Category Archives: comics

Book Review: Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels

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I recently picked up Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by Page, Panel by Panel, mostly because it is edited by James Bucky Carter, whose writing and links and insights around comics and graphic novels I enjoy reading about. (Check out his blog: EN/SANE World). In this collection of essays from various educators, Carter weaves together ways in which teachers can bring graphic novels and comics into the curriculum.

Carter’s introduction gives some nice background knowledge around the connections between art and writing, and the form of graphic novels. In the book, Carter makes the case for these forms to be considered real and authentic forms of literacy, and not just something to be laughed off or put out for the down-times of the classroom.

“There is a graphic novel for every learner in your English language arts classroom,” is how Carter begins, and he ends his introduction — first, by acknowledging that more inquiry research in the classroom needs to be done and shared — by declaring, “Bit by bit, we can expand the Golden Age of the graphic novel in the domain of education.”

Not every chapter had me engaged, but the one I really liked was  by Don Leibold, whose Abandon Every Fear, Ye That Enter: The X-Men Journey through Dante’s Inferno, about the connections between an X-Men story arc and Dante’s work, and how a teacher might use on to supplement the other. I vaguely seem to remember the comic that Liebold refers to, and it is fascinating to think of the two stories, side by side.

Most of the chapters deal with reading comics and graphic novels, and I have to say that the chapter that seemed to suggest the use of technology (Using Graphic Novels, Anime and the Internet in an Urban Setting by Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher) didn’t really do much for me in terms of technology and comics. I was hoping and wishing for more, particularly given the influx of digital comics and the ability to create them easier than ever before.

Luckily, Carter ends the anthology with a sharp chapter on bringing young writers along with comics as a source of mentor text and inspiration with a Comic Book Show ‘N Tell Project in which students work on storyboarding, editing and writing with a voice for an audience.

If you are a teacher considering the merits of graphic novels, then Carter’s anthology collection is a good read and a good starting point for those folks trying to make a case for comics. And as Carter points out himself, I hope books like this one continue the push of graphic literacy in the classroom for all students.

Peace (on the page),
Kevin

PS — Today is Free Comic Book Day, so get yourself down to the nearest comic book shop and grab some comics for the classroom. The free stuff is not really the best stuff — mostly samples and anthologies — but still, they can make a good supplementary classroom resource.

Trying out Bitstrips for Schools

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I am always interested in the various online, but protected, sites offering students and teachers a way to make webcomics. I use ToonDooSpaces with my students, and I love the variety of artwork and other options at ToonDoo, but I keep an eye out for other sites, too.

Recently, the National Writing Project finagled a deal with Bitstrips to let NWP teachers give the Bitstrips for Schools a trial run, so I jumped right in (big surprise) and started up an account, established a “classroom” and began making a comic. Later, I created an “activity” that will show up in any student account that I create.

Some observations:

  • The Bitstrips site is pretty intuitive to use — no major hurdles in the set-up as an administrator;
  • I like that the teacher can set up moderation of all student comics (or not).This could be a good comfort level for teachers just making their way into an online environment;
  • The version I am using  seems to have a limited number of set characters, and they are all people. I needed a dog. I could not find a dog. Not anywhere. I wonder if there are more options if you are a playing customer. I would hope so.
  • But, you can create your own characters, although it seems like they are mostly people. Perhaps Bitstrips is just very people-orientated.
  • I love that teachers can set up “template” comics as part of “activities” and then put those into the “classroom” for students to work from. The students click on a teacher template and then begin making their own versions. Nice.
  • I liked having access to other “activities” from other teachers in the Bitstrip network. I could easily borrow their activities and assign them to my class, which is pretty cool sharing. While some activities are obviously specific to a certain lesson for a certain teacher, a number of them are not. There were activities around reflections on reading, character development, use of dialogue and more.
  • I really liked that I could keep adding rows of boxes, or frames, so that I could build a story longer than a traditional one or three-frame comic. This ability to add rows allows a user to create a graphic story, rather than a punch-line comic.
  • Unless I missed it, I could not find a way to grab embed code from my “walled comic garden” to share work with the outside world. One thing I like about ToonDoo is that while students work behind the virtual walls, I can share their comics and e-books at our public blog site or wherever.
  • The cost for a Bitstrips license seems a bit steep and for me, with 80 students, I could not justify it. ToonDoo is much more manageable because it is priced on a per-student/per-month basis. In fact, given that I can only add 40 students, I probably won’t bring it to my classroom (but I may use it for a Comic Summer Camp program).

There is a 14-day trial that any teacher can do with Bitstrips to test-drive the site, which I mostly liked for its interface and useability and I would recommend Bitstrips as an option for teachers wondering about dipping their toes into the world of webcomics.

Here is a comic that I created (bigger version at Flickr):

And here is an activity that I set up (bigger version at Flickr):

Peace (on the virtual funny pages),
Kevin

May 1 is Free Comic Book Day

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My sons and I look forward to Free Comic Book Day each year. On May 1, your local comic book (and some book stores) will be passing out handfuls of free comic books. The comics are not collectibles, of course, and most are designed to give you a hook into a character or story. But still: free comics. And check out the image  above, as world renowned comic illustrator (from Mad Magazine and the Groo series) Sergio Aragones has fashioned a nifty image for Free Comic Book T-Shirts this year.

I often grab a bunch to bring to my classroom, and I have used my stack periodically to talk about literary terms like onomatopoeia and use of dialogue, and emanata  (use of images to portray ideas).

At the Free Comic Book Day website, you can even use the store locator to find a store that is participating near you.

Peace (on the funny pages),
Kevin

Writing Graphic Novels: Podcast with Barbara Slate

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I recently had the opportunity to interview author Barbara Slate, who has written and illustrated many comics and graphic novels and just put out a fantastic new book for teaching graphic novels from the view of writing them. The book is called, appropriately enough, You Can Do a Graphic Novel. I did a review of the book over at The Graphic Classroom but I wanted to follow up with an interview (plus, I wanted to see if I could record an interview on Skype — some mixed results but mostly, it is fine).
The interview is in two sections.
In the first, Barbara talks about how she got into comics, some gender elements of the business, why she wrote her recent book and other interesting tidbits. In the second part, I asked her specifically about how to help teachers who want to bring graphic novels into the classroom as a writing activity, but don’t quite know how to begin.

Peace (in the learning),
Kevin

A ToonDooSpace Testimonial

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A few weeks ago, I got an email from the folks over at ToonDooSpaces, asking if I might consider putting together a short video testimonial about how I am using the closed networked Webcomic Space with my students. My class was a beta tester last year and I have used it this year, too.

Then, I lost the email and forgot about it. Sorry, ToonDudes! They are presenting at a conference and were looking for videos to run in their booth or something. Given the support and help they have provided me, and the openness to ideas from my students, I wanted to help them out.

I was reminded of this when I saw Mary over at A Year in Reading showing the video that she and her students did. Ack. I scrambled to pull something together which I hope shows my very positive view of ToonDooSpaces.

Peace (in the comics),
Kevin

Make Beliefs Comix got a bit better

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Bill Zimmerman’s Make Beliefs Comix site is one that I suggest teachers use if they are interested in having their students create webcomics. It is a site that is easy to use, is cute and kids get it right away. Bill just added a handful of new characters to the site and also added objects to be used in the comics.

And I want to point out that the site is also a good resource for Second Language or ELL instruction, as you can compose in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, German or French. Pretty neat.

Peace (in the strip),

Kevin

Behind the Editorial Cartoonists

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Here is a cool site that provides video insights into the world of Editorial Cartoonists. The videos are pretty fascinating as cartoonists talk about their work and show their talents. The site is part of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (who knew there was such a thing?). The plight of editorial cartoonists at newspapers is pretty severe, as many are being let go during budget cuts. But I still think that one well-done comic can speak as much as a lengthy written diatribe.
Here is an overview of how a bunch of these folks draw Uncle Sam:

Peace (with a bite),
Kevin