This summer I am once again teaching a Comic Creation course for students from third to sixth grade. I am very lucky to have an excited and creative group of students in the group. It seems like graphic novels and comics are only growing in popularity with some new titles such as Big Nate by Lincoln Pierce and Bird and Squirrel by James Burke.
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| GRAPHIX |
I teach the class 2.5 hours a day for 4 days. I have made some tweaking based on my experience last year.
Day 1
Students share some of their favorite comics/graphic novels. We go over the main parts and features of comics. Students have an opportunity to browse through comics in the library looking for how the features are used within the comic.
Then students spent the rest of class planning and then creating their own comics using paper templates. Some preferred to make their own template but I provided several comic templates that I found on The Itsy Bitsy Kids Activity Blog.
Day 2
We went over how to plan out your comic and make sure it still has a flow from beginning to end. Students worked with small groups to make a short comic that included...
- First: introduction of setting and characters
- Next: action to move the comic forward
- Last: conclusion, solution or to be continued
Day 3
We discussed the importance of speech and thought bubbles, as well as sounds effects and captions. Each student selected a comic with blank speech bubbles to make their own. This helped emphasize the importance of using these features to help your audience understand the story your telling.
The remainder of the class time students explored the App Strip Designer as a digital approach to comic creation.
Day 4
On the last day students have time to finish any comics they have started and the majority of the class creating one last comic of their choice. This includes using a template, drawing your own template, creating a comic using Word or the app.
