Comics & animation in the classroom

This collection of reviewed resources is selected to help teachers and students learn about and create comics in any subject area. Comics have become mainstream in "graphic novels" and can express or explain major concepts, portray the underlying tensions  behind an issue, or simply help students remember terms and definitions. The storytelling potential of comics goes back to cave drawings andcan be as simple as a stick figure or as elaborate as a photograph annotated with voice bubbles. Explore these resources for tools and ideas to "draw" comics into your classroom as a tool for learning.
Write Comics - Write Comics
You can make your very own comic right now! At Write Comics, you will be able to create your own comics using the figures, backgrounds, animal, aliens, and dialoguebubbles, ...more
Here is the direct link to share this resource review. Feel free to copy and paste this URL into an email or place it on your web page or blog so others can read this TeachersFirst review:
You can make your very own comic right now! At Write Comics, you will be able to create your own comics using the figures, backgrounds, animal, aliens, and dialogue bubbles, supplied by WriteComics. This site is extremely easy to use. There is no need to sign up or register. Once you click Finish, you will be given a link. Go to your link and print your comic or upload it to your webpage.
In the Classroom
Create a comic to put on your website. You might want to use Write Comics to display the vocabulary word of the day, the math puzzle of the week, a concept your students arelearning in social studies or science. Have students create comic strips for dialog-writing lessons, summarizing, predicting and retelling stories. Use comic strips for literature responses. For pre-reading students, create a comic of pictures and have students tell the story based on the pictures/scenes. Make a class book of the comics created throughout the year. That book will become the most readclassroom book of all in an elementary classroom. Use comics to show sequencing of events. When studying about characterization, create dialog to show (not tell) about a character. World language and ESL/ELL teachers can assign students to create dialog strips as an alternate to traditional written assessments. Have students share all of their comics on your interactive whiteboard or projector.Stage'D - Unity 3D
 Stage'D is a great tool for creating quick and easy comics. You can pick characters, costumes, scenery, and create your own dialog. Once created, these fast and fabulous cartoons can...more
Here is the direct link to share this resource review. Feel free to copy and paste this URL into an email or place it on your web page or blog so others can read this TeachersFirst review:Stage'D is a great tool for creating quick and easy comics. You can pick characters, costumes, scenery, and create your own dialog. Once created, these fast and fabulous cartoons can be shared through email, URL, and any social network. To use the site, you must download the unity web player which is found on the website. Membership is not required to create or share comics. See a sample herethe reviewer's sample here.

In the Classroom
This tool is fast and easy though a little limited. However, that makes it great for younger students who would be overwhelmed by choices and possibilities in more complex programs. Have students create commercials advertising the best elements in chemistry or physical science classes. Have students create characters with some basic dialog, and thenhave them expand the cartoon to a full short story in a document for language arts classes. Or in social studies, have students create a commentary dialog about a specific event such as the Battle of Gettysburg or the sinking of the Lusitania. Teachers can use this tool to create simple comics for elementary students to read. Give directions or ask questions using a comic, and students will love...