Feedback on Enders Game Comic Strip Assignment

(English 9 DLP)
Sarah Bailey (Student Teacher for Teresa Tyler)

Which part of the DLP was used?

I decided to follow all of the step-by-step instructions in the Enders Game
Comic Strip Assignment, excepting the Final Step which required students
to upload their comics to a digital portfolio using Google Drive.
Feedback on each of the steps:
Step 1: Brainstorm a list of events/scenes from the book that you feel
illustrate the theme you chose.
I decided to use http://todaysmeet.com as a forum for students to suggest
ideas for scenes. I set up three different chat rooms: one for The Heros
Quest, one for Wars Effect on Society, and one for Development of
Leaders. Students got to choose which room they entered, and I let them
chat for about 15 minutes. As I walked around and monitored their
conversations with my own laptop, I noticed that many of the comments
were off-topic. I saw a lot of messages that just said Hey or Whats up?
Because the students were allowed to create anonymous aliases, they felt
free to type anything they wanted. I reminded them several times to only
write suggestions for comic strip scenes, and I tried to intercept the students
who were typing unrelated messages. Despite these setbacks, the students
did develop some good scene suggestions, and several students used these
in their comics.
If I had to use TodaysMeet.com again, I would require the students to use
their first names instead of aliases so that they could be held accountable for
the things they wrote. I would have also made it a requirement for each
student to post at least one scene/event suggestion.

Step 2: Using the graphic organizer, plan out no more than 10 panels but no
less than 7-you can do 5 panels for two different strips or one 7-10 panel
strip for one event.
Because I had the students brainstorm for the last few minutes of the class
period, I had them take their graphic organizers home to plan out their
panels. I had created a simple organizer with 10 blank squares. I reminded
them that these were simply rough drafts; they could use stick figures and
scribbles if they wanted. When the students came back to class, about half of

them had fully planned their comic strips. Some students had yet to choose
which scene they wanted to depict. Feeling pressed for time, I went ahead
and moved on to Step 3 even though many students were not ready with
their rough drafts.
If I had to do this step again, I would have required the students to complete
the graphic organizer before they started creating their digital comic strip. I
may have even added a rough draft section to the grading rubric so that
students could receive points for completing this step. Later on in this lesson,
I noticed that those who had not planned out their scene took the longest to
create their comics.

Step Three: Create your comic strip digitally using one of the comic strip
creators below.
Option: if you are an artist and want to draw your own on paper, you may do
so, and we will scan your work with either your phone or mine and upload
the images.
Comic Strip Creators:
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/
http://bitstrips.com/create/comic/
Before giving this assignment, I explored the two different comic creators.
The readwritethink.org creator was slightly limited in the amount of graphics
students could use, so I decided just to use the bitstrips.com creator. After
playing around with this site, I realized that there was no way for the
students to save their work and come back to the comic without signing in
through Facebook. Because AHS does not allow access to Facebook through
the schools Wi-Fi network and some students did not have a Facebook
account, I had to find an alternative way to access Bitstrips.com. I found that
Bitstrips.com had a separate site called BitstripsForSchools.com which allows
teachers to create a virtual classroom in which students can create, save,
and post comic strips. The site is not free, but I was able to sign up for a 30day free trial. I set up a classroom and had the students join using the
code that the site provided. Once the students joined, the site prompted
them to create an avatar that represented them in the virtual classroom. I
told the students that I was only going to give them five minutes to do this,
but they ended up taking closer to 15 minutes. After the students were
logged in, I gave a tutorial on how to use the comic creator by projecting my
own comic on the board. Once I felt that I had covered the basics, I let the

students work on their comics for the rest of the class period (about 45
minutes).
I strongly suggest that anyone who uses Bitstrips thoroughly explore the
comic creator to figure out how the site works. The controls are not very
intuitive and require a lot of experimentation before one is able to create a
satisfactory comic. I also recommend that the teacher give an extensive
tutorial on the different controls before the students start creating. The most
time consuming part of the activity is figuring out how to manipulate the
scenes and characters, and that time can be cut in half if the students
already know how to access and use the different parts of the comic creator.
Finally, I would add that the majority of the comic creation should happen for
homework. I ended up letting the students have the majority of two class
periods to work on these comics. I partly did this because I wanted to be
available to help the students use the site; but even with my assistance,
none of the students seemed to be able to finish. Some of these delays were
due to technological complications and glitches. The track pads on the
students laptops were not conducive to the intricate movements required by
the comic creator. The site was also prone to freezing up, possibly due to the
Wi-Fi speed. Sometimes these freezes would compromise a students entire
comic and they would have to start over. (The survey attached at the end of
this feedback reflects some of the students frustrations with the technology.)
I think that I devoted too much class time to this activitytime that should
have been devoted to meaningful discussion and synthesis of Enders Game.

Step Four: Write 2 paragraphs (minimum) that answer 2 or more of the

guiding questions below.

How does your comic strip illustrate the theme of _______?

Explain two of your artistic choices. How/why did you decide to draw them
that way?
Explain how you decided to organize your comic strip? How is it organized?
What did you leave out and why?

I asked the students to write these paragraphs for homework over the
weekend and bring hard copies to the following class. After reading and
evaluating these paragraphs, I found that most of the students chose not to
write about how their comic illustrated a theme. Looking back on the
assignment, I think that the most valuable part of creating the comic was
having the students think about the importance of these themes to the novel
as a whole. Without this synthesis through writing, I dont think the students
were able to think critically about how Enders Game illustrates these

themes. If I were to give this writing assignment again, I would require the
students to answer the first question and then pick one of the second
questions to answer.

Step 5: Class Gallery Walk: Set up your computer with your comic strip on
display and a copy of your analysis paragraphs on your desk. We will rotate
through looking at each others work and putting a sticky note beside your
favorite three.
I had originally wanted to set up a gallery walk so that the students could
walk around and read the analysis paragraphs along with the comic strips as
the DLP instructions suggest; however, I decided to use the virtual gallery
that BitStripsForSchools.com provides. Once the students turned in their
comics for my approval, I was able to post them to the online gallery. The
students could access this gallery, click through all of their classmates
comics, and leave comments if they wished. I required the students to look
at one anothers comics and leave at least two comments with positive
feedback. I was hoping to save time by not having to rearrange the room for
a physical gallery walk; however, it still took the students almost 30 minutes
to read through all of the comics in the virtual gallery and pick two to
comment on. If I could do this portion of the activity again, I would try doing
it as the DLP suggests. I would have liked for the students to also read one
anothers analysis paragraphs so that they could see how the artists justified
their choices.
Rubric Feedback:
I found the rubric helpful in grading the assignment. I would have liked for
the grading categories to be quantified in some way. This is how I modified
the rubric to assign points:

Attached are the students responses to a 10-question anonymous survey

Level 3
(25 points)
Comic strip
includes 1-2
specific events
that illustrate
the theme with
appropriate
captions and
dialogue to
show the
progression.

Level 2
(20 points)
Comic strip
includes specific
events relating
to the theme
but captions
and dialogue
may not be
present or
meaning is not
clear.

Writing
Mechanics

Includes proper
use of
capitalization,
spelling and
punctuation
both in cartoon
and
paragraphs.

Analysis
Paragraphs

Addresses at
least two of the
guiding
questions with
specific details
and examples.

Contains some
capitalization,
spelling, and
punctuation
errors but not
so much that it
detracts from
the meaning in
the comic
and/or
paragraph.
Addresses only
one of the
guiding
questions or
address both
but fails to
provide specific
details

Work turned
in

Comic strip
and
paragraphs are
turned in

Comic Strip
Content

One portion of
the assignment
is missing-comic strip or
paragraphs

Level 1
(15 points)
Comic strip
does not
include
relevant and
specific
events
relating to
theme and/or
does not
include
captions and
dialogue.
Contains
multiple
mechanic
errors that
makes
meaning
unclear or
significantly
lowers the
quality of the
comic strip.
Does not
directly
address the
guiding
questions
with no
specific
details or
examples.
No
assignments
are uploaded

Your Score:

Total Score: __________/100

requesting their feedback on this activity. Regrettably, I did not make it clear before
giving the survey that I didnt develop this lesson plan. I have reason to believe
that some of them were concerned that their answers might offend me. I do believe,
however, that their answers were insightful to the usefulness of this activity.

Student Survey Feedback

1
(Strongly
disagree)
4

5
(Strongly
Agree)
4

This activity
4
8
2
helped me
understand Orson
Scot Cards
Enders Game.
This activity made 2
3
4
8
5
me think about
some of the
themes in Enders
Game such as
The Development
of Leaders, The
Heros Quest, and
Wars Effect on
Society.
Bitstrips.com was
4
8
4
2
4
easy to use.
I had fun creating
1
3
7
3
8
my comic.
I would have
11
5
5
1
0
preferred to do the
same activity
without the use of
technology.
Bitstrips.com
1
6
6
2
7
worked on my
laptop.
My teacher
0
1
3
7
11
supported me
during this activity.
I am proud of my
0
1
7
3
11
comic strip.
I enjoyed looking
1
1
7
5
8
at other students
comics.
This activity took
1
6
8
4
3
too much time.
You may write any additional comments in the space provided below. You may
want to explain why you put any 1s or 5s in the questions above.

I dont enjoy using technology for stuff like this, and it was very time
consuming.

Ms. Bailey was very considerate and nice to everyone when it didnt work.
It was fun and easy and really helped me understand.
I thought it was really fun to show the characters how we thought they
looked.
It can be hard to control stuff with the track pad.
It is too glitchy.
It was so fun!
Fun!
I had already read Enders Game 7 times before this activity, so it did little
to assist in my understanding.