Teaching the comic Yummy to engage adolescent empathy, critical reflection, and community awareness

ABSTRACT

For researchers interested in how pedagogy within schools can be used as a catalyst for adolescent moral development, investigating practitioner-based studies of classroom practices that support the growth of prosocial behaviors is crucial. This paper delineates a qualitative study conducted in an ethnically diverse high school language arts classroom where texts were being utilized to promote moral development across multiple domains. Authors describe how the critical reading and discussion of the comic Yummy led students to express emotional responses to the text centered in feelings of empathy, gratitude, and community awareness. Findings suggest that these specific emotional reactions demonstrate potential for critical, social consciousness and the development of empathic and prosocial behaviors. Fundamentally, this paper seeks to enrich scholarship in the field of adolescent moral development by arguing that pedagogy within schools can be utilized to promote emotions and cognitions that lead to community action.

KEYWORDS:

• Comics
• empathy
• critical literacy
• community awareness
• adolescent moral development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ashley K. Dallacqua

Ashley K. Dallacqua is an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico whose research interests include multimodal and multimedia literacy and their use in academic settings. She works closely with teachers and young adults, supporting the integration of new texts and literacy practices into school spaces. In much of her work is an emphasis on the comics medium. Ashley’s recent work appears in Language Arts, English Journal, The ALAN Review, Gender and Education, and The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.

She can be contacted at [email protected].

Annmarie Sheahan

Annmarie Sheahan is an assistant professor of Young Adult Literature and English Education at Western Washington University. She is a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she taught high school language arts for over a decade. Her areas of interest include critical literacy, the history of English education in the United States, and critical practitioner research. Her recent work has been published in The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, English Journal, Critical Studies in Education, Race Ethnicity and Education, and English Education.

She can be contacted at [email protected].

Alexandra N. Davis

Alexandra N. Davis is an assistant professor of Family and Child Studies at the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on the role of cultural and contextual stressors in shaping ethnic minority and low-income adolescents’ prosocial and moral development. Her recent publications are in human development, psychology, and sociology journals, including Race and Social Problems, Social Development, Journal of Moral Education, and Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

She can be contacted at [email protected].