Dan Wasserman has a great editorial comic this morning in the Boston Globe that takes to task the Race to the Top program. The comic is entitled “Readin’ and Writin’ and Rich Guys.”
I was hit by the frame with the child asking, “Are they going to fire our teachers?”
Peace (in the comics),
Kevin
A few weeks ago, I took part in an interesting discussion on Teachers Teaching Teachers about the use of webcomics in the classroom. Among the guests were two of the guys from Bitstrips, which is a site that I have been toying around with lately and like. (I’ll be using it this summer for a youth Webcomic Camp).
Take a listen to the hour-long TTT show, if you have time.
Peace (in the frames),
Kevin
This week, I decided to take off the submissions for the reflective Days in a Sentence and add them into a Bitstrips Webcomic. Thanks to everyone who shared their words with us this week.
Here is the link to the full size comic.
Peace
I am not suggesting this move would save our newspapers, but some papers in Japan have started to shift towards Manga News, which converts some news items of the day into a manga-style story. I suppose this is both cultural (Manga comics are everywhere in Japan) and demographic (how to keep younger people reading the newspapers).
You can check out a website with Manga News here, although it is all in Japanese.
And Wired had an article about the shift, too. Like every other idea now in the world, there is an app for it, too.
Peace (in the news),
Kevin
I finally pulled all four parts of my App for That comic together onto one website, so that all the pieces flow.
Visit the App for That Comic Website
Peace (in the funny bone),
Kevin
And so, I am bringing this writing adventure to an end with the last few frames of my “App for That” skit-turned-into-webcomic idea. One thing I struggled with was how to shift from one medium (play writing) into another (comic strip writing), and what to leave in and what to leave out. I’m not sure how successful I was but it was fun and it provided me with more experience with Bitstrips for Education, which is a site I will be using this summer for my Webcomic Summer Camp with middle school kids.
I did like that I could easily make my own characters — it was quite simple, in fact — and upload other images, such as my walking iKnow device and the Greek Chorus (aka, App Development Review Board).
And I had to get my old friend, Boolean, in there, too, since I did a whole series of comics once around his development of the Grade Remorse Calculator for an App Challenge that his school took part in. I hope you see how labeling him a “typical child” is funny. It is to me, anyway.
Here is the large version of the fourth installment of “An App for That.”
Peace (on the funny pages),
Kevin
Phew. Converting a skit into a comic is not as easy as it seems. But here is part three of my App for That comic. (You can read Part One and Part Two, too). In this one, the app under development turns stodgy teachers into rock and roll stars. (You know you want it!)
Tomorrow will be the last section of the story (with a special comic strip guest tossed in!)
See the full-screen version of the comic.
Peace (in the spotlight),
Kevin
Here is the second installment of my App for That webcomic story, which I am constructing in Bitstrips. I was thinking about all those pencils that I seem to used to have had, but no longer can find. And why is that so many of my students don’t have their own pencils? It’s writing class, for goodness sake.
You can view the first part of An App for That webcomic here.
A full screen version of today’s comic is here.
Peace (in the gps),
Kevin
The other day, I shared out a play skit that I had written about developing some Apps for Education as a way to poke fun at the whole concept. I mused on the idea of turning the concept into a webcomic, and now I am in the process of doing so with Bitstrips.
Here is the first of three installments of my comic, An App for That.
(Click here to see the comic as a full page)
Peace (in the frames),
Kevin
Paul Allison extended a nice invitation for me to join him and others (including the creators of BitStrips) to chat about the use of webcomics in the classroom for literacy on Teachers Teaching Teachers.
If you have time, you can listen along and enter the chat room, and post some ideas and questions. The conversation will be taking place at EdTechTalk at 9 p.m. (EST).
Peace (in the talk),
Kevin
