The author pushes two desks together in the front of the class and pile supplies on them: markers, drawing paper, rulers, and pencils. As the students enter a combined English language arts (ELA) and English as a New Language (ENL) tenth-grade classroom, they select what they need and settle in to their work. As an ELA educator who is also a classroom researcher, the author grew curious to see what they might learn about their students if students emulated graphic novels as a format for sharing literary analysis. The author decided to explore what students could achieve if the students (a) used graphic methods to communicate academic thinking and (b) took artwork seriously in the ELA classroom. This project shows that aligning multimodal literacy practices with classic and contemporary texts centering issues of colonialism and power can be a first step toward dismantling systems of oppression in the classroom. When students applied their knowledge about the graphic novel genre and shared their own ideas, they found unprecedented ways to represent their thinking and revealed the depth of their knowledge about each text. As teachers, they need to embrace change in curriculum and instruction to significantly improve the academic trajectories of all students.