Head Trip – Don’t Ya by *shinga on deviantART

David Bowie should definately have stayed! This cartoon captures the voice of the young people I teach.
In my ‘Creative Writing’ student group at school last year I had a couple of highly talented young people who expressed themselves wonderfully using this form. They created wonderful drawings and turned them into stories. This year not one. The group of young people enjoyed writing, but not in this form.
I must admit I haven’t taken much of an interest in this form either, so I am going to challenge myself to read a graphic novel this year and to use more comics and cartoons in my teaching. I want to ensure I don’t limit my students to my own tastes.
When I was a kid I remember my dad reading the ‘funnies’ in the newspapers and laughing and then passing them to me to share the laughs. I often didn’t find it that funny. I think I found it annoying that he found things funny at that hour of the day. I was frequently tired and cranky in the mornings. Now I get up early and don’t communicate much in the mornings and progress through it much better, not having to talk for a while.
I did like political cartoons though and often laughed at those. I need to give them a go and find out more.