Learn to use comics in your classroom to drive critical thinking

Comics are a great tool to use in the classroom. We know it can be hard to understand how to use comics, especially if you didn’t grow up reading them. We’ll break down how to read comics and explore the cognitive psychology behind making sense of visual narratives.

Our interactive professional development workshops will help your social studies educators teach lesser-known historical narratives, deepen content knowledge, and connect comics to primary source analysis.

It is becoming increasingly challenging to teach difficult topics.

Teachers don’t have to avoid these topics - they need the right support. Our professional development helps teachers explore complex history with clarity, nuance, and care so that students understand the world they live in.

- Classroom-ready strategies for integrating comics, visuals, and other multimodal resources.
- Engaging tools that spark curiosity, foster empathy, and support comprehension across diverse learning styles.
- Use comics as an innovative tool to make challenging material more approachable and engaging for students.
- Develop practical strategies to read and interpret comics critically, integrate them into lesson plans, and spark meaningful discussions on sensitive or complex topics.
Key features include:
- Framework for selecting culturally responsive narratives
- Brainstorming sessions to select impactful moments in history
- Guidance on creating content that centers local stories and marginalized communities
- Leverage cognitive psychology to understand how students process and retain meaning from visual narratives, and apply strategies that make comics powerful tools for learning.
- Use graphic storytelling to help students connect emotionally and intellectually with complex material while fostering culturally responsive and inclusive teaching practices.
- Each training session is hands-on and grounded in real-world application, going beyond theory to model what effective instruction looks like in practice.
- Teachers actively participate in interactive activities and case studies that show how comics can spark inquiry, clarify complex historical events, and encourage critical thinking.

Join one of our webinars to learn more about how to use comics to teach history.

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Date: Wednesday, July 15

Time: 6:00 - 7:00 pm CT

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Date: Wednesday, July 22

Time: 6:00 - 7:00 pm CT

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Joe's Last Stand: Battle of Blair Mountain Webinar

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Find a PD series that works for your teachers

Teaching with Comics Series

Join us for three virtual 90-minute professional development sessions to learn how historical fiction comic books can make learning more engaging, multimodal, and culturally responsive for you and your students. We'll explore historical topics such as The Great Migration, the East L.A. Walkouts, and the Delano Grape Strike.

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Black History Series

Our Black History Learning Series makes it even easier to make teaching Black history more engaging for students. Each teacher who participates in this series will receive four class sets (100 books). We'll also conduct four professional development sessions to help your teachers learn more about using historical comic books in the classroom.

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Ethnic Studies Series

With our Ethnic Studies Bundle, you can easily obtain the culturally responsive, inquiry-based content you need to help students think critically about lesser-known events in history involving marginalized communities that have impacted our society. Each teacher who participates in this series will receive five class sets (125 books).

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