Professional Learning for Busy Educators

For generations, cartoons and comics have been used for entertainment purposes, but what if they were used for more? Today, educators are using cartoons as a unique way to spark engagement in the classroom.

According to Teach.com, “Emerging research shows that comics and graphic novels are motivating, support struggling readers, enrich the skills of accomplished readers and are highly effective at teaching sometimes dull or dry material in subject areas such as science and social studies.” Students enjoy viewing comics, discussing comics, and creating comics.

If you are new to the idea of using cartoons in the classroom, the first thing you must understand is that the terms cartoons and comics are used interchangeably. Traditionally, a cartoon refers to a single-panel image (such as a political cartoon), whereas a comic refers to a multi-panel strip of images. As you will see, it is easy to use both forms in the classroom to capture your students’ attention.