Cartoons and Comics

Cartoons and Comics

Cartoons and comics in the classroom? Why on earth would that be a good thing? Well, for many reasons actually! For one, they are engaging and colorful. Most students can relate to knowing what a comic or a cartoon is. Also, one of the topics growing genres in school libraries in the past five years is Graphic Novels, which rely heavily on the use of cartoon type and comic type styles. There are endless possibilities for using cartoons and comics in the classroom within any content area. The art teacher can have students create digital art, the reading teacher can have students do book summaries that are engaging, the English teacher can have students write dramas out with the character's dialogue, and the math teacher could have students give a comic-style description on how to solve something, the science teacher could have students create a step-by-step science project or discussion of an experiment via comic strips, and other countless ways teachers could use these programs. Today I will discuss three different sites that offer teachers and students the ability to create a cartoon-style comic strip.

Fotojet

When you first log in and click design, you are offered a variety of templates to choose from. I know I've stated this before, but I really like websites and programs that offer a good starting point like templates to use. So I'm definitely going to look through those later, but today I am focused on creating comics. So instead of choosing "design" I used the pull-down menu and selected "collage" and then scrolled down the page to the template titled "Comic."

Then start looking for a good starting template; however, watch that little icon to make sure you aren't trying to use a pro one unless you are becoming a paid member. After finding a starting template, it is a lot of playing around from there. You can select photos, graphics, fonts, and more to make the comic your own.  I love that you are able to upload your own photos as well as an option. Here's the one I created by playing around on the site:

I love that they do offer a free account and you can also do a free trial for one week; however, most of the items that are really good come with the Pro version of this program. If you are interested, it is a fair price of only $6.99 per month to have access to all the wonderful icons, images, backgrounds, etc. 

Pixton

Initially signing up on this program, you are given the option of signing up as a student (but it requires a link or code from the teacher), an educator, or a business. Signing up as an educator allows the one-week free trial to access everything the site offers. 

Again, I love when sites give you things to work with so you aren't starting from a complete scratch (unless you want to). This site even gives you lesson plans that you could use Pixton with. The layout for items for you to choose from is very user-friendly on this program as well. 

A person can get absolutely lost in time with all the options this program offers. So many different features from changing what the characters are doing, their facial expressions, the background, and much more. For this example, I went with what a teacher or educator could do in their classroom to make lessons and taking notes a little more fun. 

Pixton is definitely one program that I could see a school purchasing for teachers to use with their students. It was easy to use and understand and I think students would pick up on it quickly. The price is high ranging from $9.99 a month to $100 a month and also an unknown price for a district (I'm sure based on student population). 

Make Beliefs Comix

On first impression, this one really overwhelmed me with what seemed like everything on the log-in screen. However, once you have registered an account or logged in, the dashboard is less intimidating. With Make Beliefs Comix, features and options are located below the comic strip. A user can have a max of 18 (squares/strips) to use in the comic. 

I really enjoyed the lesson plans, ideas, and templates shared on this site. One way that I could see an educator use this in their classroom would be to create a drama/play using the strips as scenes being acted out. Personally, I do not feel like this particular one was a user friendly as the prior two. Mainly because you had to keep going back each time you wanted to add something. This particular one would require a lot of hands-on training with students to be able to use. I did like that you did not have to register an email account as this helps calm down the already overwhelming emails educators get on a daily basis from programs. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, these three comic strip-style programs would be beneficial for use by an educator and by students in the classroom. This would have been a great tool to use during the online learning that took place two years ago. As a librarian, holding a professional development session for staff on your campus would be beneficial to show them all the uses that these comic strips could use for. Not only are the students having to reach that top level of Blooms by being creative, but they will also have a fun way to demonstrate their knowledge of learning.

Sources:

https://www.fotojet.com/

https://www.pixton.com/

https://makebeliefscomix.com/