Cartoons and Comics

As a librarian, I am pro format (if there is such a thing). I don't care if a child wants to read the back of the cereal box as long as they find joy in reading something. The subject of graphic novels is still a huge controversy to this day. It's hard for me to empathize with someone who thinks graphic novels are a waste of time or "just pictures". There are so many skills and content that can be learned when reading this format.

Graphic novels have some complex skills embedded in them that traditional reading does not. Students have to learn to read in order by frame (which isn't always clear cut), what frame breaks are, how the frame breaks impact the story, and even how to read multiple speech bubbles within one frame. For struggling readers, we teach them to use their context clues which do include picture clues. There are so many ways in which the pictures enhance the story; anywhere from setting a more accurate mood or foreshadowing by dropping in hints of what's to come.

Cartoons and comics are generally shorter but have much the same value. Many students are drawn to the brightly colored works of art and the way the words are presented. I endeavor daily to educate and change the minds of those who view any form of reading as subpar.

Pixton

Pixton is a free website that allows you to create your comic relatively easily. You do have to create a classroom first before you can start your piece. I found Pixton to be user friendly and easy to navigate. It is laid out in such a way that it really builds upon its previous step to help you convey your message frame by frame. You can also share your creations with your class or have them create and share their work. It's a great alternative to a traditional assignment.

This program does have paid options that allow you to "level up" your choices, for lack of a better term. Only the basics in each category are able to be utilized with the free version. It can also be a bit cumbersome having to scroll to find exactly the expression, body position or clothing option you are looking for each time.

Overall, I liked Pixton and can see myself using this in the future!

Make Beliefs Comix

Make Beliefs Comix is a website that is very simplistic. It is extremely easy to use. The entirety of the site is free which is nice. You don't have to worry about choosing something that is in a pay-to-use package. Everything from backgrounds to people to speech bubbles was very easy to use and place. There are many options for characters and backgrounds in both color and black and white depending on the look you are going for. The different speech sizes are great as well. The option to scale the size, flip the image and bring it to the front makes this very customizable. It did not take me long to produce a finished product.

I found it very tedious to scroll through all the options without having a search bar. I would have much preferred being able to type in an occupation description and have limited choices show than the task of having to scroll every character every time. There were many options to choose from as far as characters went, but some of them were just plain silly to me. In most subject matter that I would need, I wouldn't need a witch on a broom or a mummy to feature in my work. 

Overall, I liked this and it would be a program I would use in a limited scope if I needed to produce a finished product in a short amount of time. 

Comic Life

Comic Life is a program that you need to download to your computer. It is free for the first 30 days but then you need to pay for the program. I liked that it has pre-made templates for you to choose from or you can start from scratch. I found this program to be a little harder to navigate and it wasn't super user friendly. All pictures need to be uploaded so I would recommend using Creative Commons to ensure the status of copyright.

Once I figured out how to use the program, it was moderately easy to create what I wanted. The template provided the layout, I uploaded the pictures I wanted and typed in what I needed to say.

Overall, this is not a program I would use if I needed something quick and easy. It has the potential to be aesthetically pleasing but it is very time-consuming to reach that point.

Sharing with staff

I would love to show 2 of these programs to my staff. This would be a PD I offered after school one day or created a screencast to show the easiness of the programs. This could be a great attention grabber if they used it to explain a topic or they could even use this as a choice in an upcoming assignment. I think the students could show what they've learned in a fun and creative way by summarizing, predicting or conferencing using these tools.