This is a comic from this week, featuring not only Boolean but also my XO computer. See more Boolean Squared over my website: www.booleansquared.com (Yeah, I finally got around to purchasing the domain name).
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With Boolean Squared winding down for the year (the comic will end temporarily next week, but I will reflect more on that project on another day), I have been interested in creating a series of comics about my life in music (so far).
So, I am turning to ToonDoo to create a series of comics and see how it goes. I’ll be putting the comics in a ToonDoo ebook as I go along. I hope you enjoy them. I’ll be posting the comics — called Making Music — on Mondays, to keep the alliterative theme going.
Peace (in comics),
Kevin
Some of you know I sing the praises of ToonDoo regularly. I find it easy to use, with a wealth of resources. And I had my students do Comic Strip Poetry recently, so it made sense to take all of the wonderful Day in a Haiku submissions and use ToonDoo to create a comic book of your words. I hope you enjoy it and that I was respectful to your ideas (I worried about the tone of the comics for some of the poems).
Here you go:
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So, Google has a new search tool called Google Squared, which presents search information in a grid formation of related concepts. Given its name, I thought it would be fair to square off (excuse the word pun) the search engine with my webcomic, Boolean Squared.
Alas, my comic didn’t even show. Too many math references to Boolean Logic, I guess.
Here is one of this week’s comics:
Peace (in the engine),
Kevin
I am trying out the new beta version of ToonDoo for schools. I want my students to create comic strip poems so I tried my hand at this one this morning. Can I embed it here?
Peace (in the comics),
Kevin
This week begins a series in my Boolean Squared webcomic about the Five Paragraph Essay and its relevance for young writers. In a world of communication and connectiveness and authentic writing for real global audiences, isn’t it worth a wonder about why we still teach this style of rote form writing? (Of course, I know why – organization, development of thought, etc).
You can read the comics as they are published at the local newspaper or grab the RSS feed or go to my homesite of Boolean Squared for all the comics from this year. I have about one more month of comics and then I will end Boolean for the school year. I am not sure about the future, but that is fodder for another post soon.
Peace (in protest),
Kevin
I have written about the ToonDoo comic site before, but they are now experimenting with a beta version for students. It is a closed-off classroom site and this morning, I got my administrative information and I am in the process of setting things up for my students to use. I imagine it will be a fee-based system later, but I love the many aspects of ToonDoo and see many possibilities.
Here is my classroom ToonDoo site — http://tiger.toondoospaces.com/ — and as I progress with it, I will report out on how it is going.
One of the things I like about ToonDoo, besides its simplicity, is that it is more than just a comic creation site. You can alter photographs, create your own crop of characters, re-edit your comic (or a friend’s comic), and think about art and writing together in new ways. ToonDoo is not the only site doing this, of course, so you may want to explore around a bit. My complaint with ToonDoo has always been that I did not want kids to be able to search around the public forums for adult comics (not that I ever found anything inappropriate, but still …) and this walled-off community for just the classroom seems like a good answer.
![\Toon\](http://static.toondoo.com/public/d/o/g/dogtrax/toons/cool-cartoon-764900.png "\Toon\")
Peace (on the virtual funny page),
Kevin
Linux is the open source software platform that continues to make inroads in the computing worlds. And many schools are now considering it as a no-cost alternative to Windows or Apple, too.
A site called Intrawebz (I am not sure if that is name of the publisher or the name of the site) has apparently put together some comics that explain the Linux operating system and the first issue about Ubuntu is available as a free ebook download. The second edition costs a few bucks, but there seems to be a way to bulk order for the classroom at some discount.
I am hoping to review the books for The Graphic Classroom in the future, but if you interest is piqued, go download the ebook yourself.
Peace (in comics),
Kevin
I found this interesting resource: Comics created by the Government for their own purposes, such as information against the drug trade and health issues (makes for a possible discussion about rhetoric and genre, doesn’t it?). The ones I looked at seemed kind of odd and boring, but you never know what might be there. And just the fact that someone has collected them here …. the wonder of the online world, right?
My friend, Chris (of The Graphic Classroom), just published his master’s thesis that looks at using comics for reading in the elementary level. I have to go through it and absorb his ideas, but the conclusion he reaches for his particular study seems to be that his use of comics did not impact the reading of his students. I imagine that must be disappointing for him, even if there were other benefits for him as a new teacher.
And finally, here is today’s Boolean Squared, which was inspired by a rather dull and lifeless Professional Development session I was in a few months back in which the presenter droned on and on, and I noticed a few of my students smiling through the room’s windows at all of us. It was a perfect Boolean moment.
This Saturday is Free Comic Day, which means that if you have a comic book store in your area, they will probably have a boatload of free comics to give you when you walk in the door. No catch. Just free comics. Now, to be honest, they’re not usually the best comics out there, and often, they have short story lines and agonizing cliffhangers. BUT, for teachers, it is a way to get free comics for your classroom and most stores will sort them out for appropriateness of age level (mine does, anyway).
Last year, I grabbed about 25 comics and used them for lessons around figurative language and use of dialogue with my sixth graders. They ate them up!
The Free Comic Book day is another reminder that graphics and words can be a powerful incentive for young readers. (see The Graphic Classroom for reviews on graphic novels for the classroom — I am one of the reviewers there, keeping a focus on appropriateness for age levels).
And, just to make it exciting, here is Hugh Jackman in support of comics (and also promoting the Wolverine movie, of course, so really, just watch the first 30 seconds or so if you are not interested in the movie):
Peace (in free comics!),
Kevin