- Bitz, M. (2014). Amazing comics. Educational Leadership, 72 (1).
- Bitz, M. (2010). Manga and the motivated high schoolers. Sequential Art and Narratives in Education (SANE) Journal, 1 (1), 1-22.
- Bitz, M. (2009) “Manga is my life”: Opportunities (and opportunities missed) for literacy development. Harvard Education Letter, 25 (4).
Comics and graphic novels take advantage of the dual processing of information. Both the text and visual imagery combine to speed processing of information. Also, consider how you can use comics and graphic novels for second language instruction; here are a few:
- Teaching vocabulary development
- Familiarization with idioms
- Introducing culturally-relevant material (source)
- Comics promote a wide variety of skills: cognitive, intellectual, social, and cultural.
- Can be used with students in different school grades.
- Can be used to teach different school subjects.
- Can help students develop higher-order thinking skills (sequencing, predicting, inferring, synthesizing, analyzing, evaluating...etc).
- Enhance students engagement with multimodal texts.
- Make students aware of the multimodal means through which meanings are constructed and communicated.
- Ideal teaching tools for teaching a target language
- Visually illustrated content is much easier to process, understand and remember.
- Can be used to teach reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.
- Digital storytelling: students (in small groups or individually) create a narrative storyline and illustrate it with relevant graphics.
- Students use comic strips to visually retell a story they have read.
- You can use comic strips to introduce a topic and have students brainstorm ideas
- Provide students with pre-designed comic strip with missing panels and ask them to fill in the blanks to complete the story. (writing activity)
- Provide students with blanked out comic strip and ask them to write a story based on the illustrated characters. (writing activity, promote predicting skills)
- Use comic strips to raise students awareness to topics such as racism, bullying, digital citizenship…etc.
- Use comic strips in language learning to teach vocabulary, grammar, communication (use of language in contextual situations), writing, and reading.
- Use comics to improve students speaking skills by asking them to act out comics they created. Alternatively you can engage students in oral discussions about the content of the comics.
Article: Comics in the Classroom
Article: Comics Across the Curriculum
How to apply comic books in academic lessons Comics speak to two languages -- verbal and visual -- but also spark critical thinking as a lot of information and interpretation is in each panel, writes educator David Seelow. Comics also can be used to demonstrate brevity in writing and used in exercises in conciseness. The article talks about reading and writing with comics.
20+ Tips and Resources to Engage Learners with Comics is from Shelly Terrell.
Using cartoons and comic strips is from The British Council.
Article Pow! Comic Book Classroom project takes on illiteracy in metro schools - The Denver Post
Comics Make for Colorful Learning
Eek! Comics in the Classroom!. This article describes many of the benefits of using comics and graphic novels in education and also includes resources for places to find appropriate materials for class.
Comic Books in the Classroom. This news story outlines why comic books may be a great way to promote reading in reluctant readers as well as help teach writing, emotions, and more.
Comics in the Classroom. Take an in depth look at the recent trend of using comics in the classroom, whether it is appropriate for the classroom, and resources for teaching with comics and graphic novels.
Should Graphic Novels Be Required Reading?
Overcoming Embarrassment with Charise Mericle Harper | Ep. 63
Lessons - Activities
Cartoons for The Classroom This website offers teachers lesson plans based on specific cartoons that can be filled in and printed Cartoons for the Classroom is supported by the works of individual cartoonists and offers hundreds of lesson plans on editorial political cartoons. The major theme of the cartoons you will find in Cartoons for the Classroom is around the current political
and economic events but there are also time-independent cartoons shared
by volunteers from around the globe. The lesson plans that are provided in this website are all available for free download in PDF format.The site also offers teachers a two-page Cartoon Evaluation Worksheet for
use by students in class. This is a good way for you to monitor your
students comprehension of the cartoons being used in the classroom.
Here is a snapshot of the first page of this worksheet. 10 Idea for Using Comics in the Classroom
Cartoon analysis worksheet template
20 Ways to Use Comics in Your Classroom Digital
Daryl Cagle’s Teachers’ Guide for the Professional Cartoonists Index offers lesson plans for using modern editorial cartoons in the classroom.
Finish the Comics - templates with starter panels for the students to finish. Good for inferential thinking template 1 | template 2 | template 3 | | template 4 | template 5
Comic Storytelling Through Interviewing Developing interview digital stories requires students to ask good questions and then dramatize, order, arrange, prioritize, combine, and plan.The resource includes examples, such as interviewing an historical figure or an animal.
How to Use Comic Strips in a Science Classroom
Develop Fan Fiction
Rather than writing another book report, have students write an alternate ending to a favorite book. For example, Pixton EDU has some content packs($) about books that are commonly taught in elementary school and middle school. But you don’t have to limit your students to those books as the tools in Pixton EDU could be used to create a fan fiction piece for just about any story. www.freetech4teachers.com
10 Idea for Using Comics in the Classroom
Check for Understanding Use comics as a form of formative assessment. Have students create a comic that demonstrates their understanding of a concept or idea. You can use it as a basis for evaluating their knowledge. You might provide a checklist for them of information to include for you to figure out how well they understand something.
Comics in Education is a website run by Dr. Glen Downey for the purpose of sharing activities and ideas for using comics and graphic novels in literacy education. Head to the classroom section of the site to find five literacy skills development activities that can be completed online or offline. Those activities include wordless narratives, graphic poetry, cave art, visual note-taking, and symbolic language in words and images. In the classroom section you will also find curriculum connections and explanations of the rationale for using comics with all students.
Digital Storytellling with Comics e-book - free download
How to Find Historical Comics and Create Lessons With Them
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Docs Teach that featured the idea of creating history lessons that incorporate historical comics. That email sent me to Docs Teach where there is a small collection of historical comics. Since Docs Teach is a project of the U.S. National Archives all of the comics have a record locator that can be clicked to take you into the National Archives' online catalog. It was there that I started to dig into browsing through hundreds of records containing comics and comic books. In the following video I demonstrate how to use the National Archives' online catalog to locate historical comics. www.freetech4teachers.com
Pitch a Product
Do you have a middle school or high school student who enjoys watching Shark Tank or Dragons’ Den? If so, encourage them to craft a pitch for their own products or services. As an example, Pixton EDU has presentation content packs. Utilize the idea of Dan Roam’s Back of the Napkin books and have students create simple storyboards to explain their products or services. It just might be what launches the next million dollar app or at least a kid’s summer job. www.freetech4teachrs.com
Make Beliefs Comix Fill-ins "You supply the words to complete this book! This do-it-yourself comic
e-book provides a place where you can give MakeBeliefsComix characters
your own words and thoughts. In this comic book, unlike any others
you’ve read, you’ll get to decide what happens and have the final say.
All you need to do is just follow the prompts and fill in the talk and
thought balloons to determine what characters say and think."
Make Beliefs to Spark Your Writing "When you read this book, let your mind roam to new places and ideas and express all the wonderful things that are within you. All you have to do is fill in your responses to the magical questions asked by the characters from MakeBeliefsComix.com. For example, make believe someone discovered a note that you placed isparkn a bottle that washed up on the beach. What would it say? "
21 Ways to Use MakeBelieveComics in the Classroom
21 Ways to Use Comics in The Classroom
Howtoons: Creating "How To..." Comics
Character Analysis: Have your students choose a favorite character from a favorite story and re-write that character into a comic strip story. In their stories students should attempt to demonstrate how their chosen characters would act in a different situation than is described in the original story.
Thought Bubbles on Photos thought bubbles on paintings or photos. Thought Bubbles ask kids to imagine what the people in the image are thinking.Start by finding a photo or painting depicting an event, idea or group of people that helps introduce your content. I used the famous Emmanuel Leutze painting of Washington crossing the Delaware as my starting point. click to see an example.
Re-telling of historical events: Have your students create
short comic strip stories about significant historical events. For
example, students could create comic strips about Alexander Graham Bell
inventing the telephone. The comic strip could have scenes of Bell
working in his laboratory or talking to friends about his invention.
Create alternative book reports: Rather than writing a book
report have your students create three to five frame comic strips
covering the key parts of books they've recently read.
Express feelings: Creating comic strips can be a good way for
students to re-tell a situation that made them feel happy, sad, or mad.
The use of facial expressions on comic characters is a nice way for
students to express their feelings even if they don't write much within
the scene itself.
Constitutional Comics first take a look at the example version of the NH constitution article 83.
Make a Statement. Students take a position on the politics during the American Revolutionary War and convey their stance through several different mediums, including comics.
Making Inferences with Comics Lesson 4th - 5th Help the students understand the concept of summarizing non-fiction text.
Online Debate
Selena: Science Comics This colorful site offers science comics, educational interactives, links for teachers, and more. Engage students with these comics, and encourage them to identify the scientific principles found in each. Follow up activities include word searches and other puzzles to reinforce vocabulary. Use the "For Teachers" link to find pdf lesson plans for ideas and experiments that coordinate with the comics. This site was created in Great Britain, so you may notice some slightly different spellings that US English.
Stick Figure Hamlet New perspective on reading and interpreting Hamlet
Educational Comic Books in the Classroom Besides comics to read, you can publish free your comics and get ideas from other student comic projects.
The Comic Book Project The Center for Educational Pathways is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping underserved children and their teachers build creative pathways to academic success. $$$
Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach Social Justice
Pictures and Cartoons from PRI's The World
Comics in the Classroom web site - lesson plans section K - 8
Flummery This page has links to some great resources on teaching using comics. It also has links to lesson plans and classroom activities using cartoons.
Teaching English Through Comics
Activities for Using Comic Strips in ELA Classes
26 Ways to Use Comics in the Classroom
Thoughts About Comics #2 My Comics Classroom. This teacher describes the value of comics in his fourth grade classroom.
Comic Book Science in the Classroom. Listen to this NPR report about teaching with comics, including both benefits and concerns as seen by educators.
Powtoon web-based cartoon presentation tool Tutorials | Guide:the Power of Cartoon Making
Comic Books in the Classroom. The New York Times takes a look at the value of using comics in education and the success of The Comic Book Project.
Comics in the Classroom. This informative article examines some of the reasons why comics and graphic novels are fast growing in school libraries, but a bit slower to reach the classrooms.
Comic Book Science in the Classroom. Listen to this NPR report about teaching with comics, including both benefits and concerns as seen by educators.
Digital Comic Museum (DCM) is a free resource platform where users can easily download public domain golden age comics without the need to ask or worry about searching the net for them. These comics are organized into different categories. You can for instance browse collections by last updated or most popular or you can search for comics by name.
Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares. A great alternative to traditional book reports, this lesson has students explore comic books and graphic novels in order to create a report of a traditional b
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Genre Study Lesson Plan
Wonder Woman's legacy lives on! This activity accompanies the PBS special, "Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines" (NOT available on the site) and explores American pop culture's evolving attitudes toward powerful women. The game (even without the film) investigates the causes and effects of gender stereotypes in the media and considers how they influence real-life attitudes and behaviors. Through this book game, you have the opportunity to identify your own heroic qualities and make empowered choices. Did you know that Wonder Woman's original, radical World War II presence, was created by a Harvard-trained pop psychologist? Do you remember her uninspiring 1960s incarnation as a fashion boutique owner? After that, she was resurrected by feminist Gloria Steinem and the women of Ms. Magazine. Explore the history of Wonder Woman and feminist issues using this program.
Tools
For sites that have no save option, limit you to the number of frames or limit the number of strips that can be saved use a screenshot to save a copy of the strip. Then upload the image to a document or ebook. For windows use the snipping tool and Macs command- shit 4
- Video tutorial
- Check out these videos from Pixton Comics Youtube channel to learn more about Pixton.
- FYI: For animals and non-human characters use props
Comic Head (Also an app) Extremely flexible program. You have a built-in artwork and the capability import your own images and photos. Numerous panel templates. Ability to save as a draft and revise. Also this program is a good option for creating comic novels. There is good support with video tutorials
Comic Strip Templates from Canva Comic strips are an often forgotten medium when it comes to digital storytelling, yet students love them. With Canva you can explore a variety of comic strip templates, most of which come with blank boxes and character sets you can use to tell your story. You could try assigning the same comic strip to all your students with blank speech bubbles and see what story they can come up with. Alternatively, let them choose their own and work from scratch.
Comic Templates in Adobe Creative Cloud ExpressAdobe Spark is now Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education. It’s completely free for K-12 schools and districts, too. Not only does Creative Cloud Express have all of the great things you might remember from Spark, but it also has lots of extras. For example, you and your students can search for templates at the top of the screen. You’ll find plenty of inspiration from the templates in Creative Cloud Express.
Comic Creation Options Google Slides as shown here, Canva as demonstrated here, and Lumio as found in these templates. And if you want your students to map their stories before they begin the comic creation process, you can have them use one of Lumio’s graphic organizer templates.
Toony Tool, which can be used to create a comic-like scene. Students can add preloaded backgrounds, characters, thought bubbles, props, and meme text to their scenes.
Storyboard That Extensive artwork with flexible attributes. Free version limits the panel selection up to six, but you can utilize screen shots instead of saving to create as many panels as you want. NEW feature is the special characters option in the virtual keyboard which you access above the text box when you insert speech bubbles (video). Can save and revise. There is also the capabilities to download, prints, embed in Webpage and save as Powerpoint. Free e-book The new guides provide great ideas for teaching Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, and The Great Gatsby with storyboards. Each of the guides include a set of essential questions, alignment to Common Core standards, and templates for character analysis. The templates also include ideas for using comics in which students analyze the elements of plot in each story.
Toonlet (gr. 5-12) Numerous collection of character attributes to combine like Pixton, There are options to use pre-made
characters or create your own from extensive body parts and objects. Excellent tutorials. Various panel configurations. only One character per panel. You can revise after saving, print and embed in a webpage.
Play Comic Comic activities (games) These activities help students focus on different elements of comics, e.g., narration, plot, character development. Students complete comic templates. Capability to save and edit.
MakeBeliefsComix (also an app) Allows
students to create comic strips up to nine panels and print them. To
print than ninestrips, Click create new comic and print separately.
Supports English, Spanish, French, Italian German, Latin and more languages. Besides
using its editor to create your own comic strips, you can also use its
great library of free printables to print out comics to use in your
class with your students. The library has over 350 ready to use blank
comics that your students can fill in with color and text. The
templates are divided into dozens of thematic categories including history, holidays, and civil rights. video http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/makeBelief/index.html
Make Beliefs Comix Fill-ins "You supply the words to complete this book! This do-it-yourself comic e-book provides a place where you can give MakeBeliefsComix characters your own words and thoughts. In this comic book, unlike any others you’ve read, you’ll get to decide what happens and have the final say. All you need to do is just follow the prompts and fill in the talk and thought balloons to determine what characters say and think."
Make Beliefs to Spark Your Writing "When you read this book, let your mind roam to new places and ideas and express all the wonderful things that are within you. All you have to do is fill in your responses to the magical questions asked by the characters from MakeBeliefsComix.com. For example, make believe someone discovered a note that you placed isparkn a bottle that washed up on the beach. What would it say? "
Make Beliefs Comix also offers a multilingual comic strip creation service that makes it easy to get students started developing comics. Through Make Beliefs Comix students can create comic strips online without needing to register on the site. Watch my video below to see how easy it is to use Make Beliefs Comix.Make Beliefs Comix.
Make Beliefs Comix now offers nine free ebooks of writing prompts for use with elementary and middle school students. All of the ebooks are fillable PDFs that students can write in on their computers or download and write in by hand. The free ebooks are just one part of what Make Beliefs Comix offers.
Pikistrips Free, well-designed software that lets you create comic strips from photos and save them for others to view.
Create comics with Canva. Canva now has comic strip templates.
ToonClip lets you easily make simple cartoon animations. Best used when there is dialog. Good tutorialsToon Doo Create comic strips with clip art and speech bubbles. You edit characters, upload your own images, create panels or books. You can save and go back and edit. Free drawing tool. tutorials | tutorial slide show
Write Comics is a free, simple tool for creating comic strips. Write Comics doesn't require any registration to use. In fact, registration is not even an option. To create a comic on Write Comics just select a background from the menu, choose some characters, and add some speech bubbles. You can continue adding frames until you've completed your story. Write Comics is quite easy to use, but there is one short-coming and that is the only way you can save your work is to save it to your local hard drive.
Comics for Inclusive English Language Learning High-interest comics with audio support provided to the text. They are leveled based on English proficiency. It’s a place for Intermediates to get reading material. After each comic, readers learn the structures for writing essays through an image-based quiz system.
Strip Generator various layout options with black and white graphics. Comics can be saved and printed. Video tutorial
Comic Strip Creator is self publishing free software that allows you to create and export your own comic strips in jpg format.
Write Comics (2-6) very simple to use to create comic strips. Multiple panels, saves as a link that you can download or print.
Witty Comics is a simple to use web tool for students to generate comic
dialogues. A set of Pre-drawn background scenes and characters are
already provided and students will only select the ones they want to
feature in their comics.
Speak Up is a straightforward cartoon-creator site meant to teach the importance of character, setting, problem, and solution. The site provides possible characters, settings, and conflicts from which students can choose. Creating cartoons is an effective way to teach students how to write stories with a clear storyline and structure. The story problem section allows students to write in their own scenarios. Students are responsible for creating the solution to the story problem themselves. Each cartoon strip contains six boxes, allows two characters per page, and speaking bubbles as well as narrative box across the bottom of the page.
Chogger Create comics online by creating original art or uploading pictures to your comic strip. lets you draw your own comics, caption photos, take webcam pictures and upload pictures and add speech balloons. More creative options than using stock art work. Add speech or thought bubbles and quickly publish a finished product.
Super Hero Squad invites kids to create their own super hero comic strips and comic books. The Super Hero Squad provides users with templates for comic strips and comic books. Completed comic strips and comic books can be downloaded and printed. Limited number of female characters.
Stage'D - A great-looking site for creating animated comics! -
ZimmerTwins Gr. 1-3 - Create cartoon movies. Must create account to save.
Charlotte's Web: Make your own comic uses characters from Charlotte's Web
SuperActionComicMaker you can create your own super comic hero and tell your story with him. Manipulate characters' actions. Email link to print.
ToonyTool is a free website for quickly creating single frame comics. You can easily upload panels to a slide show or doc. When you're satisfied with your comic you can download it, print it, and or share it on social networks. ToonyTool does not require an email address or any kind of site registration in order to create comics. In that regard it is a good option for students who don't have or don't want to share their email addresses with yet another service. A good tool for quickly creating comics to use in slide presentations or to attempt to summarize a concept in fun and simple graphic.
Goosebumps Graphix: Nice layout templates and variety of graphics. Sample comics. You can print but not save.
A Dog's Life: Create pet stories with optional prompts You can print but not save.(up to 5 panels)
Arthur Comic Creator: Use Arthur Book graphics and story starters to create comics. Maximum or three panels. You can
print and save, but not revise saved comics.
Marvel Kids
create super hero comic strips and comic
books. Marvel Kids provides users with templates for comic strips and
comic books. Users select the backgrounds, characters, and special
effects from the provided menus. Limited female characters. After creating their
scenes, users can add dialogue boxes to their comics. Completed comic
strips and comic books can be downloaded and printed.
Add Effects and Speech Bubbles to Photos
Turn Your Pictures into Cartoons Be Funky ; Create Amazing Classroom Photos and Convert to Cartoon are simple to use and do not require a sign up Now you can let your students use their own pictures and turn them into cartoons to create dialogues and storytelling lines . See other options below
Cartoonize Simple with multiple options to transform photos into cartoons.
Befunky is quick and simple tool for transforming digital photos into instant art work or digital comics.Extensive range of effects, speech bubbles, accessories, graphics and lot’s of objects that you can add to your pictures.
Phrase.it allows you to add speech bubbles and some basic Instagram-like effects to your pictures. Now you can upload and work with multiple images in the same Phrase.it project. To use Phrase.it just upload a picture and choose a speech bubble. Drag your speech bubble into place then type your text. You can change the font style in your speech bubbles. Click the "add more drama" button to add one of four image shading effects. When you are done adding text and drama to your images click the "preview and save" button to download a strip of your pictures.
Speechable Add a captivating or informative speech bubble to a picture from your computer or that you find (legally) online.
Superlame upload your photos and pictures, add comic style word balloon
Bubblr Create comic strips using photos from Flickr. Easy to locate images
Kuso Photo-to-Cartoon offers different types of cartoon effects that you can add to your real photos. This offers a very easy conversion process in which you simply upload your photo and select the effect. Your image can be as large as 500KB and in either one of the following formats: JPG, BMP, or PNG. You can visit the website @ http://kusocartoon.com/photo-to-cartoon.php
Fotor Add Captions with out registration to photos
Cartoon Photo is another tool that will convert add a cartoon filter to your images. The service accepts images stored on your computer as well as direct URLs of images stored online. In addition to turning images into cartoons, this service can also be used for face morphing to add funny effects to photos. Check out Cartoon Photo @ http://cartoon.pho.to/
Cartoonize Net is ta simple service. All you do is point to the picture that is either stored on your computer or online and then let the site do the rest. Your picture is quickly converted into a cartoon image and provided to you as download in the JPG image format. Visit the website @ http://cartoonize.net/
IOS Apps
Make Belief Comix allows you to do pretty much the same thing you would do on its web-based platform. You can use it with your students to create and narrate stories using a wide variety of comic characters and many other tools. Save and edit capabilities
Comic Head The app makes it easy to create comics even if you don’t have any drawing skills. To create comics on Comics Head you simply choose a template then add a background, characters, and speech bubbles from the art galleries. You can mix and match the backgrounds and characters as much as you like until you arrive at the perfect combination for your story.
For iPad :
Lite version: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comics-head-lite/id525363849?mt=8
Full version: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comics-head/id480969185?mt=8
For iPhone:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comics-head-for-iphone/id590700564?mt=8
Google Play
Full Version : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nextwave.comicshead
Lite Version : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nextwave.comicsheadlite
- " Draw with practical tools like Brushes, Lasso, Fill, Eraser, Ruler shapes, and insert Text with multiple font options all for free!
- Use up to 3 animation layers for free!
- Animating frame-by-frame is super easy with an intuitive animation timeline and practical tools
- Easily add and edit audio clips using up to six audio tracks for free.
- Add dialogue to your animation with voice recording!
- Animate images you import or draw on top of your videos.
- Add rotoscopes to your videos.
- Share your animation anywhere!
- Post to TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or Tumblr."
Comic Maker HD This is another great iPad app for creating comics. Using simply drag and drop and an intuitive editor, students can easily create expressive comics to share with others. Some of the main features provided by this app include:’layering function to combine images, text, backgrounds into one storyline; 42 pre-made page layout templates along with option of portrait/landscape mode and paper size; pre-made image gallery with various characters at your disposal; fully gestured functions to zoom in, zoom out, rotate, resize, drag-drop image, text, draw objects;support export comic file to other formats for sharing: PDF, PNG, JPG and many more.
Cookie Next Door is a sandbox to experience the creative play of story telling by being a co-creator and voice actor in an adventurous tale. The kit includes a creative comic book, voice over studio and animated stage projector.
- Creative Comic Book: Storyboards are perfect training wheels for imaginative minds to learn the story telling experience. Unlock pages, sound effects and other surprises as you create dialog, sound effects and narrate each frame.
- Voice Over Studio: Tell the tale. Become the narrator and voice actor of the unfolding drama. Record your voice and hear your speech magically transformed into a cast members of the tale.
- Animated Stage Projector: Once you complete your story, experience it as a play projected on moving screens with dancing props to highlight the action.
Seedling Comic Studio Combine your own photos with custom backgrounds to create and share comics.
Comic Life - 4.99 Probably the most popular digital comic iOS app for creating comics. This is a very fun and easy to use app for telling the story by creating a customized comic.
Toon Boom Condorito for creating a digital comic. This is a great app that can be used by
students for digital storytelling and to learn the different parts of a
story. Not only can a user add clip art, text, draw/paint, but they can
make the comic move as well. A finished story can then be shared on
networking sites (FB, YouTube) or sent via email.
Perfect Captions add captions to photos with a variety of fonts and shapes
Prisma, (IOS
App) turn photos into stylized artworks based on
different artwork/graphical styles. So if you’ve ever wanted your
bedroom to resemble a rotoscope animation, or your selfie to have shades
of manga, or your hopeless sketching skills not to hold back your
yearning to create a web comic then Prisma is definitely the app for
you.
Friendstrip add captions to photos for comic effect or cartoon editorials
allows kids to get creative by using their own photos to make a comic
strip with over 80 scenarios that can be fully customized. FriendStrip
Kids makes it easy on the user to build a comic by showing what stance a
kid needs to make in order to complete the comic. After that, kids can
throw in a few items on the screen and have their own special comic
strip that features them!
Camera Art FX - real time effects for pencil sketch, comic, watercolor, poster, cartoon ...
Sketch Me Turn your photos into drawing, cartoons or sketch images in one click
to create instant works of art. 19 effects easy to use with full
control.
My Cartoon enable you to take your photo and video as fun cartoon and comic. Some of the features provided by My Cartoon include:add amazing and funny caption into your cartoon and create creative comic, photos can be taken directly from camera, create unlimited cartoons and comics, super easy and simple interface,
Creaza 1.99 extensive multimedia and editing tools
Halftone 2 1.99 create simple comic strips based on your pictures. To get started with Halftone 2 you
choose a layout for your comic then import pictures from your iPad’s camera
roll. You can add borders and visual effects to each of your imported pictures.
After arranging your pictures you can add text in a variety of comic styles.
Completed projects can be shared in a variety of ways including email, Dropbox,
Twitter, and saving to camera roll. Watch the short video below to learn more
about Halftone 2.
StoryMe lets you design personalized comic strips from your own photos. Create beautiful framed collages with speech bubbles and captions – then apply a unique cartoon filter! Turn individual images into a story in seconds.
Zoodle Create and publish your own comic strips on the iPad with Zoodle Comics!
When you are done creating your comic strip, preview it using multiple
layouts, then save it or share it with your friends and family. Save the
resulting comic strip to your photo album or share it on Facebook.
Comic Puppet Lite Create comic panel with the option to switch people faces for the cartoon characters. Save and revise.
Strip Designer 2.99 create comic strips with photos on your iPad
Comic Book 1.99 create comic books with nice options like panels, special effects, sticker artwork. support page
Comics in the Classroom read and interact with historical events with these comics
Perfect Captions use this app with primary source documents, but it’s also perfect for reinforcing literacy skills. Have students create captions to record their predictions, to jot questions that they have, or write dialogue for the main character.
XnSketch allows you to take pictures on your iPad and turn them into cartoons or add sketch effects to your pictures. You can also use the app to affect the color saturation and clarity of your pictures.
Photo Comic 1.99 Photos into comics. Good editing tools
Comic Touch Lite Make your photos come alive by giving them the Comic Touch. Add balloons to give your subjects thoughts and words. Add captions to describe the scene or give the photo a title.
Comic Maker HD Design your own comic easily and quickly with various layouts, characters and much more. You can save, edit and revise. Draw, use built in clip art and/or upload your own photos.
Comics Head 3.99 The App is an easy to use self publishing tool and can be used to create storyboards, fun stuff, even business presentation or art! If you have an idea you can instantly create visually interesting content on the go. Get started quickly by choosing from our many templates and inbuilt art assets. Go viral with your ideas by sharing on Facebook, Twitter or email. You can also print them using AirPrint! With the Lite version, you can only save as an image and not revise. Paid version ($3.99) you can save, edit and revise.
Bitsrtips allows you to turn yourself into an expressive cartoon character. You can Choose from thousands of customizable scenes, plus new ones daily and add photo backgrounds to your comics and make the possibilities truly endless.
Comic Puppets Lite “Comic Puppets Lite provides all the tools to better express your creativity.
Join the community of "comicpuppeteers" too, uses the vast gallery of characters and backgrounds or create new personalized with your photos.“
Comic & Meme Creato ‘Comic & Meme Creator Includes favorite super heroes and villains like Spiderman, Ironman, Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine, Batman, Dr.Doom etc. Includes Street Fighter characters like Ken, Zangief, Bison etc. Also includes cartoon characters like Simpsons, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny etc. and lots of custom characters and objects. You can challenge your creativity and compose hilarious comics.’
Graphic novels, like comics, combine imagery with text. Some refer to graphic novels and comics as “visual narratives.” Reading and analyzing graphic novels adds depth and complexity.
With graphic novels, students use text and images to make inferences. They also synthesize information. In this form of literature, the images and the text are of equal importance. The text would not make sense without the images, and the reverse is true as well. (Source: Leslie Morrison, Adapted from The Research Behind Graphic Novels and Young Learners)
As Leslie points out, there is inferencing and synthesizing going on. Tracy Edmunds says:
Graphic texts are complex, effective teaching tools. Readers must receive information. They also must interact with both text and images to construct meaning.
Josh Elder captures this perspective in The Case for Comics in the Classroom. Engagement occurs in comics since comics show only the essential actions. Readers have to “read between the lines of each panel of even the simplest comic.” If not, the comic does not reveal its story well
Google Slides as shown here, Canva as demonstrated here, and Lumio as found in these templates. And if you want your students to map their stories before they begin the comic creation process, you can have them use one of Lumio’s graphic organizer templates.
Berrybrook Middle School Series
Awkward | Teaching Guide| Word Search | Coloring Page
Meet the diverse cast of Svetlana Chmakova’s award-winning series, as the Berrybrook Middle School students navigate through the precarious and awkward waters of adolescence, learn how to be brave, and maybe even, meet their first crush. Learn more about this series at JY Books. Grades 6–10
Batman High School Instructional Unit This instructional unit from high school teacher Michael Gianfrancesco includes learning standards, student-centered instructional strategies, and assessment. Michael is a founding member of the LitX teacher cohort. Grades 10–12
Slaughterhouse Five
An American classic and one of the world’s seminal antiwar books, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is faithfully presented in graphic novel form for the first time from Eisner Award-winning writer Ryan North (How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler) and Eisner Award-nominated artist Albert Monteys (Universe!). Find out more about this Eisner-nominated graphic novel at Boom Studios. Grade 10 to Adult
Graphic Novels
You can create a comic novel with any program that allows you to save or download a strip. Use a free ebook publishing tool to upload your comics to create a book. eBook tools: Widbook, iBook Author or use a word processing application
Teaching with Comic Novels Resources: benefits, risks, lists of comics, research, books
Should Graphic Novels Be Required Reading?
List of comics and graphic novels organized in multiple social studies categories
Comic Master create comics in the "graphic novel style" Comic Master provides a drag and drop interface for students to build their comics on. Students can create free accounts on Comic Master to save their works and edit them whenever they like. Comic Master gives students the option to print multiple page stories. Four character with varied poses. Limited number of props.
Comic Head (app) Extremely flexible program. You have a built-in artwork and the
capability import your own images and photos. Numerous panel templates.
Ability to save as a draft and revise. Also this program is a good
option for creating comic novels. There is good support with video
tutorials
Google Slides or PowerPoint
In chatting with Lisa Cupples, a TCEA Online Course Creator, she shared what tools she uses. As you might imagine, one that is a favorite is Google Slides. “We all have access to it, including the students.”
Here are a few video tutorials on making comics with Google Slides:
- Amanda Werner’s Tutorial. Learn how to change slide size, find and crop pictures, and insert speech and thought bubbles. You also will learn to change the background of slides and then print six slides per page. At the end, you have a comic strip.
- Richard Byrne’s Tutorial. Create a three-panel comic strip in Google Slides, pulling in images from other locations.
- Erifili Davis’ Tutorial. Learn how to create a comic strip on a smartphone using the Google Slides app.
Familiar with Bitmoji? You can use Bitmoji characters to create a comic strip, then drop them into Google Slides. You can create panels for your comic or graphic novel in Google Slides. Then fill them with Bitmoji scenes.
How To Create Comics On Powerpoint(tips)
Book Creator
No list of comic book creator software would be complete without Book Creator. You can easily combine text, images, and audio to create comic books and graphic novellas. This program is a joy to use via a web browser or an iPad. And making comic books is easy for children of any age. Consider this page from the Invasion of the Cookie Snatchers. As you may not be able to see it, there is video embedded in the “Cookies…” panel.
Prisma, (IOS App) turn photos into stylized artworks based on different artwork/graphical styles. So if you’ve ever wanted your bedroom to resemble a rotoscope animation, or your selfie to have shades of manga, or your hopeless sketching skills not to hold back your yearning to create a web comic then Prisma is definitely the app for you.
Comics in Education is a website run by Dr. Glen Downey for the purpose of sharing activities and ideas for using comics and graphic novels in literacy education. Head to the classroom section of the site to find five literacy skills development activities that can be completed online or offline. Those activities include wordless narratives, graphic poetry, cave art, visual note-taking, and symbolic language in words and images. In the classroom section you will also find curriculum connections and explanations of the rationale for using comics with all students.
Toon Book Reader (gr. !- 5) Read cartoon books online using this interactive site. Choose from one of six cartoon books. Choose to read the book in English, Spanish, or French and navigate through the pages using the left and right arrows. Use the "Start Over" button to begin again or click "Read To Me" to hear audio of the pages.
Marvel Kids create super hero comic strips and comic books. Marvel Kids provides users with templates for comic strips and comic books. Users select the backgrounds, characters, and special effects from the provided menus. Limited female characters. After creating their scenes, users can add dialogue boxes to their comics. Completed comic strips and comic books can be downloaded and printed.
Graphic Novel Lesson Plan w/ Template
Using Comics and Graphic Novels in the Classroom. Understand how using comics and graphic novels can help teach complex reading skills, punctuation, outlining, paragraphing, and literary terms.
LESSON PLANS for graphic novels Lesson plans are related to reading graphic novels.
My So Called Secret Identity This groundbreaking, narrative comic just might catch the interest of your older students not so thrilled with reading. Cat is a new "superhero" who is not the typical superhero female we see in other comics. She is a police officer's daughter working on her PhD. She is ordinary in every way except her intelligence and her powers of observation. These and her knowledge of Gloria City, where she lives, give her an advantage over the terrorists and other super heroes who also live there. Usually when you think of the super-heroine you picture a gorgeous, shapely woman in tight spandex. Not so for Cat. She is depicted as a college student and "regular" girl, and could certainly be a good role model for the older female student. The art work in My So Called Secret Identity at first appears simple. But on a closer look you realize the details that bring this comic to life! This comic is accompanied by a "Lookbook" where you can learn about the artist's thoughts about the characters and how they should be portrayed.
Graphic novels, like comics, combine imagery with text. Some refer to graphic novels and comics as “visual narratives.” Reading and analyzing graphic novels adds depth and complexity.
With graphic novels, students use text and images to make inferences. They also synthesize information. In this form of literature, the images and the text are of equal importance. The text would not make sense without the images, and the reverse is true as well. (Source: Leslie Morrison, Adapted from The Research Behind Graphic Novels and Young Learners)
As Leslie points out, there is inferencing and synthesizing going on. Tracy Edmunds says:
Graphic texts are complex, effective teaching tools. Readers must receive information. They also must interact with both text and images to construct meaning.
Josh Elder captures this perspective in The Case for Comics in the Classroom. Engagement occurs in comics since comics show only the essential actions. Readers have to “read between the lines of each panel of even the simplest comic.” If not, the comic does not reveal its story well
Berrybrook Middle School Series
Awkward | Teaching Guide| Word Search | Coloring Page
Meet the diverse cast of Svetlana Chmakova’s award-winning series, as the Berrybrook Middle School students navigate through the precarious and awkward waters of adolescence, learn how to be brave, and maybe even, meet their first crush. Learn more about this series at JY Books. Grades 6–10
Batman High School Instructional Unit This instructional unit from high school teacher Michael Gianfrancesco includes learning standards, student-centered instructional strategies, and assessment. Michael is a founding member of the LitX teacher cohort. Grades 10–12
Slaughterhouse Five
An American classic and one of the world’s seminal antiwar books, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is faithfully presented in graphic novel form for the first time from Eisner Award-winning writer Ryan North (How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler) and Eisner Award-nominated artist Albert Monteys (Universe!). Find out more about this Eisner-nominated graphic novel at Boom Studios. Grade 10 to Adult
Political Cartoons
Political Cartoons in the Classroom Lesson Plan
More than 100 Editorial Cartoon Lesson Plans
Cartoon analysis worksheet template
America In Characature 1765 - 1865 This site, by the Lily Library of Indiana University, features the wry wit and artistic talents of America's best political cartoonists. Three distinct and turbulent periods in American history are represented: The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Especially notable are the political cartoons from election years 1860 and 1864. Challenge students to think about how these caricatures compare with those found in today's newspapers.
Pictures and Cartoons from PRI's The World
The Week of Political Cartoons
Analyzing the Stylistic Choices of Political Cartoonists Lesson Plan
Cartoons for the Classroom :: AAEC - Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
Cartoons for the Classroom: NIEonline.com: Newspapers In Education
AMU Cartoon Reprints This site is a searchable archive of cartoons (both comics and editorials) available ONLY FOR USE IN THE CLASSROOM. It's a wonderful source of discussion starters and topical humor, but please read the copyright information carefully. Government and social studies teachers will find the editorial collections particularly interesting.
500+ Political Cartoons & 100+ Editorial Cartoon Lesson Plans The Library of Congress hosts an online collection of more than 500 political cartoons and caricatures from U.S. History. You can search the collection by keyword and image type. Along with the images you will find links to related resources from the Library of Congress. You could use these public domain works to help students understand the political perspectives surrounding significant political events in U.S. History. A good model for political cartoon-based lesson plans can be found on Cartoons for the Classroom.
Analyzing the Purpose and Meaning of Political Cartoons
Reading Editorial Cartoons (Scholastic)
Deconstructing Editorial Cartoons
Lessons and Activities These sites have lesson plans and activity ideas for analyzing political cartoons. Includes information on the use of symbolism in the cartoons and links to many examples.
Dr. Seuss and WWII We all know Dr. Seuss, but how many know the important contribution he made to political commentary during World War II?
The Dirksen Collection This archive of political cartoons focuses on those featuring Everett Dirksen, but in so doing, presents commentary on a large number of important political topics during the time period.
Printables
The Beast Academy
The Beast Academy book series is a full math curriculum for grades 2‑5. Beautifully illustrated Guides offer engaging math instruction, while Practice books include hundreds of problems and puzzles that reinforce the concepts learned in the Guides. In the full-color, comic-book-style Guides, four monsters attend classes at Beast Academy, where they grapple with math concepts and work together to solve problems. This fun way of learning mathematical concepts is perfect for educators to supplement their curriculum or parents to use at home as additional support.
The Phoenix, which is aimed at six- to 12-year-old girls and boys, is a British weekly story comic. Their subject matter ranges widely, through historical adventures and monstrous tales to the nonfiction strip Corpse Talk, in which the protagonist digs up and quizzes a corpse of distinction. Gandhi, Black Beard and Jane Austen are among the posthumous interviewees. Tamsin and the Deep takes elements of folklore and replays them in the setting of a council estate in rural Cornwall. It’s a weekly anthology of all-ages fun
Comics Empower
You know how when you walk into a comic book store, all the new issues are spread out on the walls or the shelves? Well, when a blind person walks in, they can’t see anything. The experience in Comics Empower, the comic book store for the blind, is reversed: The blind can see everything on the page and you can’t see anything. The site features original comics available in audio only, podcasts where sighted and blind people discuss their experience reading the same comic, comics written by blind writers, and more!
Classical Comics
Classical Comics’ main aim is to make classical literature appealing to all. To do this, they offer graphic novel adaptions of classics, from Shakespeare to the Bronte sisters to Bram Stoker. Each title has multiple versions: original text, plain text, and quick text, making it possible for every level of reader to enjoy these beloved stories.
AMP! Comics
AMP! Comics for Kids is a line of paperback graphic novels aimed at middle-school readers. These fun novels range from a series adapted from Beowulf, Kid Beowulf, to the Big Nate series and many more. The site, in addition to offering a plethora of graphic novels, also offers teaching guides catered to each book, so that educators, librarians, and parents can capitalize on their student’s interest in comics.
Diamond Book Distributors
Diamond Book Distributors has put together a comprehensive list of books that their publishers produce that can be used in a Common Core aligned curriculum. Broken up by grade level, this compilation is a great place for teachers to find resources for a classroom and parents to find age-appropriate texts.
Scholastic’s Imprint Graphix
Scholastic’s imprint Graphix publishes graphic novels specifically for children and teens. They focus on creator-driven books that bring exceptional art, rich content, and strong storytelling to realistic fiction, memoir, fantasy, and more. Supported by librarians, teachers, and most important, kids, Graphix titles have become bestsellers around the globe and continue to receive awards and critical acclaim including multiple Eisner Award wins and nominations, a Stonewall Book Award Honor (Drama), a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor (Smile), an Edgar Allan Poe nomination (The Lost Boy), and 20 New York Times bestsellers to date.
Face Value Comics
Face Value Comics has created the first comic book hero with autism. Intended for autistic readers, this series of comic books is conscious about the social implications of their comics and aim to increase autism advocacy through comic awareness. Their comics are kid-friendly and a non-profit organization, dedicated to bringing children the best in comic book entertainment.
Action Labs Comics
A regular Pop Culture Classroom collaborator, Action Labs Comics is one of the companies on the cutting edge of the digital age. In just four years, the company has grown to be one of the most popular publishing houses in the medium and is home to more than a dozen titles including the hugely popular all-ages fantasy Princeless, the Kickstarter-backed mini-series Fracture, and the original graphic novels Exo-1 and the Rock-Solid Steelbots, Back in the Day, and Monsters Are Just Like Us. Action Labs was also one of the first publishers to release a digital comic for Free Comic Book Day, unleashing Action Labs Confidential in 2012, a 200-plus page extended preview of every book the company has released.
Toon Books
With origins deeply rooted in the Franco-Belgian tradition of Bande dessinée, Toon Books promotes its books as the first high-quality comics designed for ages four and up. The idea for the line came to legendary designer and publisher Françoise Mouly when her son was learning to read. Appalled by the lack of educational appeal, she instead turned to French comics. Mouly is also married to cartoonist Art Spiegelman, who famously said, “Comics can be a gateway drug to literacy.” Over time, Mouly developed her own methodology for ensuring appeal and quality, vetting every book with educators and testing out rough drafts in schools. In addition to publishing popular titles like Barry and Penny, the Toon Books website offers free online learning tools for students and educators and unique online tools like the free “CarTOON Maker,” and the Readers Theater, which teaches educators how to get students to perform TOON stories.
Papercutz Graphic Novels
With nearly a decade of experience under their belts, the creative minds behind Papercutz Graphic Novels have succeeded in keeping alive the spirit and presence of some of the world’s most popular characters including The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Power Rangers, and many more. Dedicated to publishing great graphic novels for all ages, the company has engaged a wide variety of writers and artists including popular favorites like Scott Lobdell, Jill Thompson and Jeff Parker, as well as wide-ranging and eccentric talents like Rick Geary, Joe R. Lansdale, Gahan Wilson, and Peter Kuper. While their lineup focuses often on humor, the publisher also delves into experimental mediums including the popular Classics Illustrated line, the pop culture parody Papercutz Sclices, and English translations of popular Franco-Belgian comics including the ever-popular Smurfs.
KaBoom! Studios
What time is it? It’s always Adventure Time at KaBoom! Studios, the all-ages imprint of the popular Boom! Studios, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. This imprint is a spin-off from the long-time arm Boom Kids! and covers some of the most popular fictional universes in the comics world including The Muppets, Disney, Pixar and Peanuts. Launching in May of 2011, KaBoom! first hit comics stands with a Duck Tales mini-series composed by notable videogame designer Warren Spector and has since captured kids’ imaginations with the Adventure Time series written by Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics, new adventures set in the world of Ice Age, and is planning a comic book adaptation of Pendleton Ward’s Bravest Warriors.
Good Comics for Kids
Presented by the venerable School Library Journal, “Good Comics for Kids” is a collaborative blog covering kids’ comics written by a group of librarians, parents and writers. The blog was founded in 2008 with the goal of covering kids’ comics for readers from birth to age 16 with breadth and depth through a mix of news, reviews, interviews and previews, written with enough accessibility to appeal to both casual readers and serious comics fans. Recent interviews have featured a wide variety of creators including such luminaries as James Kolchaka, manga artist Misaka Rocks, and indie artist Paul Pope and Jeffrey Brown. This invaluable site covers everything from picture books to Banned Books Week with verve, insight and clarity, providing a terrific resource for parents, kids, and fans alike.
Graphic novels, like comics, combine imagery with text. Some refer to graphic novels and comics as “visual narratives.” Reading and analyzing graphic novels adds depth and complexity.
With graphic novels, students use text and images to make inferences. They also synthesize information. In this form of literature, the images and the text are of equal importance. The text would not make sense without the images, and the reverse is true as well. (Source: Leslie Morrison, Adapted from The Research Behind Graphic Novels and Young Learners)
As Leslie points out, there is inferencing and synthesizing going on. Tracy Edmunds says:
Graphic texts are complex, effective teaching tools. Readers must receive information. They also must interact with both text and images to construct meaning.
Josh Elder captures this perspective in The Case for Comics in the Classroom. Engagement occurs in comics since comics show only the essential actions. Readers have to “read between the lines of each panel of even the simplest comic.” If not, the comic does not reveal its story well
Berrybrook Middle School Series
Awkward | Teaching Guide| Word Search | Coloring Page
Meet the diverse cast of Svetlana Chmakova’s award-winning series, as the Berrybrook Middle School students navigate through the precarious and awkward waters of adolescence, learn how to be brave, and maybe even, meet their first crush. Learn more about this series at JY Books. Grades 6–10
Batman High School Instructional Unit This instructional unit from high school teacher Michael Gianfrancesco includes learning standards, student-centered instructional strategies, and assessment. Michael is a founding member of the LitX teacher cohort. Grades 10–12
Slaughterhouse Five
An American classic and one of the world’s seminal antiwar books, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is faithfully presented in graphic novel form for the first time from Eisner Award-winning writer Ryan North (How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler) and Eisner Award-nominated artist Albert Monteys (Universe!). Find out more about this Eisner-nominated graphic novel at Boom Studios. Grade 10 to Adult