Performing Kamishibai: an emerging new literacy for a global audience

Abstract

The case studies focusing on students who have been labeled with learning difficulties in the traditional school system are particularly inspiring. McGowan reveals how these students often flourish when introduced to the new forms of communication provided by kamishibai. Several of the students discuss how drawing is often relegated to nonwork times of the school day and is often discouraged even during free time. The project elevated the status of drawing in the classroom; that shift opened pathways for students who learn and create visually. The examples of these students speak to the change in educational discourse and study towards individualized learning: not every student learns in the same way. McGowan’s study supports this concept, and demonstrates how kamishibai provides multiple pathways for learning in the classroom.