Cheer them up!

Hello TwoTwonians!

It's been a long time! Sorry, I have been quite busy! Today I want you to reward with a special entry. It's special because it's going to talk about emotions, feelings, and this is not an easy topic in education.

Do you know why puppets are so useful in Early Years? Well, I'll tell you. The Early Years student can hide his/her own real personality behind the puppet and he/she feels that is safe. Nothing happens, because the puppet is who is talking and expressing his/her feelings. But, what does it happen when we want that a Primary student talks about what he/she feels? We can't use a puppet, they are not going to feel comfortable and they are going to think that we don't take them seriously. 

Left and right neuron agreed that this can be a problem; students might be struggling with a subject matter, a family situation or a school situation. Then, how can express themselves? My neurons worked hard to find a solution and the solution came in the shape of a comic. Think! In the comic they can reflect their own fears and feelings and after all, it's a comic! They are behind characters that they create by their own.

There are several tools online. We, my two neurons and myself, chose StoryBoardTHAT. You've got several scenes, characters, shapes, text boxes... It's very intuitive and it's free. Like the rest of the applications, the only that you need is time to discover all the features that they can offer you.

Sometimes, teachers don't realize that students might be under difficult situations and we ask them their best. We transfer concepts, but we need to create a well-being area in their lives too (and this is the most difficult part). The comic that we created will help them in two different situations: if the student can't cope with a subject and, if the student is living a difficult situation at home which makes difficult that he/she focuses on the school tasks. 

If you click the image, you will directed to the comic in a bigger size

Would you like to try talking about feelings through comics with your students? Do you think that it would be an effective idea? The students can create a comic to explain a difficult topic in any subject. One thing I can tell you; it's very safe because you choose the type of privacy you want to. Students can be very creative with ICT and they love comics, then it's the perfect combination. Get a move on and share your/their comics! You won't regret!

TwoTwo