Why a Website now?

Me at the New England Comics Art in the Classroom conference at Rhode Island College in 2011. I told you I did things!

I have been teaching for many years, and in all that time, I have never thought to take the time to build a website. I have had colleagues, young and old, who have worked tirelessly to build a page to share their experiences and ideas and have established an online persona through social media that is impressive and appreciated by those who follow them.

Whereas I had little more than a FaceBook page and an old LiveJournal that I haven't updated in a decade. 

But I did things, though. Honest I did. I co-directed an entire day long educational conference on how to use comics in the classroom back in 2011. It was one of the first of its kind and I am told people still talk about it...but I still didn't have my own website!

So why start now? I think that it's finally time. I think that my career has reached a point where I feel like what I have is worth sharing. For the better part of my teaching experience, I have been the only one in my little microcosm (school district) whose expertise was in using comics and graphic novels in the classroom. I became the "comic book guy" or the "nerd teacher" and my colleagues would come to me for advice on titles or how to use sequential art in their own lessons. I have been blessed with workmates, department chairs, and administrators who have been supportive of my work and given me time, resources, and trust. 

I sought out professional development opportunities in order to build on my own knowledge - you know, like we teachers do. For a long time, I found very little, or at least very little that could teach me anything. More than once I sat in a day long seminar which listed some of the more popular titles but offered no real pedagogy - no real lessons or examples of how these things might be used.

​"This is Maus. This is Persepolis. This is Bone. This is Smile," the librarian stand before a PowerPoint presentation would say. ​

I would think to myself "Yeah. Been there. Done that. How do I teach with them?"

Very seldom did the answer come. I was on my own - that is, until the 2013 NCTE annual conference. That's where I met Eric and Ronell.

---

Left to right, Ronell, Eric, Gene Yang (American Born Chinese), and yours truly from ALA 2017

Eric Kallenborn and Ronell Whitaker are Chicago area teachers who were presenting their strategies on using comics in the classroom with artist Gareth Hinds and it was everything I was looking for! They had new titles, strategies, student work - it was magnificent.

So of course we became friends. So of course we started presenting together. So of course they introduced me to their colleague Jason Nisavic who loves Rick and Morty as much as I do. So of course I met a bunch of their other friends and we brainstormed a program of our own. So of course we got noticed by the good people at Pop Culture Classroom who worked with us to develop it. 

...but that's a story for another post.

Suffice to say that, in this amazing company of Eric, Ronell, Jason, and the others - our cohort has grown exponentially. We have presented at comic cons and educational conventions all over the country. We are rolling out our lending library this fall. There's so much to share now.

So that's why I have a website now.

---