Pixton: Do-It-Yourself Comics

Congratulations to the Doris Miller Junior High School teaching team for winning the Time Warner Cable's Spotlight on Education Award for their project called “Pixton with Shakespeare.”

The project made it all the way to the national finals for the National Spotlight award.

The team of Kelly Blanks, Melissa Dupré, Grace Mueller and Roxann Tull each received $125 and a plaque and will split a $500 team award, in addition to Miller receiving a $1,000 technology grant.

The Miller eighth grade Language Arts Department was studying “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare, and the teachers wanted enrich the experience through the use of technology. They used Pixton to create a scene from "The Tempest”. Team member Mueller said, “Using their own interpretation of the scene, students developed the cartoon.”

We are very pleased that Pixton is making a difference in enriching students' experience of Shakespeare. Interactive web comics are a valuable tool in the classroom, to supplement conventional reading materials as well as to give students another way to express their ideas.

The success of this project will undoubtedly be an inspiration to others - again, well done!

To read full article click here.

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Knowledge Essentials founder Amy James recently did a segment on Pixton and how comic strips have been teachers' "secret weapon" for many years on CBS News affiliate News 9 in Oklahoma City.

"A comic strip contains a setting, characters, a plot (if it's a serial comic), it has all the grammar and spelling elements of a regular writing assignment, and many kids find it so much more interesting that every teacher in every grade level uses a form of a comic to reinforce these skills," said Amy James. "It reinforces all of the State Learning Standards at every single level of your child's education, so it's a really important tool."

Students have so much fun with comics that they don't even notice their learning.

"Pixton is very user-friendly, designed in a safe way for kids... it's a nice, easy, fun way to reinforce all of these language arts skills," said James. "It is a fun way and different way that might engage children that are not strong readers."

To watch the News 9 segment click here.

The News 9 Family Wiki is also available for you and your family to use. You can even add to Pixton's section too! Check it out here.

Amy James is a third generation educator, tenured school-teacher and founder of Six Things, a company that analyzes textbooks and other educational materials for the very best educational publishers. Amy analyzes state assessments and works with state departments of education to ensure that their learning and performance standards are compliant with federal requirements. She is also the local CBS affliate education expert.

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