Encouraging Young Cartoonists.

My fifth-grade curriculum includes a four-week unit on cartooning. Students are highly motivated by the idea of cartoons. I would say the unit is one of the most popular of the year. The unit encompasses good old-fashioned pen and ink drawing as well as modern technologies: cable television and the Internet.

Using Cable in the Classroom

Our school library subscribes to Cable in the Classroom. This magazine lists all the educational programs offered on cable channels as well as information like taping rights and addresses for free and inexpensive educational materials.

Every month when a new issue arrives, I go through it with a fine-toothed comb looking for documentaries on artists and any other programs related to art. Admittedly, they are rare, but last year I found programs I could use on Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Mount Rushmore, and Charles Schulz. For the price of a blank videocassette, I can tape off the television and use these programs in my classroom legally.

In the monthly schedule each program is followed by a copyright code. The code indicates one of seven levels of restriction imposed on use of a taped program ranging from free, unrestricted use of the tape for education purposes, to restricted for home use only. Within that range, a show's use might be limited to three years, one year, one semester, ten days, or seven days.

Using Video in the Classroom

The video I taped for use with my cartooning unit is a "Biography for Kids" documentary on Charles Schulz. I think there are many benefits for using this video: the kids can hear the artist talking, see him working, and see many animated clips of the Peanuts gang.

For the first lesson of our cartooning unit we watch the video. Although it lasts the full class period, it holds everyone's attention. In the following lesson, we discuss questions raised by the video, such as: "Was Schulz admired for his artwork during his school years?" and "Where does he get his ideas?"

Students remember Schulz saying that he submitted some drawings for publication to his high school yearbook and they were rejected. I suggest to them that this is a reminder for all of us to not give up on our dreams just because they don't come easy. They also remember that many of his ideas come from his life. He had a silly dog that eventually became Snoopy, and his jokes about the "little red-haired girl" are based on a real-life romance.

Using the Internet

For those who like reading comic strips and learning more about their creators, there are a lot of neat places to visit on the Internet. According to an informal survey I took of my students, about 25% had the Internet at home while 66% had been on the Internet at some time. This leaves quite a few who have never seen it at all. While we do not have the Internet at our school, our local public library does, and I encourage the students to use it.

I tell the students about a neat search engine for kids called "Yahooligans." From there, it's only a couple of clicks before you arrive at "Snoopy's Doghouse" (http://www. unitedmedia.com/comics/peanuts/).

Upon arrival at "Snoopy's Doghouse," you are given a number of options, such as reading comics from the archives or going to "Character Profiles." This includes written descriptions of the Peanuts characters and Schulz's thoughts on why they behave the way they do.

Using this website, we look at and discuss four characters: Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, and Lucy. We talk about what each character is like, thinking of adjectives to describe them.

Drawing Comics

The drawing portion of our unit involves two drawing assignments: drawing the cartoon characters of others and inventing a cartoon character of our own. Each of my fifth-grade students has their own sketchbook to work in. I explain that in a sketchbook it's okay to copy from sources to learn, but on a poster or public artwork it's much better to create our own original work.

For the first drawing assignment, students are instructed to use their sketchbooks. On one or more pages they are to:

1. Draw their favorite cartoon character;

2. Write a brief description of him or her; and

3. Explain why he or she is their favorite.

For resource material we use pages from the Sunday comics section.

For the second drawing assignment, we invent our own comics. I give them three options for how they can approach this drawing.

1. Just Do It. Some kids already have characters that they draw all the time. These characters often already have names and personalities. These students need no coaxing to get started. Others are able to sit down and create one on the spot without referring to anything.

2. Worksheet. I use a handout I have prepared with sample cartoon noses, eyes, and ears separated by category. Students experiment with mixing and matching until they come up with a character they like.

3. Pick and Choose. Another fun way to create a never-before-seen creation is to borrow parts from several different comic strip characters. For example, look at the comics page and draw Charlie Brown's head with Hagar's nose, Garfield's eyes, Dagwood's hair, etc.

After every student has the opportunity to draw several cartoon characters of their own, we ink them with the professional cartoonist's materials of choice.

Where do they go from here? I know that some will continue to use cartooning as a way to express their ideas. Some may go on to create a comic strip in high school or college. I hope that most will continue to use a sketchbook throughout their lives, and that all will continue to enjoy reading cartoons and appreciate the good drawing done by others.

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students describe how different expressive features and organizational principles cause different responses.

Andrew Wales is an art teacher in Athens, Pennsylvania.