A lot of people think to educate means to put lots of facts into our students' heads, but anyone who looks at the Latin root of the word knows that it means 'to pull out of.' This is a hands-on learning opportunity.
- Kelly Lamrock
Minister of Education
Comics: By Kids, For Kids
Z2H Launches Comix 101 Program
If you want kids to be excited about reading, try getting them excited about writing first. That was our philosophy when we started working with the province of New Brunswick. We created a program called "Comix 101" that is very much an in-school version of the Comic Creation Nation campaign: students will read, write and critique each other's work as part of their creative writing classes.
At the end of the process, Zeros 2 Heroes will swoop in with our studio of artists to create epic comics based on their creations. If you want to see what these kids can produce, just stay tuned: the comics will be online just in time for Christmas!
Students bring characters to life
By Shawn Berry for The Daily Gleaner
Published Thursday October 2nd, 2008
Not so long ago making comic books in the classroom was probably going to get you into trouble.
But these days Melanie Mitchell's Grade 8 language arts class at Devon Middle School has become known as 'Comix 101.'
Her students are hard at work, preparing characters for their own comic book - one that will be illustrated by industry professionals.
"I'm not really into comics, but what we're learning is really cool," said 13-year-old Samantha Williams. "I never thought we'd get to do something like this at school."
Williams and 11 other students at the school will create their comic books with 12 of their peers at George Street Middle School. They're working collaboratively over the Internet.
It's a special project that's aimed at getting students excited about reading and writing.
In groups of six - three students from each school - they create the characters, storylines and the dialogue for each comic.
Students won't be doing the drawing though.
Instead, they'll have to communicate their story and their vision in writing to professional designers, writers and graphic artists at Zeros 2 Heroes Media in Vancouver.
The students will participate in the production at various stages such as approving pencil sketches. Through a social networking site, they'll have to articulate any changes they want made.
Mitchell, who has been teaching for four years, said it's an idea whose time has come.
"Basically, the students get to be creative and use the technology in a way we wouldn't usually. We're incorporating language arts with something that has captured their interest."
It's a far cry from when she was a student.
"If we would have been caught making a comic book back in Grade 8, the teacher would have taken it away from us and given it back at the end of the week."
The project has received $38,547 in funding from New Brunswick's Innovative Learning Fund.
Comix 101 is just one of 27 projects in District 18 that will benefit from the innovative learning fund.
A total of $264,417 has been earmarked for projects in District 18. Zeros 2 Heroes Media has contributed $4,000 to the project and Apple Computer Inc. contributed $18,970.
The comics the students create are expected to be available on the Internet by Christmas. Zeros 2 Heroes Media runs the social networking site the students are collaborating on and employs the artists involved.
Matt Toner, a St. Thomas University grad, is president of Zeros 2 Heroes Media. But the kids paid little attention to him as he walked through Mitchell's classroom Wednesday.
The students were so enraptured by what they were doing, they didn't even look up.
It's the first project of its kind that the company has become involved in, but Toner hopes it takes off.
"We're interested in taking people with a dream and making those dreams happen. The home run for us will be if we get these students really interested in writing."
Students are so engrossed in the project, they don't realize that they're learning, he said.
Communication will be key throughout the process, he said.
"When they get the pencil sketches from the artist, it may not come out the way they wanted, so they'll have to tell the artist what their vision was, 'No, we thought our character would be more prominent in this pane,' " he said.
Gary Gallant is the co-ordinator of the innovative learning fund for School District 18. Gallant said they hope to observe how the project spurs the reading and writing of students in the two classes.
"They have to be able to express their ideas to the kids at the other end," he said.
Education Minister Kelly Lamrock visited the classroom Wednesday.
"A lot of people think to educate means to put lots of facts into our students' heads, but anyone who looks at the Latin root of the word knows that it means 'to pull out of.' This is a hands-on learning opportunity," he said.
