PIXTON COMIC STRIP ACTIVITY FOR ABE LINCOLN NOVEL

Pixton Comic Strip Activity for Abe Lincoln Novel

Katherine Mijal
Northern Illinois University
ETT 531: Visual Literacy
Dr. Rhonda Robinson
1 December 2014

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This is my 3rd year teaching, and I have had students visually represent scenes from short
stories or novels before. However, I always had them draw images and create captions on paper.
When I used Pixton.com in ETT 531, I grew excited to implement this tool into my students
learning process. One of my undergrad classes covered technology tools, so I had experimented
with Pixton before but forgotten most of it. Last year, I was on the mapping team to restructure
the freshman English curriculum in the district. We implemented an Abe Lincoln novel unit to
engage students in high interest young adult novels. I brought my Pixton comic strip idea to the
other freshman English teachers in my building, and they decided to try it as well as a
culminating group project. After piloting the idea, I shared my resources with them, and two
other teachers are currently using it with the freshmen. The students are a diverse group in terms
of skill, but this is an assignment that all students can excel at if they put forth the time and
effort. It fosters visual literacy because students have to use their knowledge of the text to
choose the most significant scenes and then choose appropriate backgrounds, characters, and
props to illustrate this to the rest of their classmates. Since none of the books contain images,
students are pulling text based evidence to support their illustrations, thus utilizing Common
Core Standards. Students are reading different books, so this is made more meaningful because
they will get to learn from each others presentations.
The purpose is for students to collaborate with one another to visually represent the most
significant scenes in the novel. Each of my two freshmen classes were composed of six lit
circles; students read Stolen by Lucy Christopher, Swim the Fly by Don Calame, Eleanor and
Park by Rainbow Rowell, The Testing by Joelle Charbboneau, and The 5th Wave by Rick
Yancey. The original sixth choice, The Selection by Kiera Cass did not gain enough student
votes, so it was eliminated; instead, I had two groups for Swim the Fly. The school librarian

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helped another English teacher and I select these novels for the students. They all come from the
Abe Lincoln list, are a variety of genres, appeal to both genders, and have been popular among
high school students in our building over the past year. During the four week unit, students
engaged in lit circles one day a week and received independent reading time one day a week. A
third day was spent with the lit groups working on chromebooks on the Pixton comic strips.
Each week, one of the three members was responsible to be on the chromebook and lead the
other two classmates in the creation of the comic strip. After all three comic strips were created
during three weeks, students edited and prepared presentations; the lit group then displayed and
read the comic strip to the class. The student presenters also had to explain why the particular
scene was chosen, how it connected to the rest of the novel, and how the student could connect to
the scene or protagonist.
As this course has illustrated for us, graphic texts in education/training are extremely
helpful as both a teaching tool and a supplement to other units and texts. In Martin Scorseses
article, he said, But the reality is that if one wants to reach younger people at an earlier age to
shape their minds in a critical way, you really need to know how ideas and emotions are
expressed visually. Now, that visual form can be video or film, but it still has the same rules, the
same vocabulary, the same grammar (Cruickshank, 2006, p. 1). As educators today are
struggling with reaching this technologically savvy generation, visual literacy is the key.
Shaping minds in a critical way is the goal of all teachers, and Scorsese highlights the way we
can do that. The Pixton comic strip activity allows students to re-create the major characters
from their novels; Pixton has a wide array of emotions and body language poses that students
experimented with in the project. By asking students to make a connection with the protagonist,
students had to analyze their own experiences. Some were quick to point out they had never

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battled aliens in The 5th Wave or dressed up as a girl in Swim the Fly; it was then that I had to
encourage them to think of times they had to be brave or times when they felt embarrassed or
unsure about a situation. Connecting to a protagonist strengthens the reading experience.
In our textbook, the idea of students advocating for and directing their own learning is
reinforced. With the plethora of resources on the internet, students dont need the teacher to
lecture in a manner that was done twenty years ago. Rather there is a shifting of responsibility
for the learning from the teacher, where it has traditionally been located, to the student, where it
should be (Crockett, Jukes & Churches, 2011, p. 80). With this principle in mind, I created the
Pixton comic strip to be a very student oriented activity. As a group, they chose the most
significant scene from the previous weeks reading, and they navigated the Pixton site. While
the assignment walks students through the basic set up, the ownership was on the students to do
most of the site navigating. I made this decision after my own experience with Pixton. It is
pretty user friendly once you get accustomed to the options. The easiest way for the students to
become proficient was for them to click around themselves.
Literacy is Not Enough also highlights the fluencies students should be building towards
in lesson plans. My lesson includes creative fluency because students choose the best way to
portray the scene and what kinds of backgrounds and props they wish to use. Media fluency is
highlighted because students are working on the chromebooks and engaging with a website that
is new to them. Collaboration fluency is at play because students need to confer with one
another, and their communication affects their overall grade. I chose to only allow a group one
chromebook at a time, so it would be a collaborative effort, rather than individual. Even though
one student was the leader for each week, other students in the group would take turns on the
chromebook and help one another out if there were obstacles. I think this lesson plan also falls

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into the global digital citizen category because students are responsible for technology and are
problem solving with one another. Even though I navigated the classroom, most issues that
arose were solved by other students. It was refreshing to have the ownership on the students
rather than the teacher.
Another visual literacy principle reinforced in the lesson I created is from Yangs
Graphic Novels in the Classroom. Graphic novels are essentially a compilation of comic
strips. Maus I and II and Persepolis I and II are popular curriculum choices for high school
teachers. While some students are avid comic book readers in their spare time, for others, it is a
new type of literacy; many struggling readers find graphic novels to be more engaging and easier
to read. Graphic novel is really a political term. Its a part of a growing effort to cast the
comics medium in a new, more literary light, apart from the genres usually associated with it
(Yang, 2008, p. 186). As Yang advocated for graphic novels (in a comic strip medium), I found
myself agreeing with his points and excited that visual literacy was being implemented in a new
way. Students also wrote an individual character analysis essay at the end of the Abe Lincoln
novel unit, but much of their learning occurred in the creation of the comic strips. The
presentation aspect of it also allowed for public speaking experience amongst the students.
The project is outlined in detail via my artifact, the assignment sheet. To provide a bit
more clarification, students were given four Tuesdays to work on this project. The first Tuesday
was October 21st; we had just had our ETT 531 face-to-face meeting the week before, and I had
decided what I wanted to do for my final project. Instead of waiting until second semester, I
decided to implement it right away. When I chose to use Pixton.com for my final project, I had
to ensure I was comfortable with the material. I went back to the Pixton comic I had designed
for this course and re-familiarized myself with the creating process. I had already shown my

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freshmen the one I created because it introduced the Abe Lincoln unit (see my portfolio for
sample). I was confident that it would be more enjoyable than hand drawing an activity. I
wanted students to understand a text to such a degree that they could use textual evidence to
illustrate the most important scenes. I wanted to use this tool for all of my classes as they
navigated through different texts over the course of the year.
Unfortunately, the biggest obstacle for me was learning that I could only do a month long
teacher trial with 50 students; this made my freshmen the chosen group. Before October 21st, I
logged onto Pixton.com and verified that I was a teacher, so I could take advantage of the month
long free trial. I created one classroom for both my freshmen sections to make it easier. Within
the Pixton online classroom, I created four different assignments. The first one (completed on
10/21) was simply for students to create a visual representation of the protagonist in their book
and get accustomed to the website. On this day, each student worked on his/her own
chromebook while conferring with the other students in the lit circle. It was neat to see the
students that had similar ideas of the protagonist, and others who had very differing ideas about
the physical appearance and clothing.
The next Tuesday, 10/28 was the first official day of working on the project. Students
gathered in their lit circles and chose one person to get a chromebook from the cart and be the
main creator for the day. As this student was signing on, the three group members chose the
most significant scene from the novel so far. The expectations for each comic strip were that it
had to be at least 5 panels, include a minimum of 2 characters, and also include dialogue between
these characters. Students did not have to take the dialogue directly from the text; rather, they
could display the meaning in their own words if they wished. If students did not finish the comic
strip in class, the main creator for the comic strip was responsible to finish it for homework.

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The next Tuesday, 11/4, students repeated the steps from the week before with a new
person on the chromebook. Each time, students received approximately 30 minutes to work with
their lit circle members. This time, they were to choose an important scene from the reading
over the past seven days. Each lit circle had a reading calendar in which I divided the reading up
for each night; the unit lasted for four weeks. This process was then repeated the following
Tuesday, 11/11. Students also used extra time that period to edit the previous comic strips; they
made sure the comics were grammatically correct and used a variety of characters, backgrounds,
and props. I passed out note cards to students, so they could prepare their presentation, and we
reviewed the rubric again. Then, on Friday, November 14th, students presented their Pixton
comic strips to the rest of their classmates. They were graded on both the content and their
delivery skills of the comics. Each group spent approximately 10 minutes presenting together, so
presentations carried over to Monday. I had to make sure to get the presentations in before my
trial period ended on November 19th. The unit was successful, and students had fun working
through the process. I enjoyed comparing the comics from my two sections to see the
differences in the scenes chosen and what each group prioritized. In review, I certainly plan on
using this project in the future if my boss can purchase Pixton for our department. As I
mentioned, the other teachers working with it are also enjoying the collaboration and
engagement of the students.
As more teachers become aware of the importance of visual literacy, I am confident that
more activities such as Pixton comics will be used in classrooms. It is up to us to ensure todays
generation leaves school equipped with the skill set to be successful; unfortunately, many high
school and college grads today are struggling to make it in the real world. Although comics
may not be the first item to come to mind when looking for solutions, it can be. Duke

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Universitys Writing Studio discusses that within comics, there is sequence: a string of images
that are read one after another to produce meaning (Duke University, p. 1). When you look at
any problem, breaking it down into steps and interpreting the meaning of each step can lead to
solving the overall problem. So, perhaps comics arent such an outrageous idea after all.

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Appendix: Artifact

9
LT: I can collaborate with my classmates to visually represent the
most important scenes from our novel.

Name: _______________________________

Pixton Comic Strip Activity for Abe Lincoln Novel

1.

Join our class on pixton.com/activate by typing in the

following confirmation code: XWNX-UM

2. Make your screenname your firstname.lastname18 and then

use the same password you have for your school accounts.
3. The first day working on Pixton is intended for each of you to familiarize
yourselves with the program. Create a character, a background, and dialogue for
the novel you are reading. Compare your protagonist to your other group
members. Did they end up looking similar?
4. The following Tuesday will be the first official day working on the comic. Looking
at your reading schedule, choose the most significant scene that has occurred so
far in the novel. Decide how you and your group members will illustrate this
scene. One person in your lit circle will be working on the Google chromebook.
After signing into pixton.com, click on Make a Comic (Part One). The
instructions listed are: In three installments, you will illustrate the most
important scenes from your novel and present them to the class. One person will
be on the chromebook each Tuesday while your classmates help you.
Requirements: Minimum of 5 panels with minimum of 2 characters in advanced
mode.
5. The following Tuesday, again, choose the most significant scene from this past
weeks reading. A new group member should be logging onto the chromebook
while the other members offer feedback. Click on Make a Comic (Part Two),
and follow the same requirements as the week before.
6. This is the final work day. Choose the most significant scene from the past weeks
reading, log on a new member, and work on Make a Comic (Part Three).
Since you have more time today, you should also be editing the comics from the
past two weeks. All three comics need to be submitted to Ms. Mijal on
pixton.com by Friday, November 14th. Edit and check for grammatical errors.

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10

7. Prepare your group presentation. Not only will you be sharing each comic with
the class, but you also need to explain your rationale for choosing these scenes.
How are they integral to the plot of your novel?
Group Comic Strip Rubric (21 points)
Comic Strip #1 ____
Comic Strip #2 ____
Comic Strip #3____
Completion: Each of the three comic strips has at least 5 panels, 2 characters, and
dialogue bubbles. There are a variety of characters/props/backgrounds used.
1

Delivery: Each group member speaks loudly and clearly; each member makes eye
contact with the entire class.
1

Grammar: Each panel has correct grammar including capitalization, complete

sentences, and proper comma usage.
1

Significant Rationale: Students describe why the scene was chosen, its importance to the
novel, and how it is meaningful to them (personal connection).
1

Total: ____/21
Additional Comments:

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11
Final Portfolio Link
http://mijalportfolio.weebly.com/

References

Crockett, L., Jukes, I., & Churches, A. (2011). Literacy is Not Enough: 21st-Century
Fluencies for the Digital Age. 21st Century Fluency Project.
Cruickshank, Douglas. (2006, October 19). Martin Scorcese: Teaching Visual Literacy.
Edutopia.
Duke University. Visual Rhetoric/Visual Literacy: Writing About Comics and Graphic Novels.
Writing Studio. Retrieved from http://uwp.aas.duke.edu/wstudio
Yang, Gene. (2008, January). Graphic Novels in the Classroom. Language Arts. ProQuest
Education Journals.