Google Slides Comic Strips, KC Boyd, Librarian, Phillips Academy

Anime/Manga is a genre that is often misunderstood yet insanely popular among teens from around the world.   The books have a visual stimulating colorful appearance and have book series that seemingly goes on until eternity.  Moreover, these books focus heavily on character development which is not as present in American comics.  It is this character development that keeps teens fan loyal and wanting more and more.

I got the idea to create comic strips out of Google Slides from Google teacher, Eric Curts.  He has a ton of material online so I suggest that you check him out.  His YOUTube video, “Creating Comic Strips with Google Presentations” provided me with the extra push to move forward with this project.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cisL47_k_E  According to Curts, there are several reasons why students should use Google Presentations to make comic strips.

First of course it’s absolute free!  My students are already gmail users through school and their own personal accounts.  Animation can be added to the comics and the students can edit and use the same project at the same time.  As the teacher, I love that I can view their work at any time, handheld device, desktop computer etc.

At first, my students were a little hesitant to get started on this project.   Eventually they did get on board because this was yet another avenue for them to express their love for the genre and show off their creativity.  As I explained to them, creating comics through slides is another way they can create AMV’s and express their passion for the genre.

The end result has been positive.  The students work has been posted to our school’s Pinterest page in support of the College Readiness curriculum https://www.pinterest.com/pin/490892428110264459/  .  In addition, some of the content level teachers enjoy viewing the student’s work.  My hope is that the students can take a simple concept taught in class, create a comic and give it to the teacher to use as a ‘Do Now’ or another resource that can be used when teaching the lesson.