Why You Should to Use Comic Strips in the Classroom by Steve Gambuti • September 16, 2014

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Have you ever wondered how to keep kids creative while meeting all those common core standards?

Why not try cartoons and comics? With graphic novels all the rage these days, comic strips and graphic novels are a great way to build creative writing skills while keeping your students engaged in something they actually enjoy. Writing a comic strip can teach kids several key writing components while thinking on higher levels.

One of the online comic strip generators I have played with is ToonDoo.com where your students can create simple story board style comic strips or even make a small graphic novel.

ToonDoo.com offers an easy to use interface with very simple templates. You can lay out your comic
strip or graphic novel with a multitude of options. Want three panels on a page? How about six? There are plenty of choices.

Students will be able to focus on creating characters and the different physical features they have by completing graphic organizers. Then they can use the free online comic strip generators, like ToonDoo, to make those characters look the way they envisioned them. They can outfit them in clothing that matches their characters personalities.

When students are creating different settings for their comics, they can use graphic organizers that will help them discern the look, feel and mood of their stories. Higher level thinking skills can come into play by asking why is your sky purple? What are you expressing to your reader when everything is bright and sunny? Not only does ToonDoo have their own backgrounds to choose from, but kids can use their own photos and edit them however they want.

Your students can also have key story elements such as an introduction, middle and conclusion, which can help students build solid skills for narrative writing. By creating a sequential story board of panels, students can learn how to better structure their ideas and organize their thoughts. The layout templates in ToonDoo are a perfect visual guide for having students instinctively learn to sequence.

Before you even have your students head over to ToonDoo, have them complete the graphic organizer I created for writing a comic strip.