Teacher: Jennifer Mason
Grade & Subject: 7th Grade
School: High Tech Middle Chula Vista
Students researched cryptids (legendary creatures) and then wrote stories to illustrate in a comic book. They visited the Comic Con Museum to get inspiration and then took classes with Alonso Nunez of Little Fish Comics through a grant from PBS One Book One San Diego. Students learned how to write and illustrate comic panels, which were professionally printed and displayed for our Winter Exhibition. We invited volunteer cosplayers to attend including the archer from Brave, Professor Xavier, and Aquaman to create the convention feel of the night. Finally we had our presentations of learning combined with a comic book signing at a local comic book store downtown, Now or Never comics.
Teacher Reflection
We were lucky enough to be working with Little Fish Comic Books with a grant from PBS One Book One San Diego which kept the students engaged in creating professional comics. Writing a story and turning it into a comic were both creative and fun for the kids. What I wish I had known first was that for time and budget reasons, each student only had two pages of comics to create. That meant the story had to be brief, but still needed to have a setting, beginning, middle, and end. In the next iteration, I prepared students by having them write a “Flash Fiction” story of a maximum of 500 words and graded it for its story elements. We then made that story into a comic for sharing with the audience.
—Jennifer Mason
Student reflection
I learned that I need to look deeper into my heritage and where I come from. And, that all those writers and artists that saved me from a dark place during quarantine, put a lot of work and effort into creating the beautiful worlds that they made.
—Alissa C.
My story can teach people to not be scared of things that you have not seen before, or don’t understand. I learned I like to think of new stories, and I learned that drawing people is hard. I really liked this project because it les us be creative and am thankful we did it.
—Elijah R
I learned that if you rush to get your work done it won’t look that good but if you take your time and work hard you story would make more sense and it would look cooler.
—Alessandro L.
Teacher: Jennifer Mason
Grade & Subject: 7th Grade
School: High Tech Middle Chula Vista
Students researched cryptids (legendary creatures) and then wrote stories to illustrate in a comic book. They visited the Comic Con Museum to get inspiration and then took classes with Alonso Nunez of Little Fish Comics through a grant from PBS One Book One San Diego. Students learned how to write and illustrate comic panels, which were professionally printed and displayed for our Winter Exhibition. We invited volunteer cosplayers to attend including the archer from Brave, Professor Xavier, and Aquaman to create the convention feel of the night. Finally we had our presentations of learning combined with a comic book signing at a local comic book store downtown, Now or Never comics.
Teacher Reflection
We were lucky enough to be working with Little Fish Comic Books with a grant from PBS One Book One San Diego which kept the students engaged in creating professional comics. Writing a story and turning it into a comic were both creative and fun for the kids. What I wish I had known first was that for time and budget reasons, each student only had two pages of comics to create. That meant the story had to be brief, but still needed to have a setting, beginning, middle, and end. In the next iteration, I prepared students by having them write a “Flash Fiction” story of a maximum of 500 words and graded it for its story elements. We then made that story into a comic for sharing with the audience.
—Jennifer Mason
Student reflection
I learned that I need to look deeper into my heritage and where I come from. And, that all those writers and artists that saved me from a dark place during quarantine, put a lot of work and effort into creating the beautiful worlds that they made.
—Alissa C.
My story can teach people to not be scared of things that you have not seen before, or don’t understand. I learned I like to think of new stories, and I learned that drawing people is hard. I really liked this project because it les us be creative and am thankful we did it.
—Elijah R
I learned that if you rush to get your work done it won’t look that good but if you take your time and work hard you story would make more sense and it would look cooler.
—Alessandro L.
