Toondoo
I liked Toondoo in a lot of ways, and it was my favorite of the three sites/apps that I tried in regards to comics. It seemed to have a wide variety of images and backgrounds, and I liked that the categories of objects were searchable. It was pretty easy to use, and I think students would find it usable and fun. The only issue I had was that the "waiter" character that I found was just a torso, and I wanted him to have legs, but I couldn't figure out how to make that addition, so I just ended up positioning him in a way that it didn't matter. It also took me a really long time to figure out how to save my Toondoo, but I eventually did figure out how to save it to my gallery on Toondoo. Still, I couldn't figure out how to save the image to my computer so I just screenshot it and cropped it. One of the downsides of Toondoo is that it's a bit cluttered so it can seem overwhelming; there's a learning curve with this one, which is why I couldn't do anything too complicated.
Pixton
Pixton was okay, but the free version did not have many options for fonts, characters, and saving, so you would have to upgrade to appreciate those features. I liked the guided tutorial that it opened up with as it was helpful and concise. The characters seemed to all look the same as far as size and shape goes, which students would probably dislike, and I don't see them wanting to pay for an upgraded version of it. Overall, comic making is complicated and the free version of this site was just average for me.
I created this comic and I'm sure all of us librarians can get a chuckle out of this- kids these days just want to google everything and it's part of our responsibility to teach them information literacy in a digital age of overloading information!
MakeBeliefComix.com
"BABY STEPS"
While MakeBeliefsComix.com was functional enough, it seemed very dated. One of the options was "Save to disk," and I couldn't even get that command to work, so I had to screen shot the comic to crop and save it myself. It also didn't have a very large variety of characters, etc, and it was very difficult to manipulate objects. For instance, I couldn't get the font to change size or adjust to the size of the speech bubble it was in, which was very frustrating. Overall, it did the job, but I wouldn't use it again. However, I think the overall end product/look was more of what I was imagining than any of the other sites. Students would probably not like this site because it is so dated and not really that usable.
I created this comic because I'm currently pregnant with my second child, and us moms can always get a laugh out of our new found priorities! Ha!
As a teacher-librarian...
A great way to use your own comics around other teachers would be to use them as an ice breaker when opening up staff meetings, etc, and it would be a great way to then introduce them to any sites or apps that you could teach them to use. Open up the staff meeting with a humorous comic that you created, take them to the app or site, run them through a quick tutorial, and give them some ideas of how they could use them in their classrooms or curriculum as well! Send them off with a document, hard copy or on their google drive, of notes and steps for a refresher if they need it.
As a teacher-librarian...
A great way to use your own comics around other teachers would be to use them as an ice breaker when opening up staff meetings, etc, and it would be a great way to then introduce them to any sites or apps that you could teach them to use. Open up the staff meeting with a humorous comic that you created, take them to the app or site, run them through a quick tutorial, and give them some ideas of how they could use them in their classrooms or curriculum as well! Send them off with a document, hard copy or on their google drive, of notes and steps for a refresher if they need it.
There seemed to be so many options with ToonDoo and Pixton! I also agree that Make Beliefs Comix was a bit dated and not as appealing. I like what you said about introducing a comic at the beginning of staff meetings. I does put people at ease. I really liked your ToonDoo comic. It made me giggle. That would be a great way to introduce a book, as well...more of a discussion starter for a book talk.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of starting off a meeting with a comic, especially if it is one you created and is specific to a joke only your teachers will understand! I will be using that! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI liked the idea of you starting off a meeting with a comic you created, that makes it more intriguing for students or teachers a like. Make Beliefs did seem out dated, but I also liked they had more fictional characters that students could just be creative with and maybe speak from another point of view.
ReplyDeleteYour comic strips were so cute! I especially loved the one with the dog and him telling the waiter, "I'll have the homework." My teachers would get a kick out of seeming something like that at the start of a meeting or even in an email. I have found that you are much more likely to get people to pay attention to what you have to tell them if you can add a little humor in at the beginning.
ReplyDeleteYour comics came out great! I love the idea of having a comic at the beginning of emails or newsletters out to staff. After some training, I can definitely see incorporating these into activities the students can choose from to provide evidence of learning. It really takes a deep level of understanding of a topic to condense it AND make it humorous!
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my favorite assignments. I like the idea of incorporating a comic as an icebreaker when sending out correspondence to teachers and staff. The principal of my school used comic strips often. They always put a smile on my face. Great idea Talia!
ReplyDelete