Comics in Education


Nelson Beats the Odds: Author of the ADHD Comic on the Power of Encouragement

A reflection of his own experiences of being diagnosed with ADHD and a learning disability, Ronnie Sidney speaks up for underrepresented special ed students in his creative and witty narrative, Nelson Beats the Odds. Entertaining, heartbreaking, but ultimately triumphant, Sidney’s comic book sheds light on the difficulties students placed in special education face.

The story revolves around a young boy named Nelson who is starting his first day in middle school. Sidney illustrates Nelson’s behavior in the classroom, aligning with the classic signs of ADHD: inattentiveness, disinterest, and frequent daydreaming. Nelson’s parents are devastated to learn that their son has a learning disability. Nelson quickly learns what it means to be “different,” and begins to hide the recent develop…

Comics in the Classroom: “Hooked on Comics Worked for Me”

Throughout the month of August, Teach.com and Reading With Pictures have brought youComics in the Classroom, a blog series about using comics in education, including why graphic novels are complex texts as defined by the Common Core Standards, how to use graphic texts to teach in the content areas, how and where to find the best graphic texts, and more.

To round up this month-long series, here is our final guest post from Josh Elder, the Founder ofReading with Pictures.


My single-parent mothe…

The Art of Creating Classics: An Interview with Gareth Hinds

Throughout the month of August, Teach.com and Reading With Pictures are bringing youComics in the Classroom, a blog series about using comics in education, including why graphic novels are complex texts as defined by the Common Core Standards, how to use graphic texts to teach in the content areas, how and where to find the best graphic texts, and more. We hope you’ll join us and bring the power of comics to your classroom!

The following guest post is written by Eric Kallenborn.


As I enter my 10th…

5 Tips for Bringing Comics into Your Classroom

Throughout the month of August, Teach.com and Reading With Pictures are bringing youComics in the Classroom, a blog series about using comics in education, including why graphic novels are complex texts as defined by the Common Core Standards, how to use graphic texts to teach in the content areas, how and where to find the best graphic texts, and more. We hope you’ll join us and bring the power of comics to your classroom!

The following guest post is written by Ronell Whitaker, an English teacher in the suburbs of Chicago. He writes a blog about comics in the classroom over on…

Comics in the Classroom: Teaching Content with Comics

Throughout the month of August, Teach.com and Reading With Pictures are bringing youComics in the Classroom, a blog series about using comics in education, including why graphic novels are complex texts as defined by the Common Core Standards, how to use graphic texts to teach in the content areas, how and where to find the best graphic texts, and more. We hope you’ll join us and bring the power of comics to your classroom!

The following guest post is written by Tracy Edmunds, M.A., Curriculum Manger at Reading With Pictures


Comics and graphic novels, also known as sequential art or graphic texts, combine images and text in sequence to convey meaning. Recently, the f…

Comics in the Classroom: Comics as Educational Texts

Throughout the month of August, Teach.com and Reading With Pictures are bringing youComics in the Classroom, a blog series about using comics in education, including why graphic novels are complex texts as defined by the Common Core Standards, how to use graphic texts to teach in the content areas, how and where to find the best graphic texts, and more. We hope you’ll join us and bring the power of comics to your classroom!

The following guest post is written by Tracy Edmunds, M.A., Curriculum Manger at Reading With Pictures


Humans have been using pictures in sequence to communicate and educate for thousands of years; hieroglyphics are the ancestors of comics. Before the…