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various K-12 comics- Displacement, Smile, Class Act, Snapdragon

Schedule and Readings

Participants will enjoy a packed 14-day schedule (16-day total, counting arrival and departure). Each day of the institute will include activities such as 75-minute guest-lectures, guided research in comics, lesson planning (workshopping in break-out groups and solo), experience in comic creation, and exploration of the comics industry at Comic-Con. In week one, morning sessions will primarily focus on content (lectures by local experts) and afternoon sessions will emphasize hands-on lesson planning.  That hands-on workshopping of lesson planning will continue into week two, with time set aside for sharing those plans and getting feedback on them from organizers and fellow participants.  The final four days of the workshop will include attending San Diego Comic-Con International (SDCC), and the Comic Arts Conference which takes place at the convention. The institute hopes to sponsor a panel at SDCC’s Comic Arts Conference (pending acceptance) on which five participants in the institute will share a lesson plan they’ve created during the institute and their experience developing it. Within two weeks of returning home from the institute, participants will submit their final lesson plans to the organizers for inclusion on a public-facing website.

What follows is the *draft* schedule-at-a-glanceof lectures and activities over the course of two weeks.  Readings will be shared with participants via the Canvas site for the Institute.

Schedule at a Glance

Sunday, 14 July

  • Participants will arrive and gather at a pre-institute reception

Monday, 15 July

  • 9:00-10:15 - Pollard (SDSU) - Overview of the Institute 
  • 10:30 - 11:45 - Jackson (SDSU) -Introduction to SDSU Library Comics Collection (hands-on activities and tour) 
  • 1-3 - Emily Schindler (Comic Con Museum Education Coordinator) - Introduction to Educational Programming at the Comic-Con Museum 
  • 3-4 - Discussion & Needs/Goals Assessment

Tuesday, 16 July

  • 9:00-10:15 - Pollard (SDSU) - Comics and Social Justice (from the Paleolithic to Today!) 
  • 10:30-11:45 - CBLDF or ALA (TBN - via Zoom) - Comics as Banned Literature 
  • 1:00-2:15 - Michael Dominguez (SDSU, Associate Professor of Chicana & Chicano Studies) - Comics and Race 
  • 2:30-3:45 - Moni Barrette (Creators Assemble) - Comics and School/Public Libraries: Challenges and Possibilities

Wednesday, 17 July

  • 9:00-10:15 - Ajani Brown (SDSU) - Super Black: The Politics of Representation in Comics 
  • 10:30 - 11:45 - Desmond Hassing (SDSU) - Native American Representation in Comic Books and Graphic Arts 
  • 1:00 - 3:00 - Katie Sciurba (SDSU - College of Ed) - Overview of Comics Lesson-Planning - What Works and What Doesn’t

Thursday, 18 July

  • 9:00-10:15 - Jess Whatcott (SDSU) - Queering Comics and Graphic Novels 
  • 10:30 - 11:45 - Bill Nericcio (SDSU) - Chicanx Comix: Community, Storytelling, and Social Justice 
  • 1:00 - 3:00 - Workshop - Lesson Plan Planning (Explore participants’ discipline- and grade-specific content standards for incorporation of comics content) - Overview by Pollard and work in break-out groups guided by core guest lecturers

Friday, 19 July

  • 9:00 - 12:00 - Little Fish Comic Book Studio (Mark Habegger) - Making Comics 
  • 1:00 - 3:00 - Workshop - Lesson Plan Drafting (Explore SDSU Collection and On-Line Materials for Teachable Content) - Overview by Jackson and work in break-out groups guided by core guest-lecturers

Saturday, 20 July

  • 9:00 - 12:00 - Visit Little Fish Comic Book Studio (see teachers in action with K-12 artists and writers; experiment with comic creation) 
  • Afternoon - Rest / Process / Independent work on lesson-planning

Sunday, 21 July

  •  Morning - Rest / Process / Independent work on lesson-planning
  • 1:00 - 4:00 - Visit Comic-Con Museum

Monday, 22 July

  • 9:00-10:15 - Tarpley (SDSU) - Comics and Displaced Peoples
  • 10:30 - 11:45 - Kirkegaard (SDSU) - Religion and Comics 
  • 1:00 - 3:00 - Workshop - Participants gather to work on comics lesson planning

Tuesday, 23 July

  • Participants share with one another drafts of their lesson plans and get feedback 
  • 9:00 - 12:30 - 13 participants share in the morning (15 minutes each, for sharing and feedback) 
  • 1:30 - 4:30 - 12 participants share in the morning (15 minutes each, for sharing and feedback)

Wednesday, 24 July

  • 9:00 - 11:00 - Jackson - History of Comic Con and the Comic Con Kids Project 
  • 1:00 - 6:00 - Badge Pick-Up, Workshop at Comic-Con, and Attend Comic-Con Preview Night

Thursday, 25 July

  • 9:00 - 5:00 - Comic-Con - Participants attend sessions of their choice at Comic-Con and Comic Arts Conference 
  • Meet at 5PM (on-site at Comic-Con) to discuss what participants saw and how they’ll use it in lesson planning!

Friday, 26 July

  • 9:00 - 5:00 - Comic-Con - Participants attend sessions of their choice at Comic-Con and Comic Arts Conference 
  • Meet at 5PM (on-site at Comic-Con) to discuss what participants saw and how they’ll use it in lesson planning!

Saturday, 27 July

  • 9:00 - 5:00 - Comic-Con - Participants attend sessions of their choice at Comic-Con and Comic Arts Conference 
  • Meet at 5PM (on-site at Comic-Con) to discuss what participants saw and how they’ll use it in lesson planning!

Sunday, 28 July 

  • 9:00 - 5:00 - Comic-Con - Includes Comic Arts Conference Panel - 
  • Five participants discuss their experience of the institute and their lesson plans (in-progress)

By the end of July 2024, participants will submit to organizers (Pollard and Jackson) their final lesson plans which will be reviewed, collated, and shared on a public-facing website for educators nationwide to adapt for their own use. By December 2024, the website for the lesson plans will be fully launched and promoted. 


If you have questions not answered by the materials on this website, please contact [email protected].