Cartoons and Comics

     I had so much fun working on this assignment. Didn't know how easy it was to make comic strips. It's such an easy and fun way to get students engaged in our lessons.
     First I explored ToonDoo. It was easy to register for it. It asked you for the basics such as your email, name, and password. It has so much variety to choose from. There are backgrounds, characters, layouts, text, props, and you can even upload your own pictures. It is so easy to create a comic strip and even a book. All you have to do is drag what you selected onto each panel and fix it how you wan it. Then you choose the type of text bubble you want and enter your text. When your done you can save it and send it by email to anyone you would like to. Here is the comic strip I created. Since I am a writing teacher I decided to create my comic strip on writing.

      Second, I registered for Pixton. This one too was easy to register for. It asked for the same information as ToonDoo. One huge difference that I noticed was that this one is free but only for fifteen days unlike ToonDoo. ToonDoo didn't mention that it was only for fifteen days. This had a lot more variety of backgrounds, characters, and props to choose from. It also gave you the option to upload your own pictures. What I liked about Pixton is that it gave you templates to choose from according to what you said you were. It gave you the option to choose if you were a student, educator, or work environment. I didn't see that on ToonDoo, unless I overlooked them. It had a templet of a comic strip on homophones and that's where I got the idea to create mine from. It is such a clever way to teach homophones. My students have so much trouble using some homophones and by creating comic strips is a fun and engaging way for them to learn homophones. I loved this idea! Here is the comic strip I created on Pixton.

      Lastly, I explored MakeBeliefsComix. This one we didn't have to register for. You can simply just start creating your comic strip. Some characters on this tool are in motion. Their mouth and eyes move. Like the other two this one also has a variety of characters and backgrounds to choose from. It was really easy to create and save. 

     There are so many ways to use comic strips in our classrooms. You can use it in any subject. For example, instead of giving students problem solving on paper we can give them each a comic strip with problem solving on them. Students are still learning to solve problems but in a more engaging way. It's fun for students, yet they are still doing the same work.