Miriam Necastro
When English teacher Miriam Necastro moved from Brookfield Middle School to Brookfield High School a couple of years ago, she wanted to update the curriculum in a way to make it culturally relevant to her junior and senior students, and to give them a greater world perspective, she said.
With Principal Megan Marino’s agreement, one way she hit on to accomplish that was to use graphic novels in her classes.
“If you’re not familiar, a graphic novel reads very similar to a comic book but is a full-fledged novel,” she told the school board May 21.
Necastro started teaching “Maus” by Art Spiegelman.
“This one in particular is the author telling his father Vladek Spiegelman’s story, surviving the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II,” Necastro said.
Juniors read part one of “Maus” and seniors read part two, and the students have responded positively to the story, she said.
However, when she started teaching “Maus,” she only had computer copies that students read on their school-issued Chromebooks.
“In hindsight, (it) really isn’t ideal,” she said of the computerized versions. “They get brain rot staring at the screen all day.”
Interested in acquiring hard copies of “Maus,” Necastro searched for grants, and was successful in securing a $1,000 award from the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation’s Andrew L. Lipkin Tikkun Olam Grant program.
The grant should cover most of the cost of buying the books, although the school district might have to chip in $100 or so, she said.
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