Comic+Life

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 * [[image:LabRat_Comic.png align="center"]] ||
 * I've been trying to get teachers interested in using Comic Life. It has great potential for many different subjects and the students really get into it. It is also quite easy to use. Below, I have included a two page comic as an example of some of its capabilities. I have seen teachers use it to help students learn the steps to problem solving (many of their examples were taken right out of their daily lives) and to create "hero" stories. This program would also work well to teach students the parts of a story. Actually, any time you want your students to use their critical thinking skills to determine the main parts or ideas of a larger whole, Comic Life is a good tool. Each page has a limited number of panels and the speech bubbles force you to use only the necessary words. ||
 * = **A sample comic**...
 * ==Teaching tips:==
 * The first time you introduce your students to Comic Life, give them some time (10-15min) to simply explore and "play" with the program (sandbox mode). It's a very intuitive program and they will learn a lot and get a better "feel" for the process of creating comics.
 * After students have had a chance "play" with Comic Life, have them story board their project on paper before starting it on the computer. They should plan each "scene" and have the speech bubbles written out ahead of time. This is especially important if they will be using a digital camera to take their own pictures. Knowing what they are going to be saying and doing ahead of time will help them choose the right facial expressions and compose their photos.
 * You can find a gallery of Comic Life projects [|here], and a link to download free cartoon artwork [|here].

You can find a recent article about comics in the classroom from Time for Kids by clicking [|here] ||