Starting the School Year: We’re All Comics Now

Class of 2014
This is one of my opening day traditions with my homeroom class and it is a lot of fun. I have my students on the first day of school get up into our Bitstrips for Schools webcomic site to create avatars of themselves (first, we have a discussion about avatars and identity — a topic we will return to later on). Not only do I get this great webcomic version of my classroom, but I get to move around the room, talk one-on-one with students, watch who is a collaborator and who might need a little help, and who are my technology assistants.

I also have them work on the first activity in our Bitstrips, which is creating a “pro card” of themselves. This is an easy entry into making comics, since it is a template activity. I purposely did not give them specific instructions. I wanted to see what they would do with it. Most just used the template. But a few others (my future hackers?) began to modify the template a bit, making changes to the font and where their character was on the card, and more.

Here are a few:


Peace (in the comic world),
Kevin

2 Comments
  1. This is such a great idea to begin the school year with this activity. Not only does it allow you to get to know your students, but it offers an engaging way to allow students to interact with technology. I will definitely be borrowing this idea for my classroom!

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