Screw you, Ravitch!

The New York Times has an article today about how teachers are using comics in the classroom to get kids to engage with books. This is something that I do with my first graders, because reading at this age is 90% about getting them interested. They may not like Little Bear, or Margaret Hillert, or even Junie B., so if it's Batman, Spiderman, and The Haunted Tank that get them going--why not?

Unless, of course, you're a famous professor:

“If you’re going to use comics in the classroom at all, which I have serious doubts about, it should be only as a motivational tool,” said Diane Ravitch, an education professor at New York University. “What teachers have to recognize is that this is only a first step.”

Feh, I say. This is a case of the theorist disagreeing with the practitioner, and in that battle you should always, always go with the voice that's actually working with the kids.

Let me also throw in a good word for Comics in the Classroom, a labor of love that it's administrator (Scott Tingley) has been improving steadily over the past few years. If you're interested in what books might be good for the kids you teach, his site is a great resource.