Writing Skill

1. Cultivating Writer
Creativity with Zombie
Comics
Sabina Simon
Colombia Fulbright Program Fall 2018

2. Discuss with the person next to you...
1.Do you read comics/have you read comics? Which ones
are your favorites?
1.Have you used comics in the classroom? If so, how have
you used comics/how do you plan to use them?

3. Reading Comics
Make sure you know how to read
comics…
*Manga (Japanese comics) it’s the
opposite*
Focus on the words and the
pictures

4. The Walking Dead, Issue 1
PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THESE COPIES HOME
WITH YOU!
I numbered them so that I can get all of them back (1-25)
WARNING: THESE COMICS CONTAIN VIOLENCE
& SWEAR WORDS IN THEM

5. Warm Up Question
1. What is a “zombie”? List everything that you know
about zombies with your partner. (Low-intermediate)
2. Do you think that a “zombie apocalypse” could actually
happen? Why/why not? (High-intermediate-Advanced)
• Zombie = “living dead” → not quite alive, not quite
dead. Eat brains. Slow, decomposing, no rational
thought
• Apocalypse = END OF THE WORLD!!!!

6. Basic Comprehension
1. Share w/a partner (get cozy!)
2. Skim the comic

7. Comprehension Questions
Part 1
1.What is the main character’s job? How do you know?
2.Where does the main character wake up? Give me at
least 3 different pieces of evidence to support this.
3. In what part of the building are the zombies located?
How do you know?
Discussion

8. Inference Questions
Part 1
1.Why do you think Rick gets off of his bicycle to cry?
2.Where do you think he’s going? Why?
3.How long do you think he’s been in the hospital? Why?
4.Where would you go? Why?
Discussion

9. Using Comics to Teach
Writing
Sabina Simon
Colombia Fulbright Program Fall 2018

10. Purpose of these questions...
Comprehension Questions
• Force students to look at both text and pictures to help
create meaning
• Comics = multi-modal text, uses multiple
resources to make meaning
• Pictures
• Text (dialogue as well as non-dialogue text)
• Panel structure (time, relationship between events, etc.)

11. Purpose of these questions…
Inference Questions
• Begin to lure students into making inferences about
text
• Helpful for evidence searching and explaining evidence

12. Reading → Writing
3 kinds of activities:
1. Form Focused -- Grammar focus
2. Process focus -- Essay
3. Creative writing (process and/or form focus)
a. Creative writing is good for students who don’t really enjoy writing

13. Grammar (Form) Focused Writing
Modals
What should we do if there is a Zombie Apocalypse?
1. Make a list of “Do’s” and “Don’ts” for if there is a Zombie attack
a. Can use the comic for ideas, but it’s not necessary
2. Use modals should, shouldn’t, can, can’t, must, and must not
3. Students then present to the class
4. Put in past -- should have, could have
Can you think of other grammar that could be the focus of an
activity?

14. Process Focus
Think of a prompt that would require some opinion/explanation
from a student:
1. What would you do if there was a zombie apocalypse? Where
would you go first? What would you bring? Etc.
2. Do you think a zombie apocalypse is possible? Why/why not?
3. What should we do now to prepare for a zombie apocalypse?

15. Process Focus
The Writing Process:
1. Brainstorm
2. Draft
3. Peer Review
4. Revise
5. Teacher Review
6. Publish/submit
Focus more on the process and the ideas/analysis; grammar
comes a bit later

16. Process Focus
Brainstorm:
1. Complete a free write about the topic (students can use comic if
necessary to help them think) for 5 minutes without stopping
2. What should we do now to prepare for a zombie
apocalypse?
3. Share with a partner
Draft:
1. Students complete a draft of the writing at home, or in class
Review:
1. Have other students review the writing, giving them specific
guidelines to follow

17. Process Focus
Review (continued)
1. Pair students up and have them work together to anonymously
review each other’s work
a. More focused, and students feel better about giving harsher feedback
2. Have them answer concrete questions that they have the
ability to answer
a. Does the response answer the prompt?
b. Does the response have a thesis statement? How many ideas are in
the thesis statement?
c. How many sentences are there?
d. What is one thing you can change about it?

18. Process Focus
Revise:
1. Give your students concrete things to revise/change
a. You may want to glance at students’ work if none of them think they
need to change anything, and give them 1-2 tasks to work on
b. Focus on larger-level concerns: content, organization, topic sentences,
etc.
Teacher Review -- collect and read revisions before this
1. Conference with your students 1-1 (or in small groups,
depending on class size)
2. Prepare 1-2 talking points to discuss with your students

19. Process Focus
Peer Review:
1. Are there 2 modals used? What are they?
2. Does the story connect to The Walking Dead?
3. Add one more modal to their writing.

20. Process Focus
Teacher Review
1. Group based on ability (large classes)
2. In class work time (graded)
Publish/Submit
1. Have students submit a final draft
2. Reflection: have students reflect on what they changed and
what they learned from this process, and what they want to
focus on next time
a. You can keep this and remind them of it for their next writing
assignment
3. Creative Writing: Put it up on the wall!

21. Creative Writing (process and form)
Have students create their own comic!
1. Continuation of previous comic (how does it end?)
2. Weekly comic in which they continue the comic in their own
way (1 group creates, then another builds off of it, etc.)
3. Incorporate Vocabulary words, grammar, slang/phrases,
idioms, etc.
4. Drawing = not graded

22. Creative Writing (process and form)
Form
- Grammar/vocabulary focus
- Shorter phrases in each panel -- controlled
Process
- Need to think about the last panel (end point)
- Start from the end and work backwards, need to outline/draft
what will be in each panel and what the characters will say

23. Creative Writing (process and form)
Step 1: Draft each panel (write down the action that will happen)
- Start at the end -- what do you want the last panel to look like?
- Work backwards, fill in with details to make sure the action
makes sense
Step 2: Begin visualizing the drawings
- Start sketching how you would draw this -- is it easy to draw a
picture of? Do you have enough space in the panels?
Step 3: Draft Dialogue
- Draw a draft with dialogue -- allowed 1 square with no dialogue
- Modal Verbs → at least 2 different ones

24. Creative Writing (process and form)
Step 4: Peer Review
- Have another pair review what you have so far, have them
make some suggestions
Step 5: Revise
- Make changes
Step 6: Submit/Publish
- Give to the teacher, the teacher can share them and publish
them on the wall

25. Acquiring Comics Cheaply
Digital versions
• Amazon.com (kindle versions)
• Subscriptions to Marvel & DC
• Humble Bundle (PDF versions)
Free Web Comics
• Hyperbole and a Half
• The Oatmeal
• Tim Eagan’s Political Satire

26. Acquiring Comics Cheaply
Newspapers (funnies section)
• Zits
• Pearls Before Swine
• Mark Trail (weekly, serial comic)
• Dilbert (Silicon Valley)
• Sarah’s Scribbles
• Pickles
• Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield
Available online as well
http://www.gocomics.com/explore/comics, or search Google

27. Acquiring Comics Cheaply
Library & photo copier
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
• Maus 1 & 2 by Art Spiegelman
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Just don’t let your students keep the comics →
you want to give money to the artist and writers
who worked so hard on them :)