Reflection
As a group, we enjoyed creating the comic strips based upon the social studies standard. Our group came to a quick consensus about who would be in charge of which task, and then worked separately on our tasks. After working on drafts of our tasks, we would consult with each other via email to offer suggestions for improvement. Our group was surprised by the multitude of programs available for creating comics on the web. We were equally surprised by how easy it was to use the programs. One of the challenges the group faced was making sure that we all understood the project instructions and were in agreement about how to proceed with the assignment. Since we used different programs to generate the comic strips, another challenge we faced was how to have continuity between the appearance of the main character in the story.
Lessons we learned from this project were numerous. We learned that it is important to keep in contact with your group members. We also learned a lot about implementing comics into the classroom. Some of these lessons include: comics can be used at all ages levels and in multiple content areas; a story must be well designed before the comic is able to be generated; comics are a motivational writing tool that can incorporate higher order thinking skills because students apply factual concepts to creative products; and creating a comic can be the lesson, but including comics in a lesson is also an effective use of this medium. All in all, we enjoyed working together, and we learned a lot about creating comic strips, and how to use them the classroom.
While working on this lesson, three out of our four group members have implemented the use of comics into the classroom, and our fourth has plans to implement them very soon. Mary Pope, Christina Phyall, and Jami O'Conner all have found the power of comics very useful in motivating their students. They have used them in content area instruction, and reading and writing instruction. The lessons learned from this project have inspired our group to take what we have learned and apply it in our own instructional practice. We all feel that comics enhance lessons in multiple ways, and the response from students reflects the power that comics have to motivate them to learn and apply their knowledge beyond the classroom.
Lessons we learned from this project were numerous. We learned that it is important to keep in contact with your group members. We also learned a lot about implementing comics into the classroom. Some of these lessons include: comics can be used at all ages levels and in multiple content areas; a story must be well designed before the comic is able to be generated; comics are a motivational writing tool that can incorporate higher order thinking skills because students apply factual concepts to creative products; and creating a comic can be the lesson, but including comics in a lesson is also an effective use of this medium. All in all, we enjoyed working together, and we learned a lot about creating comic strips, and how to use them the classroom.
While working on this lesson, three out of our four group members have implemented the use of comics into the classroom, and our fourth has plans to implement them very soon. Mary Pope, Christina Phyall, and Jami O'Conner all have found the power of comics very useful in motivating their students. They have used them in content area instruction, and reading and writing instruction. The lessons learned from this project have inspired our group to take what we have learned and apply it in our own instructional practice. We all feel that comics enhance lessons in multiple ways, and the response from students reflects the power that comics have to motivate them to learn and apply their knowledge beyond the classroom.