Video: Teacher鈥檚 New Graphic Novel Captures COVID鈥檚 Impact on His Students
Adam Bessie is a community college professor whose graphic novel, 'Going Remote: A Teacher's Journey', traces COVID's impact on marginalized students.
When author and community college teacher Adam Bessie returned from a sabbatical to his community college in January 2020, he鈥檇 just recovered from a bout of chemotherapy.
That鈥檚 where begins. His graphic novel follows not only his journey with brain cancer, but also his passion for teaching community college. 鈥淎 lot of the cancer story,鈥� Bessie said, 鈥渋s part of who I am as a teacher.鈥� He had long enjoyed the infectious energy and 鈥渆lectrical current,鈥� as he calls it in the book, that flows through an engaged classroom.
He felt 鈥減rofound joy鈥� re-entering class, he said. But then he experienced the profound irony that as soon as he returned to campus, everyone left because of the Pandemic. That鈥檚 when he began writing his book.
The novel 鈥渞eally comes immediately from the experience of going online,鈥� he says. Read an excerpt from the book right here:
While Zoom tethered his students together during the crisis, he writes in his book, it also came with its own strict demands: access to a computer, stable Wi-Fi and a quiet study space, all parameters 鈥渟et by the software requirements,鈥� not educators. He said giving in to these demands could threaten community colleges鈥� open access mission, squeezing out the neediest students 鈥� the very students they鈥檙e designed to uplift.
Bessie says he loves community college for its promise, where students of all socioeconomic backgrounds and all ethnicities come together to form a community. 鈥淚t gives me a lot of hope,鈥� he said, 鈥渇or the future of our democracy.
So far the book is garnering praise: Publishers Weekly gave it a , calling it 鈥減oignant鈥� and one of the chapters. It also named it one of graphic novels and adult comics. Watch our profile of Bessie, and see parts of the book, right here.
鈥擯roduced by James Fields
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