content and literacy learning and in their ability to reflect on their new understandings. In seven upper elementary classrooms, students drew pictures before and after focused instruction about a topic and added written reflections about the differences between the two drawings. The results of this study demonstrate how Talking Drawings provided a multimodal pathway for students to access the curriculum, communicate new content knowledge, redirect their content misconceptions, and reflect on their learning.

In this case study, the author showcases a Mexican teen’s testimonios, crossing borders through poetry and art. The author grounds this work within Anzaldúa’s nepantla (in‐between space) and nepantlera border artist notions and draws from Sepúlveda’s pedagogy of acompañamiento (accompaniment). During a larger project, the author, a former teacher, reunited with former elementary students the summer before 10th grade. The author focuses on one participant, Valeria, and her nepantlera border artist empathy, revealing her embodied experiences over time. The author seeks to show how acompañamiento coupled with testimonios creates apertures across time. Implications include a teacher’s acompañamiento in establishing creative nepantla spaces outside of traditional educational structures. This fosters confianza (trust) to express testimonios, uncovering a holistic understanding of students’ lives. Testimonios in this study promote healing, empowerment, and transformation amid various modalities for students in the educational system, creatively enhancing teachers’ literacy instruction.

The author draws on previous work in looking at refugee literature and focuses on two different, yet arguably complimentary, examples of marginalized narratives in graphic novels that inservice teachers can use in instruction. The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks offers a fictional story yet delves into complex issues and themes. Illegal by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, and illustrated by Giovanni Rigano, takes a more realistic approach to the topic. Both graphic novels are effective and can lead to classroom applications. The author offers a description of the works and discussion about instructional steps for their use with students.

The authors share how culturally relevant photographs reflecting children's lives and communities were curated and integrated into the literacy curriculum.

To positively influence students’ behavior and social relationships in the school and community settings, teachers can support students during early interventions and active conversations. Conversations held during class time that use picturebooks and restorative practice activities can be an appropriate way to support student learning and engagement. Lessons and activities can be implemented through any subject and integrated into classroom discussions to support students’ relationships, personal growth, well‐being, and behaviors. Incorporating discussions surrounding picturebooks with specific messages relating to social skills or situations in the classroom or community can support a restorative justice framework. The authors present ideas and activities relating to using picturebooks while upholding a restorative environment.