When I was in the fifth grade, I bought an issue of "DC Comics Presents #57" off of a spinner rack at my local bookstore,
五年级的时候，我从当地书店的旋转架上买下了《DC Comics Presents》第57期，
and that comic book changed my life.
那本漫画书改变了我的人生。
The combination of words and pictures did something inside my head that had never been done before,
文字和图画的组合，在我的脑中产生了某种效应，那是前所未有的，
and I immediately fell in love with the medium of comics.
我马上就爱上了漫画的表现方式。
I became a voracious comic book reader, but I never brought them to school.
我变成了狼吞虎咽级的漫画书读者，但我从未带它们去学校。
Instinctively, I knew that comic books didn't belong in the classroom.
我直觉地知道漫画书并不属于教室。
My parents definitely were not fans, and I was certain that my teachers wouldn't be either.
我父母肯定不是漫画书迷，我很确定我的老师们也不会是。
After all, they never used them to teach, comic books and graphic novels were never allowed during silent sustained reading,
毕竟，他们从来没有用漫画书来教书，在默读课程中，从来就不允许选读漫画书和图像小说，
and they were never sold at our annual book fair.
在年度的书展也不会贩卖它们。
Even so, I kept reading comics, and I even started making them.
即使如此，我仍持续阅读漫画书，我甚至开始画漫画。
Eventually I became a published cartoonist, writing and drawing comic books for a living.
最终，我变成了有作品出版的漫画家，靠写和画漫画书维生。
I also became a high school teacher.
我也成了一名高中教师。
This is where I taught: Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California.
这是我教书的地方：加州奥克兰的主教奥多德高中。
I taught a little bit of math and a little bit of art, but mostly computer science, and I was there for 17 years.
我教一点点数学和一点点艺术，但主要是教信息科学，我已经在那里教了17年。
When I was a brand new teacher, I tried bringing comic books into my classroom.
当我还是新老师时，我试图把漫画书带到我的教室里。
I remember telling my students on the first day of every class that I was also a cartoonist.
我记得，我在每堂课的第一天就告诉学生我也是漫画家。
It wasn't so much that I was planning to teach them with comics,
重点不是我打算用漫画来教导他们，
it was more that I was hoping comics would make them think that I was cool.
重点比较在于，我希望漫画会让他们觉得我很酷。
I was wrong. This was the '90s, so comic books didn't have the cultural cachet that they do today.
我错了。这是90年代，漫画书不像现今有受到文化认可。
My students didn't think I was cool. They thought I was kind of a dork.
我的学生并没有觉得我很酷。他们觉得我是某种呆子。
And even worse, when stuff got hard in my class, they would use comic books as a way of distracting me.
更糟的是，当我在课堂上教比较难的内容时，他们会用漫画书来当作让我分心的方式。
They would raise their hands and ask me questions like, "Mr. Yang, who do you think would win in a fight, Superman or the Hulk?"
他们会举手并问我像这样的问题：“杨老师，你认为若超人和浩克对打，谁会赢？”
I very quickly realized I had to keep my teaching and my cartooning separate.
我很快就发现，我得把教学和漫画给切割开。
It seemed like my instincts in fifth grade were correct.
我五年级时的直觉似乎是正确的。
Comic books didn't belong in the classroom.
漫画书不属于教室。
But again, I was wrong. A few years into my teaching career, I learned firsthand the educational potential of comics.
但，我又错了。我的教学职涯开始了几年之后，我亲身体会到漫画的教育潜力。
One semester, I was asked to sub for this Algebra 2 class.
有一个学期，我担任“代数2”的代课老师。
I was asked to long-term sub it, and I said yes, but there was a problem.
学校希望我长期代课，我说好，但有个问题。
At the time, I was also the school's educational technologist,
那时，我也是学校的教育科学技术人员，
which meant every couple of weeks I had to miss one or two periods of this Algebra 2 class
意思就是说，每几个星期，我就无法上一到两堂这门“代数2”的课，
because I was in another classroom helping another teacher with a computer-related activity.
因为那个时段我会在其他教室协助其他老师进行计算机相关的活动。
For these Algebra 2 students, that was terrible.
对于“代数 2”的学生来说，这是很糟的状况。
I mean, having a long-term sub is bad enough, but having a sub for your sub? That's the worst.
我是指，有长期的代课老师已经够糟了，但还有代课老师的代课老师？那更糟。
In an effort to provide some sort of consistency for my students, I began videotaping myself giving lectures.
为了给我的学生能有某种一致性，我开始把我自己教课的过程拍摄下来。
I'd then give these videos to my sub to play for my students.
接着我会把这些影片给我的代课老师，放给我的学生看。
I tried to make these videos as engaging as possible.
我试着让这些影片尽可能有互动性和吸引力。
I even included these little special effects.
我甚至加入了一些小小的特效。
For instance, after I finished a problem on the board, I'd clap my hands, and the board would magically erase.
比如，当我在黑板上解完了一个问题，我会拍手，然后黑板就会魔法般地自动擦干净。
I thought it was pretty awesome. I was pretty certain that my students would love it, but I was wrong.
我觉得那样很棒。我很确定我的学生会喜欢，但我错了。
These video lectures were a disaster. I had students coming up to me and saying things like,
影片教学是场灾难。有学生来找我，说这样的话：
"Mr. Yang, we thought you were boring in person, but on video, you are just unbearable."
“杨老师，我们以为你本人已经够无趣了，但在影片中，你实在让人忍无可忍。”
So as a desperate second attempt, I began drawing these lectures as comics.
我做了绝望的第二次尝试，我开始把教学画成漫画。
I'd do these very quickly with very little planning.
我没做什么计划，只用很短的时间完成它。
I'd just take a sharpie, draw one panel after the other, figuring out what I wanted to say as I went.
我只是拿起一枝Sharpie笔，一张又一张画下去，一边画一边想接下来我想要说什么。
These comics lectures would come out to anywhere between four and six pages long,
完成的漫画教学长度在四到六页长。
I'd xerox these, give them to my sub to hand to my students.
我会影印它们，拿给我的代课老师，转交给我的学生。
And much to my surprise, these comics lectures were a hit.
出乎我的意料，这些漫画教学大受欢迎。
My students would ask me to make these for them even when I could be there in person.
我的学生希望我能画更多，即使是我不用请代课的时候。
It was like they liked cartoon me more than actual me.
彷佛他们喜欢卡通的我胜过真正的我。
This surprised me, because my students are part of a generation that was raised on screens,
这让我很惊讶，因为我的学生是属于看屏幕长大的世代，
so I thought for sure they would like learning from a screen better than learning from a page.
我以为他们肯定会比较喜欢从屏幕上学习，多于从页面上学习。
But when I talked to my students about why they liked these comics lectures so much,
但当我和我的学生谈到他们为什么这么喜欢这些漫画教学时，
I began to understand the educational potential of comics.
我开始了解到漫画的教育潜力。
First, unlike their math textbooks, these comics lectures taught visually.
首先，不像他们的数学教科书，这些漫画教学以“视觉”方式呈现。
Our students grow up in a visual culture, so they're used to taking in information that way.
我们的学生生长在视觉文化当中，他们很习惯用那种方式来取得信息。
But unlike other visual narratives, like film or television or animation or video, comics are what I call permanent.
但不像其他视觉型的叙事方式，比如电影、电视、动画或影片，漫画是我所谓“永久的”。
In a comic, past, present and future all sit side by side on the same page.
在漫画中，过去、现在和未来都能肩并肩出现在同一张页面上。
This means that the rate of information flow is firmly in the hands of the reader.
那就表示信息流的速度是读者自己能完全掌控的。

When my students didn't understand something in my comics lecture,
如果我的漫画教学中有某些东西我的学生不了解，
they could just reread that passage as quickly or as slowly as they needed.
他们可以重读那一段，要快要慢就看他们的需求。
It was like I was giving them a remote control over the information.
就像是我给了他们一个摇控器可以控制那些信息。
The same was not true of my video lectures, and it wasn't even true of my in-person lectures.
我的影片教学就不是如此了，连我亲自去做的教学也不是如此。
When I speak, I deliver the information as quickly or slowly as I want.
当我说话时，我依照我想要的快慢速度将信息传递出去。
So for certain students and certain kinds of information, these two aspects of the comics medium,
所以，对某些学生及某些种类的信息而言，漫画媒材的这两个面向，
its visual nature and its permanence, make it an incredibly powerful educational tool.
视觉性的本质以及永久性，让它成为非常强大的教育工具。
When I was teaching this Algebra 2 class, I was also working on my master's in education at Cal State East Bay.
当我在教“代数2”的课时，我同时也在加州州立大学东湾分校攻读教育硕士学位。
And I was so intrigued by this experience that I had with these comics lectures
因为漫画教学带给我的这项经验让我大感好奇，
that I decided to focus my final master's project on comics.
我决定我硕士学位的最后一个项目计划就要用这个题材。
I wanted to figure out why American educators have historically been so reluctant to use comic books in their classrooms.
我希望能探究为什么美国的教育家在历史上一直不愿意把漫画书用在教室中。
Here's what I discovered.
我的发现如下。
Comic books first became a mass medium in the 1940s,
漫画书最早是在40年代变成大众媒体，
with millions of copies selling every month, and educators back then took notice.
每个月可以销售出数百万本，那时的教育家有注意到此事。
A lot of innovative teachers began bringing comics into their classrooms to experiment.
许多创新的老师开始把漫画带到他们的教室中来做实验。
In 1944, the "Journal of Educational Sociology" even devoted an entire issue to this topic.
1944年，《教育社会学杂志》甚至有一期全部都在谈这个主题。
Things seemed to be progressing.
一切似乎都在进展中。
Teachers were starting to figure things out. But then along comes this guy.
老师开始想出很多点子。但随着漫画，也出现了一个人。
This is child psychologist Dr. Fredric Wertham, and in 1954, he wrote a book called "Seduction of the Innocent,"
弗雷德里克·魏特汉博士，他是位儿童心理学家，1954年，他写了一本书，书名叫《诱惑无辜》，
where he argues that comic books cause juvenile delinquency.
书中，他指出漫画书会造成青少年犯罪。
He was wrong. Now, Dr. Wertham was actually a pretty decent guy.
他错了。魏特汉博士其实是个很好的人。
He spent most of his career working with juvenile delinquents,
他职涯的大部分时间都在处理青少年犯罪问题，
and in his work he noticed that most of his clients read comic books.
在他的研究中，他发现他大部分的客户都会看漫画书。
What Dr. Wertham failed to realize was in the 1940s and '50s, almost every kid in America read comic books.
魏特汉博士没有了解一件事，在40及50年代，几乎美国的每个小孩都会看漫画书。
Dr. Wertham does a pretty dubious job of proving his case,
魏特汉博士未清楚地证明他的论点，
but his book does inspire the Senate of the United States to hold a series of hearings
但他的书确实造成美国的参议院进行了一连串的听证会，
to see if in fact comic books caused juvenile delinquency.
来探讨漫画书是否真的会造成青少年犯罪。
These hearings lasted for almost two months. They ended inconclusively,
这些听证会前后持续了几乎两个月。最后结果并不确定，
but not before doing tremendous damage to the reputation of comic books in the eyes of the American public.
但已经重重地伤害了漫画书在美国大众眼中的名声。
After this, respectable American educators all backed away, and they stayed away for decades.
这件事之后，受尊敬的美国教育家通通都退缩了，数十年来，他们一直保持距离。
It wasn't until the 1970s that a few brave souls started making their way back in.
一直到70年代，有少数几个勇敢的人开始重新回到这条路上。
And it really wasn't until pretty recently, maybe the last decade or so,
但一直要到近期，也许是大约前十年，
that comics have seen more widespread acceptance among American educators.
漫画才比较被美国教育家广为接受。
Comic books and graphic novels are now finally making their way back into American classrooms
漫画书和图像小说终于重新回到美国的教室中，
and this is even happening at Bishop O'Dowd, where I used to teach.
甚至发生在我以前教书的主教奥多德高中。
Mr. Smith, one of my former colleagues, uses Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" in his literature and film class,
我的一位前同事，史密斯老师，把斯科特·麦克劳德的《漫画原来要这样看》用在他的文学与电影课，
because that book gives his students the language with which to discuss the relationship between words and images.
因为那本书能提供他的学生一种可以用来讨论文字和影像之间关系的语言。
Mr. Burns assigns a comics essay to his students every year.
柏恩斯老师每年都会指派漫画短文作业给他的学生。
By asking his students to process a prose novel using images,
柏恩斯老师要求学生用影像来处理散文小说，
Mr. Burns asks them to think deeply not just about the story but also about how that story is told.
要他们深思，不只深思故事本身，还有说故事的方式。
And Ms. Murrock uses my own "American Born Chinese" with her English 1 students.
莫拉克老师用我自己写的《美生中国人》来教她“英语1”的学生。
For her, graphic novels are a great way of fulfilling a Common Core Standard.
对她来说，图像小说是一种很棒的方式，可以履行“共同核心标准”。
The Standard states that students ought to be able to analyze
该标准所说的是，学生应该要能分析
how visual elements contribute to the meaning, tone and beauty of a text.
视觉性元素对于一段文字的意义、调性以及美有什么贡献。
Over in the library, Ms. Counts has built a pretty impressive graphic novel collection for Bishop O'Dowd.
康兹老师为主教奥多德高中建立了很了不起的图像小说图书馆馆藏。
Now, Ms. Counts and all of her librarian colleagues have really been at the forefront of comics advocacy,
康兹老师和她所有的图书馆同事都真的一直在最前线拥护漫画，
really since the early '80s, when a school library journal article stated that
80年代初期，有一篇学校图书馆期刊的文章指出，
the mere presence of graphic novels in the library increased usage by about 80 percent
光是在图书馆中出现图像小说这件事，就让使用率提升了约80%，
and increased the circulation of noncomics material by about 30 percent.
也让非漫画素材的流通率增加30%。
Inspired by this renewed interest from American educators,
因受到美国教育家再次对漫画产生兴趣的鼓舞，
American cartoonists are now producing more explicitly educational content for the K-12 market than ever before.
美国漫画家现在制作出了比以前更多专门为幼儿园、小学、中学教育设计的内容。
A lot of this is directed at language arts,
当中许多内容是针对语言艺术题材，
but more and more comics and graphic novels are starting to tackle math and science topics.
但也有越来越多漫画和图像小说开始处理数学和科学的主题。
STEM comics graphics novels really are like this uncharted territory, ready to be explored.
科学、科技、工程和数学的图像小说就像是未知的领域，已经准备好被探索。
America is finally waking up to the fact that comic books do not cause juvenile delinquency.
美国终于意识到漫画书并不会造成青少年犯罪。
That they really do belong in every educator's toolkit.
它们确实属于每位教育者的工具包。
There's no good reason to keep comic books and graphic novels out of K-12 education.
没有任何好理由要阻挡漫画书和图像小说进入幼儿园、小学、中学教育。
They teach visually, they give our students that remote control.
它们能以视觉方式教学，它们给予了学生那种遥控装置。
The educational potential is there just waiting to be tapped by creative people like you. Thank you.
教育的潜力就在那里，只等待着被像各位这样的创意人士给释放出来。谢谢。