From writing graphic novels to creating math comics, bring your class assignments, student projects, and course materials alive with 21st century approaches to communication. Regardless of whether you prefer Mac or Windows, you'll learn to use free online tools as well as inexpensive software to produce graphic novels, illuminated term papers, visual science reports, photo essays, and other engaging alternatives to traditional reports and student products. These concrete products reflect student understanding and provide an alternative to traditional forms of assessment. In this workshop, we'll explore innovative ways to address essential standards across the curriculum while motivating reluctant students and promoting a love of reading and writing. Whether you're looking for fun ways to teach language or new approaches to address the diverse needs of today's students, you'll find lots of ideas in this fast-paced hands-on workshop.
Think about traditional reading and writing experiences such as reading the novel "Call of the Wild" or writing an essay on the topic of capital punishment.
Consider new approaches. A traditional news story on the financial meltdown has become an information graphic new item.
The reading experience is evolving with illustrated books like The Invention of Hugo Cabret, graphics in novels such as The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, graphic novels like The Eternal Smile, webcomics like Copper, and graphic textbooks.
Deep Understandings through DifferentiationAs you design instruction for 21st century learners, consider ways to address individual differences through activities that differentiate experiences. One way to do this is by adjusting the content, processes, and products of learning. Let's look at a math example.
The Content. Traditionally, young people have learned content from lectures and text-based books. Consider the addition of books that contain visual presentation and non-traditional information presentation. For instance, The Cartoon Guide to Statistics by Larry Gonick and Woollcott Smith hooks students. As them to find the fact and fiction in the book.
The Process. Look for new ways to teach math skills using graphics. For instance, a teacher developed lots of examples at WSDkids - Comic Life.
The Products. Involve young people in creating powerful products using a variety of tools, techniques, and multimedia resources. Go to Digital Triangle for a lesson and examples. Be sure to check out the rubric and examples. Use rubistar to create your own multimedia project rubric.
Complete the Digital Comics, Graphic Novels, Sequential Art, and Technology-Enhanced Learning workshop.
Compare an excerpt from the graphic novel above with the traditional format book. Click the images above for a close-up.
Read classics and create one-page visual summaries of chapters. Use children's graphic novels such as those from Stone Arch books for inspiration.
Involve young people in visualizing existing stories or writing their own graphic novels. Provide photos to stimulate writing activities. Consider before/after photos or a series of images. If possible, provide cameras for storytelling.
Use the Learn Spanish with Superman series from Berto get language learners involved with learning and writing in a foreign language.
Right-click and save Story.ppt. Write dialog based on one of the photos. Can you write the dialog in both English and Spanish? If you have a microphone, record audio of the conversation.
Some online tools are effective for projects that involve writing dialog. Go to MakeBeliefsComix and create a short comic.
Creative WritingUse visual resources as prompts for writing. Postcards provide a great start. Young people can use existing postcards or create their own for storytelling. Go to Flat Stanley for examples of Flat Stanley postcards. Go to Photo Safari for more ideas.
Use Postcards: True Stories that Never Happened edited by Jason Rodrigez to jumpstart an illuminated project based on postcards. Ask young people to develop a story based on a postcard. Go to the book website to learn more about it and see examples from the book.
Think about ways that young people can explore, analyze, and write tall tales, fairy tales, folklore, and myths. Start by reading tall tales such as Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson & Nancy Carpenter. Look for books by Steven Kellogg. Use exaggerated postcards to jumpstart an illuminated story. Download the Let's Tell Tall Tales (PPT) PowerPoint Sidekick. Go to W. H. Martin at Wikipedia for examples of tall-tale postcards. For additional ideas, go to Sidekicks: Stories.
Rather than a traditional text report, consider ways to incorporate visual elements. Use Hooray for Inventors! by Marcia Williams as an example of how the story of inventors can be told in a comic format. Ask students to create a one-page history of an invention.
Create a comic report on a local issue such as what to do when you see incorrect or vandalized signs.
Read historical graphic novels such as Berlin: City of Stone and Still I Rise. Evaluate their accuracy, then write your own historical graphic novel.
Compare a graphic book such as The Arrival with historical photos. Read more about how the book was written by Shaun Tan, then create your own comic story about an immigrant family.
Provide young people with PowerPoint starters to help with class projects such as Rock Art (PPT), Tarantula Scientist (PPT), Chasing Vermeer (PPT), and Patterns in Nature (PPT). For more examples of escrapbooking-type projects, go to Ephotography to escrapbooking: Thinking, Test Scores, and Beyond.
Take photographs during science projects. Place the images in folder that students can access. Ask students to create a visual reflection of the project. Archive photos so each year the number of images expands. Use over-the-shoulder and close-up shots so individual students aren't shown.
You can also find images online. For instance, Nestwatch contains images from live bird cams.
Put photos from a science project into a folder along with stock images and let students create their own scrapbooks of their experiences.
Design assignments that ask young people to use visuals as a way of sharing their understandings of subject-area content.
Right-click and save Civilian Conservation Corps (PPT and Word documents). Examine the assignment and matching assessment. Consider issues in evaluating student projets.
Ask students to solve a problem. For instance "Congratulations! You’ve just gotten a job a Presidential Library. The board of directors would like a new visual exhibit at the entry hall highlighting the accomplishments of your President. You’ll create an electronic scrapbook to present your ideas to the board of directors. Good Luck!"
Provide students with examples and models to get them started. For instance, tell students "David Peterson doesn’t just write books, he also shares his books on his website. Explore his website. Create your own website focusing on the characters and setting of your book." For younger children, try the same assignment with the Kevin Henke's mouse books website.
Provide visuals for use in sharing the results of a problem-solving assignment.
Right-click and save Vote.ppt. Use the first slide to pose a problem and explore multiple perspectives. Use the second slide to share persuasive arguments. Use both speech bubbles and audio. Students could also link to other pages for additional information.
Photo essays allow young people to share their experiences, historical retellings, information about processes and cycles, and field trips. For instance, a child who lives on a farm might create a photo essay on homemade goat milk cheese.
Use photo picture books as inspiration. The Owen & Mzee website has lots of examples and resources along with examples of other books.
Ask students to complete the activities at Edhead: Simple Machines. Then, involve children in taking digital photos of simple machines at school and create a PowerPoint slide. Use bubbles to identify the simple machines in the photos.
Provide young people with photo collections to jumpstart projects.
Right-click and save Historypic.ppt. Write an assignment in the Speakernotes. Or record an audio assignment.
For more images, go to Library of Congress and do a search. For instance, search for "children," "kitchen" or "general store." Also check out the Library of Congress Flickr Photo project.
Also seek out microscopic images such as those at Dennis Kunkel's website.
Read Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson. Explore lesson ideas at Mass Moments, Teaching Tolerance. Open the PowerPoint starter called Bread and Roses, Too (PPT). Create your own scrapbook.
Consider the many ways that visuals can enhance the traditional term paper.
The Adventures of Riley books combine photographs, drawings, text, and fact boxes to tell fact-based stories. Go to Adventures of Riley website for lots of examples.
Also seek out graphic novels that combine photography and drawings such as The Photographer. Then, take photographs and add your own line drawings. Or, combine photographs and digital painting.
Use The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam by Ann Marie Fleming as an example of an illustrated memoir. Based on a documentary, this work contains a wide variety of images from hand drawings to screen shots from videos. Examine a page from the book and notice how historical photos and other images are used. Also example a page with still images from the documentary.
Also explore Satchel Paige, Houdini, Thoreau and Kampung Boy for ideas.
Illuminated Social Studies ReportsPyongyang by Guy Delisle is a non-fiction account of the author's travels in North Korea. Rather than assigning the traditional country report, ask students to write an account of a fictional trip to another country.
Use Comic Life to create your own travel stories. Check out Annette and Larry's Travels.
Ue the artwork of others as inspiration. Explore the Terrible Yellow Eyes blog to see how people have been inspired by the work of Maurice Sendak.
Try online tools such as Pixton for making your own interactive web comics.
Try software such as Comic Life.
Consider adding animation to projects. Example of Goanimate projects (Project 1 and Project 2). Go to Goanimate and create your own animation.
Consider sharing your projects online. It's easy to use Google Docs for sharing. See a Comic Example.
Explore other online resources for more ideas:
