Growing up I enjoyed buying the Sunday newspaper of the San Antonio Light or Express-News. My brother and I would skip all the headlines and take only the comics out to read. Sometimes we’d fight over Garfield, Dennis the Menace or Heathcliff. I remember there were times where I had to read the comics a couple of times to get the jokes, but it was the graphics that helped me gain understanding. You see, English is my second language, and back then my siblings and I were gaining meaning and nuances of our target language.
That is why I feel that comics should be part of the classroom library, especially in dual-language classes. While there has been a recent increase with the publishing of graphic novels such as Hippopotamister, Sidekicks, or Trickster: Native American Tales, more needs to be done to get these into the hands of our struggling readers and language learners.
In the absence of a budget, using a mentor text, a teacher could have students create their own comic strips or books. This could be done on sites such as Fotojet, Pixton, and MakeBeliefsComix. I tried them out and here are my thoughts:
FOTOJET
This comic creator was easy to use. It had many photos to choose from. However, since I wanted to tell a story about a person getting COVID, I ran into the issue that there were not enough photos of the same person in different positions or poses. I made do with finding similar photos, but it took longer than expected. However, there is an option to upload your own photos, if you wanted to go that route.
This was easy to save, and I was glad that if I made the wrong click and almost left the site, the page stopped me and let me continue with my project. Otherwise, my work would have been lost. It was easy to save the simple comic. If used with students, they would have to summarize their text and depend on visual cues to tell their stories.
PIXTON
I really enjoyed this comic creator! First I created my avatar which was a very similar experience to creating a Bitmoji. As a teacher, I received a Class Join Code to share with my students. I loved the idea that we could take a class photo with everyone's avatar once they join.
The free version allows you to pick from a few background templates. To create a story, you get to pick other avatars. It was pretty simple to figure out how to make the characters change positions, change their facial expressions, and their corporal language.
Pixton has a fail-safe. Initially, I used six panels and when I tried to add the 7th, the program made me save the comic before allowing me to continue adding panels and dialogue. I didn’t try the microphone feature. This would be useful if you’re creating a comic for younger readers.
I like the saving options, you can either save the comic in 3, 4, or 6 panels per page. You can also save all options as a compressed zip file. I used my desktop computer to create the comic. This would really be worth learning in order to get students to create their own comics.
MAKEBELIEFSCOMIX
MakeBeliefsComix http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/
The premade characters in this comic creator remind me of the more traditional illustrations in comic strips. They are very simple and each character has a few poses to choose from. From the start, the user is aware that they can use up to 18 panels. I also like that they have many writing prompts if you can’t think of how to get started.
A creator can easily add speech bubbles and text but swipe to the left accidentally and you’ll leave the page. There is no way to get back the work you began especially if you are not subscribed. A subscriber must constantly resave the work in order to make sure that their copy is still available. I got frustrated with the creation of the comic because I kept losing my work, so I was unable to complete the comic from my laptop. When I used my desktop the program was a little more forgiving, but I would have lost my work again if I hadn't saved it. I believe students would have similar issues, so I would not recommend this site for younger students.
Once complete, it was easy to download the comic. I would recommend this site to teachers because of the many writing prompts available.
Comic strips would be great not only in the library, but also in the classroom. Teachers could incorporate comic strips into their lesson plans especially when students need to summarize a story or illustrate the key points. For more advanced students, teachers could have them analyze jokes in mentor comics and have students make their own jokes, thereby showing a great grasp of the language structure and nuances. I would also recommend starting with comics in writing before moving on to more detailed writing. This would be a good way for students to talk about style, emotion, and descriptors, before asking them to write out the details in their essays.
I hope much of this information was useful for you. Let me know what your experience has been with comics in the classroom.
Hi Lizardo! Thank you for sharing. I definitely see the value to using comic strips with our ESL and Special Ed students. It is a great applications because it engages students in a fun and nonthreatening learning experience and it allows students to practice their reading, writing, speaking skills. It is just a fun way to showcase their creativity.
As a child, I looked forward for the Sunday paper as well. I went straight for the comics section-my favorite. I myself needed to see the illustrations to fully understand the comic, but I loved them. I would even save this section to read it again throughout the week.