Get Your Kicks On Pixton Comic Maker

Week Ten

My tech cool tool of choice this week was to experiment with was Pixton Comic Maker. Pixton is a membership, cloud-based application. I signed up for a free, two week trial. To begin using this application, the comic topics are organized by various content areas such as language arts, math, health, science, and even religion. These prefabricated comics are a good starting point to demonstrate how to apply content areas for the beginner. The comics are completely customizable. There are a wide variety of characters and props to select from. Once the character is created, it's position can be modified much like a Marionette puppet just by hovering over the limbs with the cursor.

After perusing through all of the capabilities, I decided to create my own character map. Using this application was very easy and straight forward. The characters are completely customizable and can be morphed into different proportions, with different modifiable features, assessors, and colors. The character map feature even supplied writing prompts for describing the character. This would be a great tool to tie visual arts with language arts standards. After the character map is completed, students then create plot diagrams, comics or graphic novels.

Pixton Comic Maker can be used by teachers to make lessons more fun and engaging for students. There are many modes for creating comics offered such as storyboards, graphic novels, mind maps, character maps, plot diagrams, and the list goes on. The program even allows for uploads to create completely original photo stories. Students can create their own stories tied to creative writing projects or design comics for content area topics. It can also be used as an alternative way for students to be able to demonstrate their understanding and for teachers to develop assessments on virtually any content area topic. There is a free version offered for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch compatibility. The only down side is that you need a device to use it.