Does anybody else collect cartoons???

[Laura Gibbs]

I LOVE CARTOONS. They are a lot of fun to share with students, and can often make some serious points while still being light-hearted.

Here's my question: do people have favorite school-related cartoons they could share? Please post them here at the Ning by replying to this discussion! I bet we could come up with a great collection of cartoons together.

I collect cartoons about school, language, reading, writing, computers, mythology and fairy tales, etc. - anything that I think would be thought-provoking and fun for the students in my online classes. You can see my favorite cartoons in this random cartoon widget I just created to include in my class websites this year. I cannot include the widget here in the forum because Ning doesn't allow the javascript, but you can see it here in action at a new wiki I've created for my classes: Online Course Lady Wiki (this is the wiki I've created to develop the writing tips project I wrote about here a couple weeks ago). Just click to see one of my favorite cartoons at random each time the page loads - there are about 200 cartoons in the randomizer, but I would love to add more. You can also see all the cartoons in a Cartoon Gallery. :-)

[Connie Weber]

Hi Laura,

I LOVE cartoons, too. My son and I have shelves filled with cartoon books--and a couple of mega-books on the floor next to the shelves: The Far Side Complete Collection, and The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.
It's a great idea to collect cartoons that are related to school. I have a bunch at school that are especially geared to conference time (Calvin and Hobbes); will try to share those, amongst others.
Humor is essential!
Great Gallery you've created!!!

[Ian Carmichael]

Amongst mine are The Wizard of Id, Tumbleweeds, MAD's Don Martin, Footrot Flats, Cartoon History of the Universe.
Online XKCD. And then bits and pieces, some filed, some just put away. BC was used extensively by the Harvard Physics Project. I think I have one collection.
Stanley - the Adventures of the Paleolithic Man had its moments, but I doubt I have any artefacts. Feiffer, the Newsweek political cartoonist was great.
I love the Demotivators too - especially "Sometimes the Journey of a Thousand Miles ends Very, Very Badly."

[Laura Gibbs]

If you find any lying around your computer, share them here! Somebody posted a couple of demotivators over in the "first day of class discussion" - very humorous, and the kind of thing my more worldly-wise and cynical students resonate with very much (how did they get to be wordly wise and cynical at only half my age, eh? alas, alas...)

:-)

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Connie, my husband sends me comics every day and I've been saving them to build this gallery for a couple years - I'm glad I finally did it.

Now I want more cartoons, ha ha! I've got books on the shelf, too, but I'm glad that some folks like Bizarro have blogs and publish their cartoons online regularly... he's a good source and his blog is fun. :-)

[Janice Robertson]

Laura,
I love comics too. I often put math related ones from Calvin and Hobbes on my math tests just so the kids can relax and laugh a bit. I also sometimes change the caption to fit what I need it to say or to get kids to read. I just use a bit of white out and then show it under the document camera. You have a great collection. I'll try to add to it a bit. I've added two of my favourites that I use every year!

[Janice Robertson]

And a few more for the collection ...
Sigh! (I can't find my math ones, but I know they're on this computer somewhere!) Don't you hate it when you put something in a special folder, in a special place, with a special name, NONE of which you can them remember?!?!?!?!?

[Laura Gibbs]

Oh, Janice, this is super! I will use the summer accomplish one for sure when school starts later this month - that is PERFECT. And I sent the misura distesa to my friend who teaches Italian online - that will be great for her Italian 1 class. Whoo-hoo. I absolutely love cartoons!!!

I'm always looking for ones that connect with reincarnation, karma, etc., themes that comes up in my Indian Epics class, and my husband found a good one this weekend! Of all the things we do in that class, karma and reincarnation are the topics that seem to be of interest to ALL of the students in there, even if they didn't even know that these are part of Hindu and Buddhist religions. :-)

[Ellen Pham]

So cute, Janice!

[Connie Weber]

[Ellen Pham]

EFL Classroom has a running Joke of the Day thread...

As usual, your output is phenomenal, Laura! Would you mind if I shared the link to your gallery on EFL, or you could post it there- I know it would be appreciated!

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Ellen, no problems at all - I am working on something directly relevant for EFL that I hope to post next week; it's my "grammar through proverbs" pages. It's really more for native English speakers who speak well and cannot spell to save their lives, but spelling and punctuation are a part of advanced EFL instruction, too. I'm having so much fun working with the proverbs for all the examples! Anyway, that's what the wiki is really for - I put the cartoons there for fun, but it's going to be turning into my grammar and writing resource for the new school year. :-)

I tackled commas last night, which is the absolute hardest topic in punctuation. I need to post something about this in my blog here.

[Kiki]

Hi Laura,

I love cartoons! Calvin and Hobbs, Roz Chast (and others from the New Yorker) are some of my favorites. Students often just stand in front of my door reading all the cartoons I post there. Here is one (sorry if the image is too small):

"The man who knew enough"

Kiki