‘Pathetic Geek Stories’: A Practical Approach to Introducing a Challenging Graphic Narrative

Choosing a challenging text, applying a consistent critical approach to it, and creatively building up to a discussion of its themes as relevant to both itself as part of a literary tradition and as an extension of the ideas of difficulty and vulnerability, can enable student teachers to feel empowered and included in an interpretive community. This can in turn lead to considered discussions of identity and belonging, and productive literary analysis to follow. This article explores these ideas in the context of graduate-level English teacher education coursework on the graphic memoir Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (2007) and examines the theoretical basis for this work. It includes exemplars of an in-class activity, using a critical-creative approach, and also provides discussion of how elements of this activity can be adapted when working with graphic novels with other target groups. In doing so, the article explores the potential of multimodal reading strategies for identity- and community-building in the profession of teaching.