Cartoons and Comics

Now this is an area I feel I am an expert in! Since graphic novels and comics are one of the latest trends with students, I try to stay updated with technology related to this topic to make learning engaging for my students.  The popularity of graphic novels in these last few years is simply astounding!  Nearly every kid in my fourth grade class has a graphic novel in their reading book box.  At first, I felt skeptical of my kids reading these books because I didn't feel it was high quality literature.  After sampling a few graphic novels on my own (El Deafo, Smile), I realized that these stories can be thought-provoking for students. I now embrace graphic novels in the classroom. 

My own personal recommendations:

Before this unit, I sampled a couple of other comic sites in my own classroom: Storyboard That and Powtoon.

Storyboard That (https://www.storyboardthat.com) is an online comic creation site.  It is free, but you are limited on how many storyboards to create. Out of all the comic sites I've explored, this one has the largest selection of images.  Once users select an image to use, it can then be customized (change the expression on a character's face, change position of their arms, change color of skin, etc.)

This is a student sample from Storyboard That.  With the paid version, teachers can use templates, such as the plot map shown below.  Students then create their comic and are able to add a caption to each comic box. My students were 100% engaged during this activity!

Powtoon (https://www.powtoon.com) is like combining a comic with a video.  Users can create a cartoon and record voice within it.  It's a great tool and it's free!

Now I will review the three comic sites assigned this week.  The topics that I wrote about are all silly, but relevant things to my life right now as a parent and teacher!

Toondoo

This site was the easiest to navigate. There were many strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths:

• ability to upload your own images
• large selection of backgrounds, characters and objects
• selection of various layouts
• backgrounds are organized in categories (outdoor, space, sports, etc.) which makes it easy to find what you are looking for
• ability to search for what you are looking for

Weaknesses: 

• you cannot save as you go.  It can only be saved when you are ready to publish.  This is very inconvenient for projects that may take students more than one day to complete.

Pixton

Pixton was a step above Make Beliefs Comix.

Strengths:

• can customize the characters (facial expression, color, body movement, etc.)
• wide selection of characters, backgrounds and objects to choose from
• ability to search for what you are looking for
• easy to create and save, even though it was slow at times)

Weaknesses:

• slow to load (students will grow impatient waiting) 
• tools do not have a label, so it is confusing to determine which button is for what (ex: there is a hexagon icon-when you click on it, you can select from all the images.  I would not have known that just by seeing a hexagon)
• when you hover over an icon, it does not tell you the function (very inconvenient)

MakeBeliefsComix

This site was very easy to use.  I didn't even need a how-to guide. 
However, there were many downsides:

• limited selection of images to choose from (stick figures, limited background scenes)
• users cannot customize images (ex: I couldn't color the gift box in first comic panel)
• cannot customize the panels to be different sizes
• not able to search for what you're looking for
• very basic

Conclusion: 

Students would be able to navigate all three comic sites easily, but they'd be most engaged with Toondoo because of the wide selection of images and user-friendliness (labeled icons).  As a librarian, I would conduct a professional development session with my teachers and show them examples of ways to use these comic creation sites: story maps, original storytelling, student autobiographies, research reports told through comics and many other ideas.  After showing them some work samples and recommended websites (limit to maybe 2-3), I would give them time explore the websites. This is beneficial because they will be comfortable with the site and can answer questions from their own students on how to use the site.  Comic creation sites are great tools to make learning engaging for 21st century students!