Comic+Life

=Digital Comics=

A Collection of Curricular Projects Utilizing Digital Comic Strips
Collected by Liz Whaley

Comic Life Meets the Curriculum website created to support a 1/2 day workshop about Comic Life

[|Comiqs.com] This is Comic Life on the web. You don't have to register and it is almost the entire program online.

[|Comic Creator at Marco Polo] This is an automated comic creator with people, speech bubbles and props as well as background choices. The entering of text is limited. This is also part of NCTE National Council for Teachers of English

[|Comic Strip Rubric] available from NCTE

[|Bullying Comic Strip Lesson]

Comics in the Classroom website- [|Lessons with a Comic Theme]

Website: Comic Life Meets the Curriculum Website: Comic Life Creativity

[|Professional Cartoonist] Index Check out this site for comics created by professional cartoonists. There is a [|Teachers' Guide] for this website.

Visit the [|NACAE Website] (National Association of Comics Art Educators) for a full page list of activities/lessons for students.

Project Ideas
[|Cause And Effect Comic Strip] How can a single cause have multiple effects?

[|Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares] Students tire of responding to novels in the same ways. They want new ways to think about a work of literature and new ways to dig into it. By creating comic strips or cartoon squares featuring characters in books, they're encouraged to think analytically about the characters, events, and themes they've explored in ways that expand their critical thinking by focusing on crystallizing the significant points of the book in a few short scenes. ||
 * Overview ||
 * [[image:http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson195/comic_creator.jpg align="right" caption="Screenshot of Comic Creator"]]
 * From Theory to Practice ||
 * This activity invites the student to think symbolically. The students choose key scenes for their characters and books, find landscapes and props that fit the scenes, and compose related dialogue. These student representations of the books, with their multifaceted texts using symbols, images, texts, and metaphor, succeed in the classroom because they provide a snapshot of the students' comprehension of the ideas in the texts. ||

[|A Directed Listening–Thinking Activity for The Tell-Tale Heart] Overview In this lesson, students participate in a Directed Listening–Thinking Activity (DLTA), in which they listen to the story The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe read aloud and answer prediction questions at designated stopping points during the reading. Students then discuss and write a written response to the story at the conclusion of the lesson, in the form of either an acrostic poem or comic strip. This lesson works well at Halloween or at the beginning of a mystery unit.

[|Seuss and Silverstein: Posing Questions, Presenting Points] Overview Using rhyme and nonsense words, Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein created picture books that contain messages for readers of all ages. This lesson encourages high school students to revisit the stories they may have enjoyed as children. These classic stories provide the ideal springboard for struggling readers to discuss relevant social issues. Working in small groups, students select and read books or short stories by Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. Each group then prepares critical thinking questions and leads a class discussion about the issues raised in the story. Students use the interactive Literary Elements Map to explore the conflict in their selected texts.

[|Short Story Fair: Responding to Short Stories in Multiple Media and Genres] Overview In this activity, students read short stories from a collection in small groups then prepare responses in multiple media and genres that are shared in a culminating Short Story Fair. Students’ presentations in the fair focus on communicating basic information about the story and encouraging others in the class to consider reading the piece. On the days of the fair, the class explores the displays for the short stories, responding to related questions as they move from presentation to presentation. By the end of the activity, students have been exposed to dozens of short stories and their literary elements.

[|Literature Circle Roles Reframed: Reading as a Film Crew] Overview Students interact with a range of different kinds of texts in the classroom, but for many, films and movies are the favorite. Because of their interest in the films, projects related to these movie texts often result in a higher level of engagement. Capture this enthusiasm, and transfer it to reading and literature by substituting film production roles for the traditional literature circle roles. After reviewing film production roles—such as director, casting director, and set designer—students work together in cooperative groups to read and discuss a piece of literature, each assuming a film production role.

[|Onomatopoeia] : Grades 6-8 Lesson Objective: Teaching onomatopoeia using comics. Level: Grades 6 - 8 Introduce the topic – onomatopoeia. Explain to students that an onomatopoeia is a word whose sound makes you think of their meanings.

[|Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares] By creating comic strips or cartoon squares featuring characters in books, they're encouraged to think analytically about the characters, events, and themes they've explored in ways that expand their critical thinking by focusing on crystallizing the significant points of the book in a few short scenes.

[|Superhero Comic Strip] Subject: Arts & Humanities Grade: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 Brief Description Students create a new superhero and write a comic strip about the superhero! Objectives Students explain the difference between a superhero and a hero. create a new superhero character. develop a comic strip based on the new character.

Dr. Suess Project
Great project involving Dr. Suess stories and ecology: [|Dr. Suess Comic]