Today is Digital Learning Day, and we are focusing on a few webcomics to include in your classroom. Digital Learning Day began “as a way to actively spread innovative practices and ensure that all youth have access to high-quality digital learning opportunities no matter where they live.” Webcomics are fantastic digital resources that allow you to easily incorporate technology into your curriculum as a way to enhance or improve learning experiences. Because readers can access these titles from any web-connected device, incorporating one or more into your lesson plans may help you create more inclusive, student-centered learning experiences and increase your efficiency in the classroom.
The UnCommons
from Weird Enough Productions
Suggested Grades: 3rd+
The UnCommons is the foundation of Get Media L.I.T., a comics-based learning platform, which “partners engaging comics with high-impact lesson plans that only require 30 minutes of weekly use to be effective.” New issues are released every other week, and the site includes standard-aligned classroom activities and lesson plans that can be completed as a class, in small groups, or individually.
A description from the site’s page:
The story centers around a diverse group of hesitant heroes that leap into action after one of them predicts the end of the world. In the face of a disaster centuries in the making, five unlikely outsiders must save each other to save the world.
The Creepy Casefiles of Margo Maloo
by Drew Weing
Suggested Grades: 3rd+
A description from the site’s page:
The kids of Echo City know one thing the grown ups don’t – there’s a monster lurking in every dark alley and abandoned building! When Charles Thompson moves to town, he finds there’s only one girl in town who knows what to do – the mysterious Margo Maloo, monster mediator. But is this city big enough for humans and monsters too?
Sheldon
by Dave Kellett
Suggested Grades: 5th+
A description from the site’s page:
Sheldon is this weird, wonderful little strip…with geeky characters, all-ages story lines, and lots of pop-culture nerdiness. At its center is this odd little family: A boy, his duck, and the grandfather that raises them both.
M.F.K.
by Nilah Magruder
Suggested Grades: 8th+
A description from the site’s page:
In a world of sleeping gods, a broken government, and a fragile peace held in the hands of the corrupt, one youth must find the strength to stand up against evil and save humanity. This story is not about that youth. It’s about Abbie, who just wants to get to the mountain range called the Potter’s Spine and scatter her mother’s ashes. But the way is filled with sandstorms, wild beasts, and rogues that wield inhuman powers and prey on poor desert dwellers. When one of these rogues threatens the town where Abbie takes refuge, she must choose between running, or unleashing her own hidden power to meet danger head-on. Journeys are hard on the social recluses of the world.
As the Crow Flies
by Melanie Gillman
Suggested Grades: 8th+
A description from the site’s page:
As the Crow Flies is a story about Charlie — a queer, Black 13-year-old girl who finds herself stranded in a dangerous place: an all-white Christian youth backpacking camp. The graphic novel version of this webcomic was published in 2017 by Iron Circus Comics and was named a Stonewall Honor Book by the American Library Association in 2018. Updates usually happen once a week.
Wonderlust
by Diana Nock
Suggested Grades: 8th+
A description from the site’s page:
This is a story about growing up but not old. It’s about fear and wonder and the thin line between the two. It’s about friends, both real and imaginary. It’s about Halloween, the Halloween that lives in the heart; not just the day. Wonderlust is a long-form webcomic, a slice-of-life adventure, and it wants to break your heart. Sally Kalloway is too smart for her own good. This is a story about her. It currently updates every Monday!
Homestuck
by Andrew Hussie
Suggested Grades: 11th+
A description from the site’s page:
Homestuck is a tale about a boy and his friends and a game they play together. On his 13th birthday, John Egbert starts playing a mysterious videogame called Sburb. Unfortunately, this triggers the apocalypse. Fortunately, he and his friends can make things right—if they can beat the game. They’ll need a lot of teamwork, a little luck, and some inspired shenanigans along the way to make it through this mind-bending, genre-defying adventure.