The Case for Using Class Act in Classroom Settings

The Case for Using Class Act in Classroom Settings by Margaret A. Robbins

Margaret A. Robbins has a PhD in Language and Literacy Education from The University of Georgia. She is a Teacher-Scholar at The Mount Vernon School in Atlanta, Georgia. She has peer-reviewed journal articles published in The ALAN Review, SIGNAL Journal, Gifted Child Today, Social Studies Research and Practice, and The Qualitative Report. She recently co-edited a special issue of English Journal. Her research interests include comics, Young Adult literature, fandom, critical pedagogy, and writing instruction. 

    As some of you heard in my YAL Summit presentation this March, I believe that Class Act by Jerry Craft (2020) is a novel very worthy of study in secondary classrooms, particularly for younger adolescents, for multiple reasons. This novel has faced controversy and even been banned from some schools and districts because of its discussions on race and class. However, I believe the novel handles the issues in an age appropriate manner and also invites discussion of technique based on Scott McLoud’s (1993) Understanding of Comics and Melissa Schieble’s (2014) ideas related to critical visual literacy and comics. In this blog post, I will explain the themes of the book and how they are relevant to young adolescent readers. I will outline specific scenes that I believe are especially worthy of study in classroom settings. Additionally, I will discuss classroom application. ​

    Class Act (2020) is a sequel to Jerry Craft’s award winning novel New Kid, which Craft published in 2019. New Kid followed the storyline of Jordan Banks, a light skinned Black student who was new to the Riverdale Academy Day School, a wealthy and well-regarded private school in New York at which the student body is predominately white. Jordan’s story continues in Class Act, as he tries to navigate being younger than most of his peers, hitting puberty late, and finding a balance between meeting his parents’ high academic expectations with pursuing his passion for the visual arts. ​

However, the primary character of the novel is Drew Ellis, one of Jordan’s best friends. Drew is an intelligent student athlete who wants to do well in school, yet has to balance these desires with the expectations that he will perform as an athlete. Drew lives with his grandmother, who is a single parent, and faces microaggressions in part due to his tall stature and his darker skin. Jordan’s periodic comic drawing interludes show his empathy for Drew as he witnesses these experiences, and empathy is an important life skill for young adolescents to learn. Despite having different life experiences, Jordan and Drew both learn to feel empathy for their good friend Liam, who is white and wealthy, yet still feels isolated at times because of difficult family issues. ​

    The following scene below from page 169 shows how Drew and Jordan are both struggling to find a balance as they navigate middle school life: ​

Drew feels pressure to keep his grades up because of his scholarship to the school. However, as he discusses with Jordan, the hardest part of school is actually the social and emotional part of it, such as navigating relationships with friends, crushes, and teachers. Using Melissa Shieble’s (2014), concept of critical visual literacy, we can notice that the picture of Drew and Jordan walking on the school grounds looks like a maze or a labyrinth. For middle and young high school students, navigating social situations can feel like being in a maze: there are many obstacles, and sometimes, there is not a clear way out. Part of finding the solution, then, is continuing on the journey, even when it is challenging. ​

A large part of conversations in my classroom with my Grade 7 students is around one of their teachers, Mr. Roche. Mr. Roche is a well intentioned, but sometimes misguided white man who often ends up leading diversity awareness programs that he is not equipped to run on his own. This powerful scene from page 95 of the book demonstrates how Drew often feels invisible at some of Mr. Roche’s gatherings and events: ​

This particular scene takes place after Mr. Roche asked Drew to be a tour guide for students coming from the more racially diverse public sister school to the RAD day academy. Drew felt that he was chosen not because of common interests with the students, but because of his race, although he did manage to make a strong connection to one female student in particular. Mr. Roche is reflecting on the tour experience, during which he made a few missteps and left the students from the sister school feeling that they did not belong at RAD. He looked for solace, and while Drew might have wanted to give it, he just didn’t feel he could. The panel series of Drew fading away from the conversation exemplifies his feelings of invisibility in a way that words alone could not. ​

    The scene below from page 92 shows excellent use of Scott McCloud’s (1994) use of panels and gutters:

At one of the diversity meetings for students, Mr. Roche is trying to help the students see their common ground with each other while also embracing their differences. However, because of the questions he asks and how he asks them, the students feel awkward. The gutter shows how the bridges between Mr. Roche and the students collapse, both literally and metaphorically. The conversation around gutters when reading comics and graphic novels is always important because of the meaning making process between two panels that is involved. However, this panel and gutter set is particularly compelling because of the crumbling bridge. A productive conversation around this page is how Mr. Roche could have been a better leader and ally to the students. One good suggestion I have gotten from students is that he could have asked a BIPOC faculty or staff meeting to co-lead the sessions with him, so as to give him better ideas on how to lead these complicated discussions related to identity and belonging.

Later in the novel, Mr. Roche and some of his colleagues are preparing to go to a diversity conference, showing their commitment to learning new information about forming connections. As both Jordan and Drew point out, this commitment shows that Mr. Roche and his colleagues are trying, despite these occasional missteps. Through this part of the novel as well as in other key scenes, students can learn to be empathetic with the adults in their lives, as they also are learning. ​

    Before having these and other conversations related to diversity and identity in the secondary classroom, it is important to set up class norms related to civil discourse and respectful discussions. I have found that Essential Partners norms related to the dialogic classroom are helpful. Additionally, the fishbowl discussion technique, similar to Socratic seminars, is a productive way to involve all students, whether or not they are likely to speak up in a larger class environment. Some students need to be reminded to “move up” if they are more likely to be hesitant to speak or to “move back” if they are more likely to be vocal to allow a chance for quieter students to speak up. I’ve found this technique a rewarding way to ensure that all students have a chance to participate in the discussion about this important novel. The discussion questions are student generated, although I occasionally re-word or eliminate questions if they sound too similar to each other.  ​

Jerry Craft and Kwame Alexander are now collaborating on a middle grades book project called J vs K, which will be released in 2025. I look forward to reading that novel and seeing how I might bring it into classroom and writing spaces. Through its combination of relevant themes and visual techniques, Class Act by Jerry Craft has been one of my favorite novels to teach in recent years. ​

References 
Craft, J. (2020). Class Act. HarperCollins.
McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics: the invisible art. HarperPerennial.
Schieble, M. (2014).  Reading images in American Born Chinese through critical visual literacy. English Journal, 103(5), 47-52.