Guest host Thomas Maluck chats with Tim Smyth, MS Reading Specialist, about how comics can be a powerful tool in education.

Tim Smyth, MS Reading Specialist, has been teaching social studies at Wissahickon High School in Pennsylvania since 2001 and travels the United States giving professional development on the use of comics in education. His presentations and workshops have been given at numerous comic book conventions (including San Diego Comic Con), museums, universities, schools, and educational conferences on both state and national levels. His teacher guides and articles, which focus on the integration of comics and the classroom, have been published by many notable organizations including MacMillan and PBS. Smyth maintains a comprehensive website at historycomics.net that shares many resources for educators around the world.

Thomas Maluck is a teen services librarian at Richland Library in Columbia, South Carolina with an MLIS from the University of South Carolina. He served on YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels For Teens committee for its 2014 and 2015 lists and has presented about teen programming and collections at various library and pop culture conventions. When he’s not reading as a juror for book awards, he reviews and promotes for No Flying, No Tights, reviews and edits for Do You Even Comic Book, and co-hosts a podcast about comics and libraries, The Secret Stacks. A member of the library’s anime club gave him a Star Build Strike Gundam, the most prestigious award in teen librarianship.

SHOW NOTES:

Tim Smyth’s website

Tim’s PBS columns:

How I Use Comic Books As A Learning Tool In My Social Studies Classroom

How Bringing Comics Into The Classroom Made Me Love Teaching Again

“Comics” vs “Graphic Novels”

Comics, education, and literacy

Padlet: online collaboration tool

Cross-curriculum applications of comics

ALA Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table

Issues vs Collected Editions vs Digital

Comics Discussed In This Episode

• America
• Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation
• Black
• Black Panther
• Captain America: Sam Wilson
• Classical Comics
• Dr. Seuss Goes To War
• Faith
• The Great War
• Green Lanterns
• The Harlem Hellfighters
• Iceman
• The Imaginary Voyages of Edgar Allen Poe
• The Immortal Hulk
• Madaya Mom (official links to this are broken – ABC is looking into it!)
• March Trilogy
• Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story
• Miles Morales: Spider-Man
• New Kid (bonus: the book comparison in question)
• Sense & Sensibility (Manga Classics)
• The Silence of Our Friends
• Solution Squad
• Speak: The Graphic Novel
• Thor

This episode of Circulating Ideas is brought to you with support from Mometrix. Through their eLibrary portal, Mometrix offers study guides and practice questions for over 1800 different exams covering college entrance, graduate school, nursing, medical, teacher certification, civil service, and many other careers or fields of study, all fully customizable and at a fraction of the cost of printed books. It’s like having an entire library of test prep materials…. all at your fingertips. So, save space, save paper, and save money; with Mometrix eLibrary. To learn more, visit GOeLibrary.com and use promo code PODCAST to get a free demo and save 10% on your first purchase.