On June 30, 2026, the 3rd Teaching the World through Graphic Novels: Teacher Workshop brought together 13 outstanding K-16 educators from Michigan to explore how graphic novels and comics can be used to teach about different regions of the world.
This professional development event for K-16 teachers was hosted in partnership with Michigan State University and made possible by the U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center grant.
The workshop was co-organized by:
- University of Michigan Center for Southeast Asian Studies
- U-M East Asia National Resource Center
- Center for South Asian Studies
- University of Michigan Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies
- Asian Studies Center at Michigan State University
The teachers came to Ann Arbor for a one-day workshop. The workshop was coordinated again by U-M CSEAS Program Specialist Jonathan Valdez. The teachers learned about the history of comics, the field of comics studies, how to read a comic book page, and about different world regions from academic faculty who use comics in their teaching.
Guest speakers included Hyun Sook Kim and Ryan Estrada, creators of Banned Book Club; Detroit native, Leila Abdelrazaq, creator of Baddawi, MSU’s Special Collections Librarian Jason Larsen, and U-M CSEAS’ Jonathan Valdez.
