Tim Smyth has an impressive resume. High school social studies teacher and MS Reading Specialist. Consulted the U.S. State Department on a global comics in education program. Assisted various comic book publishers in the development of teacher guides for their comics. Appearances on numerous media outlets, including PBS. Conducted workshops at state and national education conferences. Led panels on the use of comics as an education tool at such esteemed popular culture conventions as San Diego Comic-Con and New York Comic Con. The list goes on.
In 2023, Tim Smyth decided to share his extensive knowledge on the use of comics in the classroom with the publication of Teaching with Comics and Graphic Novels: Fun and Engaging Strategies to Improve Close Reading and Critical Thinking in Every Classroom. “The overall goal of this book is to open the minds of educators to the use of comics as meaningful and engaging literature that help all levels of readers,” Smyth explains. “Comics are societal artifacts, a break from the textbook, and a way to engage our 21st-century globally diverse society.”
Smyth’s evolution from traditional high school teacher to comics-in-the-classroom advocate began while obtaining his Master’s Degree as a Reading Specialist. While enrolled in the program, Smyth and others in his class were told that girls tended to read more than boys. Looking back at his own childhood as an avid reader, he decided to use comic books as a way to bridge the gap. Smyth’s initial attempt juxtaposed the description of the Battle of Thermopylae from a social studies textbook with images from Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300. He then did the same with the textbook depiction of the Hundred Years War and Warren Ellis’ graphic novel Crecy.
“The end result of this experiment was that my students were able to learn so much more about this battle through the intersection of comics and the textbook,” Smyth writes. “They were excited and engaged at using this new medium. I would never propose that comics can replace more traditional resources, but they are able to enhance our lessons.”
Tim Smyth offers other examples of how he personally uses comic books in the classroom. At the start of each school year, for instance, students are split into groups of four, with each group receiving two small stacks of comics. One stack contains older publications, the other newer ones. He then spends the first day of class discussing historical artifacts and how they increase knowledge of specific time periods. On the second day, the students examine the comic books as if they were historical artifacts, looking for clues regarding the time period in which they were published.
Since most of the students have difficulty finding any historical data during this initial read through, Tim Smyth asks them to read them again on the third day, only this time he provides a list of questions to consider: How are the characters dressed? How are the women characters treated? Are any of the characters minorities? Are there any historical tie-ins to the narratives? What kind of advertisements can be found inside the comic books? The answers from students afterwards are significantly more detailed than the day before as a result.
In another chapter of Teaching with Comics and Graphic Novels, Tim Smyth offers an example of a superhero comic books that relates to actual historical events. Amazing Spider-Man #36 was published in December 2001, mere months after the tragic events of 9/11. Instead of a fictional narrative featuring the web-slinging superhero combating a traditional supervillain, however, this particular issue is factually grounded on that fateful day.
“This powerful comic opens with Spider-Man at ground zero as the buildings collapse,” Smyth begins. “Throughout the comic, there are moments of doubt and disbelief, civilians even questioning Spider-Man about how he could let this happen. This really encapsulates many of my feelings from that day – the most powerful nation in the world brought to its knees shook my idea of safety and security. But the comic continues to show the first responders and many others arriving to help. This is an honest look at the events of the day and shows how others reacted around the world.”
Along with fictional superheroes like Spider-Man, Tim Smyth also highlights real-world superheroes, most notably John Lewis. Lewis was a veteran of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and strong supporter of Martin Luther King Jr.’s strategy of nonviolent civil disobedience. He participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961, later led a group of marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on Bloody Sunday, and even spoke at the 1963 March on Washington, famous for King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In August 2013, Lewis – along with writer Andrew Aydin and illustrator Nate Powell – released the first installment of the March trilogy, a graphic novel adaptation of John Lewis’s remarkable life.
“These three books are the most powerful teaching resources I have used in my 20 plus years of teaching,” Tim Smyth writes in Teaching with Comics and Graphic Novels. “We are able to learn not just about THE civil rights movements, but also to see a much wider picture of the movement, its history, and the continuing struggle for equality and respect for all. Students are able to see beyond the towering figures of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. They feel personally responsible throughout the powerful illustrations. They want to learn more.”
Smyth encountered that last observation firsthand when he introduced the first volume of the trilogy into his classroom. His initial approach was rather simple – Smyth selected various panels from the book and then had the class discuss them as a group. Instead of adhering to the process, however, students often skipped ahead and began discussing other sections amongst themselves. They also asked if they could spend more time reading in class as opposed to at home so that they could more readily discuss what they read with each other.
Tim Smyth used a hybrid approach for the second March book, only to realize that the scheduled pauses for discussion were keeping students from enjoying the overall narrative. As a result, he again tweaked the process for March book three, handing out sticky notes for students to write their thoughts on and then post on the relevant pages so that they could be discussed afterwards. “The sneaky part of all this is that students have also become deeper readers as they have annotated text in deep and meaningful ways on a personal level,” Smyth mentions as an added bonus to the class structure.
While the above examples all have an historical bent to them, Tim Smyth fills Teaching with Comics and Graphic Novels with ways to use comic books for other subjects as well. There are graphic novel adaptations of classic works of literature, for example, graphic memoirs that help teach about identity and diversity, an issue of Marvel’s Champions that deals with school shootings, comic books focused on mythology and fairy tales, and even a teenage super hero team textbook that can be used in the mathematics classroom.
For Tim Smyth, the possibilities are endless – just like with the medium itself.
Anthony Letizia