Cartoons and Comics

 So what about cartoons and comics?

You must admit, reading cartoons and comics is fun! They are something every single one of us is familiar with. Young children can enjoy them and they have the ability to have multiple audiences. So then, why are cartoons and comics usually shunned sometimes when classes begin talking about curricular needs? Cartoons and comics are a great way to get an audience's attention... use them to introduce topics, comment on current events, or bring comic relief to others. 

Although I have always felt that cartoons and, or, comics would be great to use in class, I have to admit that I never felt that I was creative enough to actually create some. For one, drawing was never a talent of mine, and then I was just too focused on curricular needs. Instead of using these formats to grasp my students, I shied away from them. I was then introduced to various sites which make creating comics and cartoons easy and fun. The three sites that I used were: Fotojet, Pixton, and MakeBeliefsComix. 

Fotojet: Fotojet was so easy to use and personalize. They have various templates which can be used to create cartoons. You also have the option of creating a brand-new one. I had to play around with the various settings, but it is easy to get the hang of once you mess around with it. This site allows you to add your own images and words to create your cartoon or comic. The seven-day trial allows you to use most of the features as well. This is the comic that I created using Fotojet:

My family loves Disney World. I wanted to incorporate it for this particular comic. 

Pixton: Pixton was so much fun and incredibly easy to work with. You can sign up for free, but once you want to download your comic, you will need to pay for an account. You can pay a monthly fee, which is not too expensive. They even offer school packages. This may be something you may want to share with colleagues and possibly get your campus to buy school licenses. I read that these features allow you to connect Pixton to school Clever accounts, which is a great feature to have. This is the comic that I created using Pixton:

https://share.pixton.com/q4aiuoj

                    Using Pixton is very easy and can be easily used to create storyboards or posters with reading materials used in class. I had a lot of fun with Pixton and will use it in class.

MakeBeliefsComix- MakeBeliefsComix is entirely free and a tool that allows you to create comics and stories for free. I have to say that this site was a bit more complicated to manipulate, but once I got the hang of it, turned out to be easier than I originally anticipated. This site did lag much more than either of the other two sites I used. Additionally, it is not as easy to personalize as the other two. Be warned that you have to create an account first and please press the save button. Trust me on this one! Also, you will have to actually look for how and what you need to do to create an account. This site is good to use, especially because it is free, but you do not have the ease or functionalities that the previous two sites offer.  Overall, this was easier than I first thought, but you do not have as much liberty to personalize it. 

This is a comic I created using this site:

 https://makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/#send

All-in-all, these three sites are great tools to use in the classroom and can be used in cross-curricular classrooms. It would be great to hold a professional development session that incorporates how to use cartoons and comics in the classroom setting. This professional development must be hands-on as well. It would be great to have educators manipulate and create their own comics that can be used to introduce or summarize class content. Some sites were easier to work with, which is why this professional development must be a hands-on session. I really enjoyed working with Pixton and Fotojet. I would recommend all teachers to use these sites to engage learners an as an option for students to show and support their understanding. 

Videos and QR Codes in the Library

With this new generation of technology-savvy learners, we must learn to adapt and use media as an anchor to connect the learners and knowledge. As an educator, I have grown to see how engaging and informative videos and QR Codes can be. Both of these tools can be used in numerous ways to share information and support curricular needs. Jump in and do not let  YouTube videos and QR Codes stop you from engaging learners. Both can be easy to create, and engaging. QR Codes are especially easy to post around the library or library site. 

 YouTube- YouTube videos are excellent and can enhance learning by advocating for library services and providing patrons with access to previously recorded tutorials. They can be used to introduce curricular lessons, and topics, activate prior knowledge and provide examples for different library procedures that may need to be reiterated. Additionally, you are able to follow different channels on YouTube that may be of particular interest to you. The following channels are all relevant for school libraries and provide examples of videos and how they can be used in the library setting.

YouTube Channel: theunquietlibrary

The video which is the most helpful for students: 

         Video students would like the best:

YouTube Channel: pikesvillehslibrary

         The video which is the most helpful for students:

        Video students would like the best: 

YouTube Channel: bbmsmedia

        The video most helpful for students:

        Video students would like the most:

All of these videos are great examples of how YouTube can be used in the school library setting. I plan to implement videos to engage my patrons and connect their interests, such as movies and other forms of entertainment, to the library setting. As seen in numerous of the above videos, it is a great idea to use students to promote literacy, showcase what is happening around the school, and connect with the community.

QR Codes 

I had previously attended professional development sessions in which QR Codes were used to have staff sign in to the session, but had little knowledge about how easy they were to create. Additionally, they can be used to access media that you would like users to access. I have seen educators who use them to have students access bellringers of exit tickets on a daily basis. QR Codes are everywhere and should be used throughout the library to promote our services. 

One way that QR Codes can be used in the library is to promote books! I was easily able to create a book trailer on a site called animoto.com. It allows you to easily create videos that can be published on YouTube; in turn, can then be scanned on a QR Code to be accessed. I created a book trailer for the book titled The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles. 

Book synopsis: 

Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet seems to have the perfect life with her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into the city, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.

Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.

Scan the QR Code provided to watch a book trailer I created!

QR Codes are a fun and easy way to make information readily accessible to patrons. I will use them in my school library to promote books, provide recommended book lists, and promote various events that may be upcoming at the library and around campus. I love that various sites allow you to personalize the actual code and that will make them stand out. Having them in various spaces around the library and school will help the area feel less cluttered while promoting technology, which is something that we must do in libraries. You can personalize when creating the code, like the one I created for my book trailer. They can be placed anywhere you can think of! The following are examples of the different types of QR Codes you can personalize and create: 

The Wonders of Infographics

 Using infographics as a tool

What's the deal with infographics? Just a friendly warning, creating infographics can become addicting. If you want to information inviting, fun, and easy to understand, consider using infographics, which is a way of combing visuals with information you want to deliver. You can add graphs, quotes, change and use various background images, and manipulate different fonts and colors to create an infographic to your liking. Additionally, creating them is easy; you have various templates that are ready to used to fit your needs. 

Using and creating infographics is very new to me. I had seen various infographics, such as storyboards and inviting charts, posted online or displayed on various walls around my campus, but I always assumed they were bought like that from a company. I never anticipated that they were so easy to create and hadn't thought about creating one for my class, at least not one that looks professional. There are various sites, which have free and subscription uses, that allow you to easily create or manipulate already created templates, such as: easelly (easel.ly/), piktochart (piktochart.com), and infogram (infogram.com), all of which turned out to be fun, yes fun, to manipulate. I made the following infographic, which displays displays various data from an article I found on the PEW Research Center site. 

                                          

Infographic- Influence of social media

I can see myself using any of the three sites mentioned. They were user friendly. My recommendation would be to try all three sites I listed above. The one that really called to me was infogram. I find of felt confused at first, but realized that it was very easy to manipulate the templates that were ready to try. You can add more information or delete areas that are not needed. You simply click on the what is already there. You are able to change the type of graph, variables, data, and much more with ease. I highly recommend that you take the time to play around with these sites. You will find that you will be eager to look for more ideas and innovative ways to display any information you need. 

Infographic on this page is from https://infogram.com/influence-of-social-media-1ho16vody09lx4n