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Abstract
Exploring how the visual and written formats of comics can promote adolescents' interest
in literacy, I pose the question: How do students use literacy and artmaking processes to create
comics? This research was conducted through teaching a comic arts program for local middle
school students, which took place over the course of five weeks from April to May 2024, as part
of the after-school programming at a local middle-school. I conducted a total of six two-hour
workshops; four were once a week and there were two workshops during the fifth week. The
data collected for this research included both visual and written artifacts the students created over
the course of the program: character trait worksheet, story parts graphic organizer, story
brainstorming worksheet, drawings from different stages of their comics, and their final comic
art piece. Two key findings emerged: 1) Offering students multiple modalities (writing, audio
recording, oral storytelling, visual format) allowed them to engage with their stories in a way that
led to a variety of end products; and 2) each comic correlated with a student’s interest from the
start which was developed differently through a range of modalities.