**Please note there is also a Self-Paced version of this class, with pre-recorded videos your learner can watch at any time that works for them,  so if none of the current sections work for your schedule, this could be a great option for you!
https://outschool.com/classes/flex-book-club-graphic-novels-101-x6IUlG7N?usid=nD85Y1ms&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link

Graphic novels are perhaps the most popular types of books children are reading today, and chances are your learner has already read dozens of them! But fully comprehending and appreciating them requires greater savvy than many readers realize. This course will take students on a deep dive into the graphic novel, teaching them about the variety of elements that writers and illustrators use to tell their stories. We will learn about important vocabulary including panel, foreground, onomatopoeia, enamata, the difference between graphic novels and comics, and much, much more. Readers will be able to apply their learning immediately, to any graphic novel they read. There are no required texts for this class, readers can bring along any graphic novel they would like as we hunt for and share examples and discuss our noticings as a class.
Due to the very visual nature of most of our learning and discussions, this would be the perfect class for any ESL learners or for reluctant or struggling readers!

Day 1: We will learn the definition of a graphic novel, how they are different than comic books, and how they can be found in any genre. 

Day 2: We will learn some of the important elements of what is seen on the page, including panels, frames, gutters, foreground, background, and graphic weight.

Day 3: Today's focus will be on characters and what we can learn about them from the illustrations and the text. We'll examine facial expressions, hands and feet, body language, and the use of enamata to communicate nonverbal elements. 

Day 4: We will take a close look at the importance of setting; how it is introduced, when it's important and when it's not, how authors let us know it has changed, the role of panel size, and how illustrators communicate concepts of time. 

Day 5: For the last class, our focus will be on the written text itself, the different types of print that are used and what they mean, captions, speech balloons, asterisks and onomatopoeia.