Cartoons and Comics

Many students love to draw and are visual learners. One way to effectively teach and engage these learners is by using cartoons and comics in lessons. In the past, I have asked students to create comic strips on paper for different topics in my history class, such as the Boston Massacre or the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This is one way they could demonstrate their learning. I also utilized paper comic strips in language arts, as a way for students to retell part of a book or to draft a story. The students were always very excited to create comics and came up with some amazing products. I am very excited to find and practice with online tools to create cartoons and comics. I enjoyed looking at this website: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Educators/, to get some additional ideas on how to incorporate comics in my lessons. I loved the idea from this site of having ELL’s fill in the thought bubbles on a cartoon or comic for language practice, and also the idea of students creating cartoons about current events. Another helpful part of this site was it includes some lesson plan ideas to get you started using cartoons and comics in teaching. I experimented with three different tools to make comic strips, and it was so much fun!


ToonDoo

By cpatty23 | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Before jumping in to create my comic, I explored the ToonDoo site a bit. There was not much guidance on the features of the site, so I had to figure things out on my own. You can view other comics, create comic books, and find other members (known as “Dooers”). I spent some time seeing how others were using the tool, and then began creating my own.  This tool was a little bit overwhelming at first, as there are a lot of ways to customize your comic.   After playing with it a bit, it became pretty easy to use.   I felt they were fairly generous with the backgrounds, props, and characters the site offered to use in the comics.  They offer many different characters and you are able to change the emotions and posture of each one.  Using this tool would definitely require providing some explicit lessons to use it with students as they might waste time learning how to use it, but I think the majority of students would pick this up really quickly with guidance.  

Pixton

After signing up for my account, I went to the creation page. There were a variety of layouts, including photo story, comic strip, and graphic novel.   Once I chose a layout, it asked me to choose beginner or advanced (advanced gives you more control), so I chose advanced.  I wanted to see what kinds of things I could do with more control over the comic strip.  While I was working, I noticed a link to how-to videos, which were extremely helpful in teaching me how to use Pixton.  These videos were embedded in the page where I was creating my comic strip, so I could watch them while I was creating.  Creating and editing were not quite as easy as they were in ToonDoo, but they provide enough premade backgrounds and characters as to not limit creativity.  I think students would be able to use this site but would again need some instruction.  I like that there are video guides that students could refer to as needed.  When I was signing up for my free account on Pixton, I noticed that they have an educator version that allows up to 200 students on an account for only $9 a month.  They also have a 30-day free trial of the educator version, which I’m planning to save until school starts.  There are a few differences between the teacher account and the personal account.  The teacher account keeps student information private and secure, includes grading and assessment tools, and allows students to record voice-overs on the comic strips.  I’m looking forward to trying the teacher version to see how these features look, and whether there are any other differences.

 

 

 

 

MakeBeliefsComix

 

 

 I liked that this program was free, but I felt that it was the most limiting of the three that I explored.  I think this would be good to introduce students to creating comics, but it doesn’t allow for much expression.   There aren’t many characters or backgrounds, and you can’t change their expression or posture.  As I tried to create my comic, I had a hard time manipulating things.  I also had a difficult time figuring out how to embed the comic, so I took a screenshot and saved it as a JPEG.  It was definitely the quickest of the tools I used, but not my favorite.

I know students would really enjoy creating comics and it would be a meaningful way to cement their learning.  As a teacher, I can use this during the upcoming year in my language arts class in a variety of ways.  On my campus, we have some amazing technology resources, so access won’t be an issue.  I think that it will be neat to try using these digital tools in lieu of paper comics, or at least give students a choice of the two options.  I would like to continue using comics as a way to draft writing and retell part of a book.  After practicing with online creation tools, I would also like to try using comics to review vocabulary and maybe as a way to differentiate for students.  As a librarian, I could do a professional development session on using cartoons and comics, create a display of student comic strips (maybe next to a graphic novel display?), and have students create comics in the library about many different things.  I think I will try out all three with my students to see which they like and work the best with, probably starting with ToonDoo.  I really enjoyed exploring these tools and cannot wait to share them with my students this year!