Comic Life - Gone but not forgotten

About 10 years ago, our board invested in a computer program called Comic Life. It was an online platform that helped students make beautiful, comic-book-style pages - complete with fonts, templates, panels, balloons and lettering art. It was easy to use, the kids loved working with it and the results were terrific.

I made good use of it, particularly at the start of the school year, to engage students in literacy & media activities, particularly as a way to share their identity & interests creatively. Recently, as I prepare to return to the classroom, I have been reevaluating the utility of these lessons. Unfortunately, Comic Life is no longer available...for free. I looked into similar programs but realized that Google Draw could easily be adapted to fit my needs. 

So, it was time for me to create and determine...

• Do these activities still meet standards (both my own & the curriculum)?
• Can Google Draw be employed to replicate the features of Comic Life?
• Do I think students would enjoy this activity & add it to their repertoire as a method to share their learning?

Here is the first activity (I'll post another in a future blog).

In this cross-curricular literacy & media project, Comic Life (now Google Draw) is used to present an Autobiographical Poem visually.

Step One: Students create their unique Autobiographical poem by filling in blanks to simple questions about their lives. I provide them with a copy of a Google Doc bit.ly/biopoem1 but the questions are...

What's your First Name?
List 4 Adjectives that describe you.
Who are you a brother/sister/son/daughter of?
Name three things you love.
Name three feelings you enjoy and where you enjoy them
What do you give ...and to whom?
What do you fear...or dislike?
What would you like to see?
Name three friends.
Describe where you live.
Last Name

Here is mine (it is also provided as an example in the Doc)

Marc
Active, Funny, Creative, Happy.
Husband of Angela.
Who loves Cats, Music & Hockey
Who feels content in front of the TV,
Creative at the computer &
Happy when sleeping.
Who gives time to writing, 
Energy to Exercising &
Laughter to Friends.
Who fears losing loved ones,
confined spaces &
cottage cheese.
Who would like to see more concerts,
Paris &
Austrailia
Who is friends with Robbie, Steve & James
Who lives in a 3 storey brownstone near downtown
Hodgkinson

Step Two: Students are given time to collect digital photos related to the answers that make up their poem. Photos can be brought from home on a portable USB drive or through Google Photos. I have, in the past, borrowed digital cameras from our Board and, after securing parent's permission, loaned them overnight.

Step Three: Students use Google Draw to create a 1-3 magazine style "splash pages" that amplify their poem. Page Set-up to 8.5 x 11 for easy printing.

Here are links to full-sized versions of my examples
Bio Poem Page 1
Bio Poem Page 2
Bio Poem Page 3

Step 4: Print and Display (with student permission of course).

Some Notes

• The word biography appears in the Grade 4, 5, 6 and 8 Ontario Language Curriculum - so this activity will connect easily. I have a Grade 7 class next year and this expectation from the Writing section is perfect.

Purpose and Audience 1.1
Students will identify the topic, purpose, and audience for more complex writing forms (e.g., a rap poem or jingle, to express a personal view to the class; a report for a community newspaper about a public meeting on an environmental issue affecting local neighbourhoods; an autobiography for a youth magazine, web page, blog, or zine)

• You will want to add font choices to Google Accounts. The style called "Covered by Your Grace" is very close to a typical comic dialogue font.
• Remind them to keep images and text clear from the edge - or it gets "cut-off" when printing.
• Rather than lessons on using the program - talk about the term aesthetic or aesthetically pleasing. Let the students discover the Google tools and encourage them to share their discoveries with each other. I call this "making our ideas go viral".
• You could choose to mention that the following features are useful...but offer no instructions.

• Word Art
• Border Colour & Weight
• Picture Orientation
• Searching for Hi Def Backgrounds in Images

I'll be trying this in September and hope to update this with the results & feedback from students. Please let me know if this works for you or if you find a way to remix it.