Student Generated Comics Using the Comic Life App

by Donna DesRoches

Recently I have had the pleasure of working with groups of students using the iPads and an app called ComicLife. I watched theirComicLife App Icon enthusiasm and excitement while first creating their story, mapping out a short storyboard and then creating the comic.

In the article, Using Student Generated Comic Books in the Classroom, the author believes that because kids are familiar and comfortable with comic books several benefits emerge when they create their own comics particularly in the areas of reading, writing and research skills.

Designing a comic book provides an opportunity for students to be creative in the presentation of their writing.  It also allows them to apply and demonstrate their knowledge in an innovative and imaginative way:

  • Through comics students can investigate the use of dialogue, succinct and dramatic vocabulary and nonverbal communication.
  • Designing comic books can generate expository composition including historical and biographical writing
  • The creative process allows students to determine what is most important from their reading, to rephrase it succinctly, and then to organize it logically.

There is a natural fit for creating comics and using the app ComicLife within the grade 9 ELA curriculum but it can be used as a form of summative assessment across all subject areas.  The article, Using Comic Life at Every Level of Bloom’s, provides some very specific examples of how the ComicLife App can be integrated into a variety of subject areas including math.

Quality projects using ComicLife occur when students are well prepared both in content knowledge and provided with a clearly designed process.

Some basic steps enable students to use ComicLife to its full advantage:

  1. Provide a number of comics or graphic novels to students and have them analyze them for comic book elements:
    1. Flow of images through panels or frames
    2. Borders and gutters
    3. Captions (voice of the narrator)
    4. Speech and thought balloons or bubbles
    5. Tone shown through shape, bold or italics
    6. Use of symbols to represent concepts or ideas
    7. Sound effects represented by words
    8. Provide students with time to play with and explore the ComicLife app
      1. Select templates
      2. Menu buttons to select and change
      • Font styles
      • Page layouts
      • Insert and delete pages
      • Sharing options
    9. Access the camera
    10. Access the photo gallery
  2. Provide students with a template or process for creating a rough draft or storyboard of the comic.  I usually have students draw panels on a blank sheet of paper. Another way to storyboard is the use of cards as illustrated in this post.  Students can then manipulate the sequence of the cards to create the best story flow. Often they need to be encouraged to keep their drawings simple – stick figures are best – and to focus on the dialogue.  They should also know that once they begin creating their comic some points in the storyboard will and should change.
  3. Once students have completed their storyboard they can begin to create their comic.  I am always surprised at how important the storyboard is to students as they refer to it often in the midst of the creative process.
  4. The finished comics can be printed.  They can also be shared with their classmates via an Apple TV.
October 21, 2013Permalink

Leaders Who Value Student Feedback

by Doug Drover

One of the most valuable tools I’ve ever used for professional growth and program review is student feedback (yes, feedback FROM the students, not TO the students).  It has made me a better teacher, and it’s helped promoted a healthy learning culture in my classroom.

I think we as teachers are, on some level, uncomfortable with receiving feedback from our students.  After all, we’ve been trained to be the professional “in charge” of the classroom: determining activities, lessons and units, planning the semester/year to fit the curriculum, establishing minimum expectations for behavioural norms, establishing seating plans, etc.  This is not in any way wrong.  As trained and experienced professionals, we SHOULD have this authority in the classrooms to which we are assigned.

Teachers and principals are leaders to our students and in our schools, and it is important for us to remember that there are different styles of leadership.  I have always taught my students about three: authoritative, participative, and delegative.

Authoritative leaders make decisions on their own, and they enforce this decision on others, typically through rewards and punishments.  This is a highly efficient method of decision-making, and is quite popular in politics and business… and in the school system.  It works best when the leader is the most experienced and knowledgeable person in the room.  When this is not the case, though, poor decisions can be made.

Participative leaders seek input from their teams, and consider the different points of view before making a final decision.  This is less efficient, but results in compliance because others value the process of providing input and trust that the leader chose the best option on the table.

Delegative leaders ask the team to make the final decision.  It is least efficient, but can be very effective in certain situations, especially when team members are highly motivated and skilled, or hold special expertise that the leader doesn’t.

Often, we think about leadership in the authoritative sense: that we are the experts who make the decisions.  Conversely, we often think that eliciting student feedback will be a waste of time (“They don’t know what is required to…”) or akin to letting the prisoners run the prison!  Not true!  There is a sea of difference between eliciting feedback from students and turning over the reins of the school.  As a delegative leader, my students trusted that I would honestly consider their feedback, but respected that the final decision lay with me.

For some teachers, this can be a shift in mindset, but I assure you from my own experience that asking for and responding to feedback from parents and students does not lead to a loss of authority; in fact, I’ve found that it enhances the trust parents and students have in me.

Schools are not McDonald’s; the customer is NOT always right.  But that doesn’t mean the customers – students and parents – are NEVER right.  Students and parents present many sets of eyes from diverse backgrounds with diverse needs.  They are bound to see things that you can’t, or see things differently than you.  Once we acknowledge that we can still hold authority without ALWAYS being right, we can tap into this vast pool of opinions and perspectives to find solutions to problems that either confounded us, or that we didn’t know existed.

I encourage you to read the link to this excellent article from Education Leadership on formalizing the student feedback process.

Learning from the True Customers

Enjoy!

October 17, 2013Permalink

Career Education . . . Where Does it Fit?

by Leanne Merkowsky

“Why should I teach it?  It isn’t my responsibility!  I teach Math!”

“There just isn’t enough time!”

“I don’t know anything about careers!”

The reactions are many when a teacher is first asked to infuse career education into their subject area, and although it may seem a daunting task at first, it is really as simple as 1, 2, 3.

1.  Career education belongs in every subject.  It belongs in every grade level.  It belongs in every school.  Early exposure to career options affects students’ credit choice, work path and personal life.  Addressing pertinent skills and abilities in school and helping students make the link eases the transition from education to work.  The English skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking are cross-curricular and are vital skills to possess when entering the workforce, whether it is to study safety manuals, complete application forms, understand contracts, fill food orders, listen to news reports or read a recipe to make a chocolate cake in hope of getting rid of excess, unwanted zucchini.  Math inevitably follows us through life as we measure a home’s foundation, purchase a vehicle and calculate interest, determine how much fertilizer is needed for the crop, or compute the 10% off sale at Nutters during the last Thursday of the month.  Biology is mandatory for nurses, veterinarians, and blood spatter-pattern analysts like Dexter, as is Physics for engineers and rocket scientists.  Chemistry lovers may become pharmacists or may even solve Cadbury’s Caramilk secret.  Whatever the subject interest of the student, there is sure to be a career link.  As a teacher, it is your job to provide these insights, encourage exploration, garnish interest in students and cultivate a curiosity that will lead them to further studies in an area that best fits them.

2.  What better way to introduce careers in a relevant, engaging and interesting way for your students than to camouflage the learning in regular teaching routines!  Take time to talk with your students and create a positive ‘career culture’.  Connect activities and learning to local labour market statistics and personal interest.  This eases the school to work transition and helps calm the nerves of those who are anxious, yet afraid of what their future holds.  Choosing a career is no longer a single choice . . . it is a life-long, exciting and dynamic choice.  Be supportive!

3.   Enhancing the ‘soft skills’ of getting along with others, punctuality, reliability and a positive attitude are beneficial for students now and in their future.  Make a point to acknowledge these behaviours in students, explain their importance and encourage continued ‘good’ practices.  They may not be aware of how these skills fit into their future, but through informal conversation, personal experiences and sharing of values, it is easy to share ‘the secrets’ of a successful future.

Career Education is everyone’s responsibility and whether we know it or not, what we say, what we do and how we act greatly impacts the decisions our students make for their future.

What kind of impression are you making on your students?

In Kathy Cassidy’s article, “Career Education in First Grade” (thanks for sharing Donna), she points outs how the concept of ‘careers’ has changed over the years and what we, as educators, can do to help accommodate these changes.  Careers, much like our students, are evolving.  Are we adequately preparing our students?  I invite you to read her article, and reflect on your practices. 

How are you infusing career development in your class?

 

September 30, 2013Permalink

How does documentation differ from displaying children’s work?

by Angela Yeaman

I recently read this quote on an early childhood blog I follow (Journey Into Early Childhood, 07/31/2013 post: Documentation-pondering a quote):
“Documentation is not pretty pictures of engaged children. Rather, it captures the thinking process: What motivates [students] to begin, continue, change direction? What were the breakthroughs, the pivotal remarks or actions? How did they solve the problems? The goal is to enable whoever reads a panel to understand what the child attempted and how they went about it, to see stimulus, process, and outcome.”
A. Lewin-Benham

This reflection on a main purpose for documentation resounded with me and specifically connected to the reading I have been doing in the book, Windows on Learning: Documenting Young Children’s Work, 2nd ed. By Judy Harris Helm, Sallee Beneke and Kathy Steinheimer.

Given the young age (3-5 year olds) of children that are a part of the projects and learning done in Prekindergarten it can often been challenging to truly share and celebrate the important learning and growth that is documented in children’s work.
Our classroom documentation then becomes a key piece in sharing the thinking, learning and growth of our students with an outside audience.
As emphasized by Helm, Beneke & Steinheimer (2007), “One value of documentation is the ability it gives us to share the importance and thought that goes into learning experiences that may not produce patently impressive products” (pg.16).

A “simple” drawing included in a display and the learning it represents for the child cannot be fully understood by an outside audience without the added narrative of the teacher.
Consider this drawing done by a 4-year old Prekindergarten student during an inquiry about plants.

Drawing of a plant
Drawing of a plant

 

Without the added labeling by the teacher the understanding this student is developing about different parts of a plant would not be evident.

Consider this documentation of a 4-year old Prekindergarten student during an inquiry about Spring and birds.
Learning about birds

Without the added photo and quote from the student accompanying the work created, an appreciation of what the student understands about birds and nests would not be developed by an outside audience.

As I continue supporting Prekindergarten teachers with their use of documentation I am challenged to explore how can we use our documentation to:
• Understand our students better
• Provide insights into students growth
• Inform our teaching and professional development
• Allow others to see into the learning experiences in our classroom

September 16, 2013Permalink