When I was in the fifth grade, I bought an issue of "DC Comics Presents #57" off of a spinner rack at my local bookstore, and that comic book changed my life. The combination of words and pictures did something inside my head that had never been done before, and I immediately fell in love with the medium of comics. I became a voracious comic book reader, but I never brought them to school. Instinctively, I knew that comic books didn't belong in the classroom. My parents definitely were not fans, and I was certain that my teachers wouldn't be either. After all, they never used them to teach, comic books and graphic novels were never allowed during silent sustained reading, and they were never sold at our annual book fair. Even so, I kept reading comics, and I even started making them. Eventually I became a published cartoonist, writing and drawing comic books for a living.
我五年級的時候, 我從當地書店的旋轉架上買下了 《DC Comics Presents》 (漫畫)第 57 期, 那本漫畫書改變了我的人生。 文字和圖畫的組合, 在我的腦中產生了某種效應, 那是前所未有的, 我馬上就愛上了漫畫的表現方式。 我變成了狼吞虎嚥級的 漫畫書讀者, 但我從未帶它們去學校。 我直覺地知道 漫畫書並不屬於教室。 我父母肯定不是漫畫書迷, 我很確定我的老師們也不會是。 畢竟,他們從來沒有 用漫畫書來教書, 在默讀課程中,從來就不允許 選讀漫畫書和圖像小說, 在年度的書展也不會販售它們。 即使如此,我仍持續閱讀漫畫書, 我甚至開始畫漫畫。 最終,我變成了 有作品出版的漫畫家, 靠寫和畫漫畫書維生。
I also became a high school teacher. This is where I taught: Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California. I taught a little bit of math and a little bit of art, but mostly computer science, and I was there for 17 years. When I was a brand new teacher, I tried bringing comic books into my classroom. I remember telling my students on the first day of every class that I was also a cartoonist. It wasn't so much that I was planning to teach them with comics, it was more that I was hoping comics would make them think that I was cool.
我也成了一名高中教師。 這是我教書的地方: 加州奧克蘭的主教奥多德高中。 我教一點點數學和一點點藝術, 但主要是教資訊科學, 我已經在那裡教了 17 年。 當我還是新老師時, 我試圖把漫畫書帶到我的教室裡。 我記得,我在每堂課的 第一天就告訴學生 我也是漫畫家。 重點不是我打算用漫畫來教導他們, 重點比較在於,我希望 漫畫會讓他們覺得我很酷。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I was wrong. This was the '90s, so comic books didn't have the cultural cachet that they do today. My students didn't think I was cool. They thought I was kind of a dork. And even worse, when stuff got hard in my class, they would use comic books as a way of distracting me. They would raise their hands and ask me questions like, "Mr. Yang, who do you think would win in a fight, Superman or the Hulk?"
我錯了。 這是 90 年代, 漫畫書不像現今有受到文化認可。 我的學生並沒有覺得我很酷。 他們覺得我是某種呆子。 更糟的是,當我在課堂上 教比較難的內容時, 他們會用漫畫書來當作 讓我分心的方式。 他們會舉手並問我像這樣的問題: 「楊老師,你認為若超人和浩克 對打,誰會贏?」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I very quickly realized I had to keep my teaching and my cartooning separate. It seemed like my instincts in fifth grade were correct. Comic books didn't belong in the classroom.
我很快就發現, 我得把教學和漫畫給切割開。 我五年級時的直覺似乎是正確的。 漫畫書不屬於教室。
But again, I was wrong. A few years into my teaching career, I learned firsthand the educational potential of comics. One semester, I was asked to sub for this Algebra 2 class. I was asked to long-term sub it, and I said yes, but there was a problem. At the time, I was also the school's educational technologist, which meant every couple of weeks I had to miss one or two periods of this Algebra 2 class because I was in another classroom helping another teacher with a computer-related activity. For these Algebra 2 students, that was terrible. I mean, having a long-term sub is bad enough, but having a sub for your sub? That's the worst. In an effort to provide some sort of consistency for my students, I began videotaping myself giving lectures. I'd then give these videos to my sub to play for my students. I tried to make these videos as engaging as possible. I even included these little special effects. For instance, after I finished a problem on the board, I'd clap my hands, and the board would magically erase.
但,我又錯了。 我的教學職涯開始了幾年之後, 我親身體會到漫畫的教育潛力。 有一個學期,我擔任 「代數 2」的代課老師。 學校希望我長期代課, 我說好,但有個問題。 那時,我也是學校的 教育科學技術人員, 意思就是說,每幾個星期, 我就無法上一到兩堂 這門「代數 2」的課, 因為那個時段我會 在其他教室協助其他老師 進行電腦相關的活動。 對於「代數 2」的學生來說, 這是很糟的狀況。 我是指,有長期的 代課老師已經夠糟了, 但還有代課老師的 代課老師?那更糟。 為了給我的學生能有某種一致性, 我開始把我自己 教課的過程拍攝下來。 接著我會把這些影片給我的 代課老師,放給我的學生看。 我試著讓這些影片 盡可能有互動性和吸引力。 我甚至加入了一些小小的特效。 比如,當我在黑板上 解完了一個問題, 我會拍手, 然後黑板就會 魔法般地自動擦乾淨。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I thought it was pretty awesome. I was pretty certain that my students would love it, but I was wrong.
我覺得那樣很棒。 我很確定我的學生會喜歡, 但我錯了。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
These video lectures were a disaster. I had students coming up to me and saying things like, "Mr. Yang, we thought you were boring in person, but on video, you are just unbearable."
影片教學是場災難。 有學生來找我,說這樣的話: 「楊老師,我們以為 你本人已經夠無趣了, 但在影片中, 你實在讓人忍無可忍。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So as a desperate second attempt, I began drawing these lectures as comics. I'd do these very quickly with very little planning. I'd just take a sharpie, draw one panel after the other, figuring out what I wanted to say as I went. These comics lectures would come out to anywhere between four and six pages long, I'd xerox these, give them to my sub to hand to my students. And much to my surprise, these comics lectures were a hit. My students would ask me to make these for them even when I could be there in person. It was like they liked cartoon me more than actual me.
我做了絕望的第二次嘗試, 我開始把教學畫成漫畫。 我沒做什麼計畫, 只用很短的時間完成它。 我只是拿起一枝 Sharpie 筆, 一張又一張畫下去, 一邊畫一邊想接下來 我想要說什麼。 完成的漫畫教學 長度在四到六頁長。 我會影印它們,拿給我的 代課老師,轉交給我的學生。 出乎我的意料, 這些漫畫教學大受歡迎。 我的學生希望我能畫更多, 即使是我不用請代課的時候。 彷彿他們喜歡卡通的我 勝過真正的我。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
This surprised me, because my students are part of a generation that was raised on screens, so I thought for sure they would like learning from a screen better than learning from a page. But when I talked to my students about why they liked these comics lectures so much, I began to understand the educational potential of comics. First, unlike their math textbooks, these comics lectures taught visually. Our students grow up in a visual culture, so they're used to taking in information that way. But unlike other visual narratives, like film or television or animation or video, comics are what I call permanent. In a comic, past, present and future all sit side by side on the same page. This means that the rate of information flow is firmly in the hands of the reader. When my students didn't understand something in my comics lecture, they could just reread that passage as quickly or as slowly as they needed. It was like I was giving them a remote control over the information. The same was not true of my video lectures, and it wasn't even true of my in-person lectures. When I speak, I deliver the information as quickly or slowly as I want. So for certain students and certain kinds of information, these two aspects of the comics medium, its visual nature and its permanence, make it an incredibly powerful educational tool.
這讓我很驚訝, 因為我的學生是屬於 看螢幕長大的世代, 我以為他們肯定會 比較喜歡從螢幕上學習, 多於從頁面上學習。 但當我和我的學生談到 他們為什麼這麼 喜歡這些漫畫教學時, 我開始了解到漫畫的教育潛力。 首先,不像他們的數學教科書, 這些漫畫教學以「視覺」方式呈現。 我們的學生生長在視覺文化當中, 他們很習慣用那種方式 來取得資訊。 但不像其他視覺型的敘事方式, 比如電影、電視、動畫,或影片, 漫畫是我所謂「永久的」。 在漫畫中,過去、現在,和未來 都能肩併肩出現在同一張頁面上。 那就表示資訊流的速度 是讀者自己能完全掌控的。 如果我的漫畫教學中 有某些東西我的學生不了解, 他們可以重讀那一段, 要快要慢就看他們的需求。 就像是我給了他們 一個搖控器可以控制那些資訊。 我的影片教學就不是如此了, 連我親自去做的教學也不是如此。 當我說話時,我依照我想要的 快慢速度將資訊傳遞出去。 所以,對某些學生 及某些種類的資訊而言, 漫畫媒材的這兩個面向, 視覺性的本質以及永久性, 讓它成為非常強大的教育工具。
When I was teaching this Algebra 2 class, I was also working on my master's in education at Cal State East Bay. And I was so intrigued by this experience that I had with these comics lectures that I decided to focus my final master's project on comics. I wanted to figure out why American educators have historically been so reluctant to use comic books in their classrooms. Here's what I discovered.
當我在教「代數 2」的課時, 我同時也在加州州立大學 東灣分校攻讀教育碩士學位。 因為漫畫教學帶給我的 這項經驗讓我大感好奇, 我決定我碩士學位的最後一個 專案計畫就要用這個題材。 我希望能探究為什麼美國的教育家 在歷史上一直不願意 把漫畫書用在教室中。 我的發現如下。
Comic books first became a mass medium in the 1940s, with millions of copies selling every month, and educators back then took notice. A lot of innovative teachers began bringing comics into their classrooms to experiment. In 1944, the "Journal of Educational Sociology" even devoted an entire issue to this topic. Things seemed to be progressing. Teachers were starting to figure things out. But then along comes this guy. This is child psychologist Dr. Fredric Wertham, and in 1954, he wrote a book called "Seduction of the Innocent," where he argues that comic books cause juvenile delinquency.
漫畫書最早是在 40 年代 變成大眾媒體, 每個月可以銷售出數百萬本, 那時的教育家有注意到此事。 許多創新的老師開始 把漫畫帶到他們的教室中, 來做實驗。 1944 年,《教育社會學雜誌》 甚至有一期全部都在談這個主題。 一切似乎都在進展中。 老師開始想出很多點子。 但隨著漫畫,也出現了一個人。 弗雷德里克魏特漢 (Fredric Wertham)醫生, 他是位兒童心理學家, 1954 年,他寫了一本書, 書名叫《誘惑無辜》, 書中,他指出漫畫書 會造成青少年犯罪。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
He was wrong. Now, Dr. Wertham was actually a pretty decent guy. He spent most of his career working with juvenile delinquents, and in his work he noticed that most of his clients read comic books. What Dr. Wertham failed to realize was in the 1940s and '50s, almost every kid in America read comic books.
他錯了。 魏特漢醫生其實是個很好的人。 他職涯的大部分時間 都在處理青少年犯罪問題, 在他的研究中,他發現 他大部分的客戶都會看漫畫書。 魏特漢醫生沒有了解一件事, 在 40 及 50 年代, 幾乎美國的每個小孩都會看漫畫書。
Dr. Wertham does a pretty dubious job of proving his case, but his book does inspire the Senate of the United States to hold a series of hearings to see if in fact comic books caused juvenile delinquency. These hearings lasted for almost two months. They ended inconclusively, but not before doing tremendous damage to the reputation of comic books in the eyes of the American public.
魏特漢醫生未清楚地證明他的論點, 但他的書確實造成美國的參議院 進行了一連串的聽證會, 來探討漫畫書是否 真的會造成青少年犯罪。 這些聽證會前後持續了幾乎兩個月。 最後結果並不確定, 但已經重重地傷害了 漫畫書在美國大眾眼中的名聲。
After this, respectable American educators all backed away, and they stayed away for decades. It wasn't until the 1970s that a few brave souls started making their way back in. And it really wasn't until pretty recently, maybe the last decade or so, that comics have seen more widespread acceptance among American educators.
這件事之後,受尊敬的 美國教育家通通都退縮了, 數十年來,他們一直保持距離。 一直到 70 年代, 有少數幾個勇敢的人 開始重新回到這條路上。 但一直要到近期, 也許是大約前十年, 漫畫才比較被美國教育家 廣為接受。
Comic books and graphic novels are now finally making their way back into American classrooms and this is even happening at Bishop O'Dowd, where I used to teach. Mr. Smith, one of my former colleagues, uses Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" in his literature and film class, because that book gives his students the language with which to discuss the relationship between words and images. Mr. Burns assigns a comics essay to his students every year. By asking his students to process a prose novel using images, Mr. Burns asks them to think deeply not just about the story but also about how that story is told. And Ms. Murrock uses my own "American Born Chinese" with her English 1 students. For her, graphic novels are a great way of fulfilling a Common Core Standard. The Standard states that students ought to be able to analyze how visual elements contribute to the meaning, tone and beauty of a text.
漫畫書和圖像小說終於重新回到 美國的教室中, 甚至發生在我以前教書的 主教奥多德高中。 我的一位前同事,史密斯老師, 把斯科特麥克勞德的 《漫畫原來要這樣看》 用在他的文學與電影課, 因為那本書能提供他的學生 一種可以用來討論 文字和影像之間關係的語言。 柏恩斯老師每年都會指派 漫畫短文作業給他的學生, 要求學生用影像來處理散文小說, 要他們深思, 不只深思故事本身, 還有說故事的方式。 莫拉克老師用我自己 寫的《美生中國人》 來教她「英語 1」的學生。 對她來說,圖像小說 是一種很棒的方式, 可以履行「共同核心標準」。 該標準所說的是, 學生應該要能分析 視覺性元素對於一段文字的意義、 調性,以及美有什麼貢獻。
Over in the library, Ms. Counts has built a pretty impressive graphic novel collection for Bishop O'Dowd. Now, Ms. Counts and all of her librarian colleagues have really been at the forefront of comics advocacy, really since the early '80s, when a school library journal article stated that the mere presence of graphic novels in the library increased usage by about 80 percent and increased the circulation of noncomics material by about 30 percent.
康茲老師為主教奥多德高中建立了 很了不起的圖像小說圖書館館藏。 康茲老師和她所有的圖書館同事 都真的一直在最前線擁護漫畫, 80 年代初期,有一篇學校 圖書館期刊的文章指出 光是在圖書館中出現 圖像小說這件事, 就讓使用率提升了約 80%, 也讓非漫畫素材的流通率 增加 30%。
Inspired by this renewed interest from American educators, American cartoonists are now producing more explicitly educational content for the K-12 market than ever before. A lot of this is directed at language arts, but more and more comics and graphic novels are starting to tackle math and science topics. STEM comics graphics novels really are like this uncharted territory, ready to be explored.
因為美國教育家 再次對漫畫產生興趣, 美國漫畫家受到鼓舞, 現在製作出了比以前更多專門為 幼稚園、小學、 中學教育設計的內容。 當中許多內容是針對語言藝術題材, 但也有越來越多漫畫和圖像小說 開始處理數學和科學的主題。 科學、科技、工程,和數學的 圖像小說就像是未知的領域, 已經準備好被探索。
America is finally waking up to the fact that comic books do not cause juvenile delinquency.
美國終於意識到 漫畫書並不會造成青少年犯罪。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
That they really do belong in every educator's toolkit. There's no good reason to keep comic books and graphic novels out of K-12 education. They teach visually, they give our students that remote control. The educational potential is there just waiting to be tapped by creative people like you.
它們確實屬於每位教育者的工具包。 沒有任何好理由要阻擋 漫畫書和圖像小說進入 幼稚園、小學、中學教育。 它們能以視覺方式教學, 它們給予學生那種遙控器。 教育潛力就在那裡, 只等待著被像各位這樣的 創意人士給釋放出來。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)