Comics are a great way to get second language learners and struggling readers to read with the class. Students who don’t read in school may still read comics at home. The pictures make comics easier to understand and read. The limited text is less intimidating to English language learners with a limited vocabulary. Just as comics are easier to read, they are also easier to write.
What is Comic Life?
Comic Life is a computer program that allows users to create comics using photos, clipart, or other images. Images can be enlarged, rearranged, and cropped into comic strip templates. Students can then add text and speech bubbles. Everyone can download a thirty day free trial at plasq.com.
Why Use Comic Life in the Classroom?
Comic Life is a simpler way to create a comic. Students don’t need to waste hours drawing and coloring to create a comic. Everyone can create a magnificent comic without knowing how to draw. Mistakes can be fixed within seconds with a click of the mouse.
Technology is an increasingly important skill for students to master. Future jobs will be closely linked with technology. Standardized tests have already begun including technology questions for fourth graders in California. Teachers need to provide students more opportunities to use technology in the classroom.
Comic Life is the perfect way to ensure student participation. The computer program is easy to use for all skill levels. With so many templates to choose from, students can create unique works of art while demonstrating their knowledge.
Creating a Class Memory Book
Students love to see their work displayed on the classroom wall, but after it’s taken down it’s usually forgotten. Instead of passing them back, staple them together and create a classroom book that students can read again and again.
Try some of the ideas below:
- Self introductions
- My Best Friend
- People in my School
- My Family
- Our Thanksgiving Feast
- Halloween
- Meeting Santa Claus
- The Easter Egg Hunt
- How I Celebrated Chinese New Year
Creating Graphic Organizers with Photos
Photos make any work come alive. For the step by step instructions, students can take pictures at each step as they create their final product. Pictures also help with memory retention. It was Confucius who said, “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.” When students use photos to create their graphic organizers, they will remember and understand what they have learned.
Try these graphic organizers:
- Life cycles for science
- Step by step instructions to make something
- Timeline for history
- Main characters in the story
- Family Tree
- Sequencing
Storytelling with Comic Life
Comics do not have to be very long. A one panel story can still be a story. Students can work in groups if computer time is limited. Students can also choose their best narrative or essay to turn into a comic at the end of the year.
If a narrative is too long, try changing a story:
- Writing a sequel to a story
- Change the ending to a story
- Writing a prequel to a story
- Changing the setting of a story
- Adding a student into the story
Using Comic Life to Teach Concepts
Comics are similar to concept posters, except they need to be read in a particular order. Comics can include conversations to help explain misconceptions. Teachers can use them to create scenarios that deal with drugs, bullies, or violence with the last panel containing a question mark. Students can work in groups to come up with a solution.
- Have students teach place value in a comic
- Talk about recycling from the point of view of the planet
- Using spelling words to create comics
- Use Comics to Demonstrate Understanding of topic
- Use comics to show an object for each letter of the alphabet
- To illustrate a math problem
- Dealing with bullies, drugs, or violence
- Have dinosaurs explain why they are extinct
- Have the planets in the solar system introduce themselves
- Have a plant explain photosynthesis
Comic Life is an easy program to use with kids in the classroom. It takes the time out of perfecting a comic, while allowing students to use photos to personalize a work of art. By taking the focus off drawing, students can demonstrate their knowledge in an exciting and appealing format that easily converts into a classroom book.
Joanna Szeto - Joanna has taught six years as a bilingual teacher for newcomer students. She has also taught arts and crafts over the summer. She earned ...
