Integrating Comic Life in the Curriculum

1
Integrating Comic Life in the Curriculum

• Effectively Increasing Student Engagement,
  Motivation, and Achievement Through the Use of
  Comic Life
• By Luke Mullisen

2
Table of Contents

• Comic Life.... 3
• Using Comic Life in Education. 5-10
• Differentiating Curriculum
• Using Comic Life. 9
• Engaging and Motivating Students..10
• Comic Life Tutorial.. 11-21
• Choosing a Template.. 12

3
Table of Contents Continued

• Adding a Text Bubble.. 13
• Adding an Image.. 14
• Adding an Image Using the Capture
  Function. 15
• Changing the Size of your
• Text Bubble 16
• Moving the Text Bubble.. 17
• Adding an Evil Red Glow to your Text
  Bubble 18

4
Table of Contents Continued

• Adding a Red Glo to your Panel.. 19
• Adding a Smaller Panel Inside Your Existing
  Panels 20
• Other features of Comic Life. 21

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Comic Life

• Comic Life is a program that allows the student
  to put digital images and text in a comic book or
  scrap book format.
• There are a host of different styles and colors
  the student can choose from to add some spice to
  their work.
• Because of this wide range of options, the
  results of each student can vary greatly.

6
Using Comic Life in Education

• Photojournalism classes are able to use it to put
  together newspapers, yearbooks, and web pages.
• Science teachers can have their students research
  a topic like plate tectonics. The students can
  then create a Comic Life document that depicts
  the concept of plate tectonics using text and
  pictures.
• History teachers can have students re-tell a
  story that occurred in the past.

7
Using Comic Life in Education Continued

• English teachers can have their students write
  short stories, make flash cards, and do book
  reports in a Comic Life format.
• Foreign language teachers can use Comic Life in
  much the same ways.
• I plan to use Comic Life to have my students
  write short stories in Spanish about their
  favorite superheroes. Theyll also use Comic
  Life to write their scripts for the puppet skits
  that are filmed and edited in iMovie.

8
Using Comic Life in Education Continued

• I currently have students make Picture Flash
  Cards. The Spanish word is on one side and a
  stick figure drawing representing the word is on
  the other side. Students will be able to make
  these flash cards in Comic Life, and either find
  the image needed on the web, draw it themselves
  in Paint, or take a picture of themselves using
  the built-in camera on the schools new Macbook
  laptops.

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Differentiating Curriculum

• Because of the nature of the program, students
  are able to move at their own speed.
• Some students need more time to complete the
  assignment. They will be able to complete the
  text bubbles and narrative boxes with the time
  provided.
• Other students work much more quickly.These
  students will be able to use the extra time to
  place interesting pictures in their work and
  arrange the different styles to their liking.

10
Engaging and Motivating Students

• Because Comic Life allows students to be creative
  with their work, they are more inclined to get
  excited about it.
• The students who dont like to draw will enjoy
  simply taking pictures or using other images to
  accomplish their task.
• Students are able to do much more with Comic Life
  than with a pencil and paper. They have easy
  access to any color they desire. Their lines
  will be straight, and their words legible. They
  can email their work, as well as publish it to
  the internet for all to see.
• Because of these features, students will be more
  motivated to stay on task, and work hard on their
  assignment.

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Comic Life Tutorial

• After you follow the directions on this tutorial,
  you will be able to use Comic Life for your
  upcoming projects.

12
Choosing a Template

• Click on Brick in the upper right corner.
• Drag it to the main page.

13
Adding a Text Bubble or Lettering

• Click on one of the speech bubbles or the text
  bar at the bottom of the page.
• Drag it to the first panel
• on the main page.
• Once it is in the first panel, click on it and
  type This is a test.

14
Changing the Size of the Text Bubble

• Click on the text bubble you have already put in
  the first panel.
• Green dots should appear around the text bubble.
• Click and drag the green dots to re-size your
  text bubble.

15
Moving Your Text Bubble

• Click on the green direction icon in the middle
  of the text bubble (you must put your cursor
  inside the bubble for the icon to appear).
• Drag it to the lower right corner of the first
  panel.
• Click on the blue dot at the end of the text
  bubble.
• Drag it to the upper left corner of the panel.

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Adding an Evil Red Glow to Your Text Bubble

• Select your text bubble by clicking on it (green
  dots should appear).
• Click on the Details button near the upper
  right corner.
• Click on the speech bubble under Style
  Attributes.
• Select Evil Red Glow.
• Congratulations! Your text bubble should have
  the Evil Red Glow.

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Adding Gradient to Your Text Bubble

• Click on the box labeled Gradient
• Change the colors of your gradients by clicking
  on the colored boxes.
• Change the position of your gradient by moving
  the wheel.
• Change the text inside the bubble by clicking the
  choose button.
• Change the text color by clicking the colored box.

18
Adding a Red Glo to Your panels

• Click on the lower right panel on the main page
  (green dots should appear around it).
• Click on the box under Style Attributes.
• Select Red Glo.

19
Adding More Sides to Your Panel

• Click on the box labeled Irregular.
• Use the up and down arrows to select 6 sides.
• Deselect your panel (do this by clicking on a
  blank space somewhere on the main page - but not
  on another panel).
• Move your cursor back into the lower right panel
  you were previously working on, but do not click
  on it (6 blue dots should appear surrounding the
  panel).
• Grab the lower right blue dot and drag it to the
  center of the panel.

• Go ahead and experiment with the other blue dots
  - you know you want to!

20
Adding an Image

• Click on the Libraries button.
• If you have photos stored in iPhoto, click on the
  iPhoto button near the bottom.
• If you have pictures stored elsewhere on your
  computer, click on the Finder button to find
  them.
• Drag it to the first panel that contains your
  text bubble.
• You can also add images straight from the
  Internet. Just drag them from your Internet
  browser into the frame you want in Comic Life.

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Adding an Image Using the Capture Function

• Click on the button in the lower right corner
  labeled Capture.
• Position your face or object the way you want it
  in the camera.
• Click Freeze.
• Drag it to the second panel on the main page.

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Repositioning and Resizing an Image Inside a Panel

• Take another picture of yourself (clicking the
  Freeze button again will un-freeze your
  previous picture), and drag it into the lower
  left panel on the main page.
• Grab the picture inside the panel and drag it
  around while it is still inside the panel.

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Repositioning and Resizing an Image Inside a
Panel Continued

• Grab one of the green dots surrounding the image
  and re-size it.
• Grab the purple arrows symbol and move it to tilt
  your picture inside your frame.
• If your panel moves instead, try double-clicking
  on the picture.

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Adding a Smaller panel Inside Existing panels

• Click on drag a panel (this is found on the
  right side of the screen)
• Drag it to an empty panel on the main page.
• You can modify this new panel in the same way you
  modified the other panels.

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Other Features of Comic Life

• You can save your new creation as a picture or a
  quicktime file. Click File, Export, and choose
  your format.
• For Quicktime, you can select the quality of your
  project from high to low.
• For images, select Export to Image(s) or
  iPhoto.