The Comic Creator invites students to compose their own comic strips for a variety of contexts (prewriting, pre- and postreading activities, response to literature, and so on). The organizers focus on the key elements of comic strips by allowing students to choose backgrounds, characters, and props, as well as to compose related dialogue (shown at left). This versatile tool can be used by students from kindergarten through high school, for purposes ranging from learning to write dialogue to an in-depth study of a formerly neglected genre. The tool is easy to use, made even easier with the Comic Strip Planning Sheet, a printable PDF that comic creators can use to draft and revise their work before creating and printing their final comics. After completing their comic, students have the ability to print out and illustrate their final versions for feedback and assessment. For additional ideas on how to use this tool, see Tips for Using Comic Creator.

Visit this interactive tool at: http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/.

ReadWriteThink Lessons That Use This Tool

A Directed Listening–Thinking Activity for The Tell-Tale Heart (6-8)
In this lesson, students participate in a Directed Listening–Thinking Activity (DLTA) to improve their listening comprehension and prediction skills. At the end of the lesson, students compose a written response to the story in the form of either an acrostic poem or comic strip.

Applying Question–Answer Relationships to Pictures (3-5)
In this lesson, teacher modeling is provided in applying question-answer relationships (QARs) to pictures, with an opportunity for students to then work independently. The lesson is designed for third- or fourth-grade students who have not previously used the QAR strategy or who have reading difficulties.

Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills (3-5)
This innovative writing lesson integrates fiction and nonfiction to create a blended genre that improves students' critical comprehension and writing skills. Students learn about a content area topic through a text set and Internet research, then blend elements of fiction and nonfiction to create an original piece that demonstrates new knowledge.

Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares (6-8)
Students tire of responding to novels in the same ways. They want new ways to think about a work of literature and new ways to dig into it. By creating comic strips or cartoon squares featuring characters in books, they're encouraged to think analytically about the characters, events, and themes they've explored in ways that expand their critical thinking by focusing on crystallizing the significant points of the book in a few short scenes.

Book Report Alternative: Examining Story Elements Using Story Map Comic Strips (3-5)
Comic frames are traditionally used to illustrate a story in a short, concise format. In this lesson, students use a six-paneled comic strip frame to create a story map, summarizing a book or story that they've read. Each panel retells a particular detail or explains a literary element (such as setting or character) from the story.

Buzz! Whiz! Bang! Using Comic Books to Teach Onomatopoeia (3-5)
Comic books are one of the tools found in popular culture that can successfully engage children in literacy. This lesson uses comics to teach onomatopoetic vocabulary words and to develop this literary device with students learning to use language.

Comic Makeovers: Examining Race, Class, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Media (9-12)
Students explore representations of race, class, ethnicity, and gender by analyzing comics over a two-week period and then re-envisioning them with a "comic character makeover." This activity leads to greater awareness of the stereotypes in the media and urges students to form more realistic visions as they perform their makeovers.

Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Genre Study (3-5)
The combination of the simple, yet complex nature of comic strips and comic books make them an excellent source of teaching material, as they explore language in a creative way. In this lesson, students will be examining the genre and subgenres of comics, their uses, and purposes.

Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure (3-5)
A strong plot is a basic requirement of any narrative. Students are sometimes confused, however, by the difference between a series of events that happen in a story and the plot elements, or the events that are significant to the story. This lesson uses comic strip frames to define plot and reinforce the structure that underlies a narrative, as students write their own original narratives.

Examining Transcendentalism through Popular Culture (9-12)
Using excerpts from the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, comics, and songs from different musical genres, students examine the characteristics of transcendentalism. In the course of their exploration, students use multiple genres to interpret social commentaries, to make connections among works they've studied in class, and to develop their own views on the subjects of individualism, nature, and passive resistance.

Gabbing About Garfield: Conversing About Texts With Comic Creator (3-5)
While critiquing Garfield comics, students search for conventions specific to the comic strip genre. Using the interactive Comic Creator, they record their own written conversations, incorporating elements of the comic strip genre.

Introducing Shakespeare: The Bard's English (6-8)
Students are introduced to concepts of language change as they examine how words are borrowed or created and how vocabulary shifts. After exploring the vocabulary of Shakespeare's time and reading scenes from a Shakespeare play, students create original written and spoken dialogue incorporating Elizabethan words and phrases.

Literature Circle Roles Reframed: Reading as a Film Crew (6-8)
Capture students’ enthusiasm for film and transfer it to reading and literature by substituting film production roles for the traditional literature circle roles.

Moving Toward Acceptance Through Picture Books and Two-Voice Texts (3-5)
Using provocative picture books, Whoever You Are by Mem Fox, by Weslandia Paul Fleischman, and Insects Are My Life by Megan McDonald, students discuss diversity in literature and in their school. Students then study, create, and perform two-voice texts that try to solve the problem of intolerance and move toward acceptance.

Opening the Door for Reading: Sharing Favorite Texts to Build Community (3-5)
Students focus on reading and creating classroom displays focused on favorite texts in this lesson plan. The class explores environmental print then focuses specifically on a teacher-created display that focuses on a favorite book. After exploring the teacher’s display, students create presentations on their own favorites. By sharing favorite books in this way, teachers and students build community by getting to know one another while simultaneously exploring works of literature.

Our Classroom: Writing an Owner’s Manual (3-5)
The first few weeks of school are all about creating rules, establishing routines, and becoming familiar with the classroom. Engaging students in activities that help them get to know their classroom can make the transition easier while at the same time providing students with a sense of ownership. In this lesson, students write an owner’s manual to help them become more familiar with their classroom as well as to let others know about their classroom.

Persuasive Techniques in Advertising (9-12)
This lesson provides an introduction to persuasive techniques used in advertising: pathos, logos, and ethos.  Students will analyze advertising in a variety of sources and explore the concepts of demographics, marketing for a specific audience, and dynamic advertising.  The lesson will culminate in the production of commercials intended for a specific demographic.

Searching for Gold: A Collaborative Inquiry Project (3-5)
In this collaborative inquiry activity, the real gold is the inquiry skills and content area knowledge that students develop. Students study the Gold Rush using a collaborative inquiry strategy: each of several small groups research one aspect of the topic and teach that topic to the rest of the class. Students create a project to aid in their oral presentation of their researched topic.

Seuss and Silverstein: Posing Questions, Presenting Points (9-12)
Picture books and short stories by Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein are written on an elementary level, yet they contain powerful social and personal messages. In this lesson, high school students work in groups to read a book or short story by Seuss or Silverstein, prepare thought-provoking questions, and lead a class discussion.

Short Story Fair: Responding to Short Stories in Multiple Media and Genres (9-12)
In this activity, students read short stories from a collection in small groups then prepare responses in multiple media and genres that are shared in a culminating Short Story Fair. On the days of the fair, the class explores the displays for the short stories, responding to related questions.

To, Too, or Two: Developing an Understanding of Homophones (3-5)
This lesson uses acting and music to reinforce the meanings and spellings of common homophones. Students listen to a song designed to help them remember the spellings and meanings of many homophones. They then work in small groups to write and create short skits depicting homophones, while their peers determine the correct spellings for the homophones. These skits are later made into comic strips.

Using Word Storms to Explore Vocabulary and Encourage Critical Thinking (3-5)
Using an inquiry model called POWER, this lesson has students learn new vocabulary related to a social issue, explore these vocabulary words in discussions and journals, and create projects that use the vocabulary to reflect their critical perspectives. It can be applied to different content areas.

Word Study With Henry and Mudge (K-2)
This lesson for second- and third-grade students uses a model that incorporates different reading stages and research-based strategies for teaching reading to provide direct instruction for the past tense marker –ed. Students also practice real reading and writing using books from the Henry and Mudge series.

Zines for Kids: Multigenre Texts About Media Icons (3-5)
Using ReadWriteThink.org online tools, students write short pieces in a variety of genres about a favorite media icon. After working with each tool, students print out their work and assemble the documents into their own zines.