In this four week flex class, students will learn the basics of cartooning as a beginner course. Perfect for students who have no background knowledge of cartooning elements or comic strip art, but have the desire to learn and practice in order to create their own comics or graphic novels one day. As this is a Flex class, there will be no live meetings.

Each Monday I will present a short video recording and lesson, teaching one main building block of cartooning for students to practice. On Wednesday, a reinforcement skill-building lesson will be posted, and on Fridays, a summative "final practice project" will be posted for students to complete. They can work on their drawings and practicing the specific skill taught that week, and drawings should be shared by Sunday night, in preparation for the next day's lesson. Each week's lesson will build upon itself, and students will be expected to practice and implement what was previously taught in new and upcoming assignments. At the end of the four weeks, students will be provided with a final project to demonstrate and showcase their learning during this course and prepares them for the "intermediate" version of this class, which is an optional class that is recommended to immediately follow this one. 

Structure of the course:

**Week one: Basics of cartooning (shapes/lines/lettering/panels)

Monday: Mini-lesson on basic lines and shapes with practice activity assigned
Wednesday: Basic comic lettering with practice activity assigned
Friday: Assignment: Make a three-panel comic implementing learned skills from lettering, shapes, and paneling

**Week two: Creating characters in cartooning

Monday: Mini-lesson on developing expressions with practice activity assigned
Wednesday: Mini-lesson on developing gestures with practice activity assigned
Friday: Assignment: Designing memorable characters (animals, robots, humans, objects, heroes, villains, etc.)

**Week three: Developing plot and setting in cartooning

Monday: Mini-lesson on creating various settings with practice activity assigned
Wednesday: Mini-lesson on creating story arcs with comics/cartooning and practice activity assigned
Friday: Assignment: Creating a five-panel comic with a story arc, setting, and memorable characters

**Week four: Putting into practice everything that was learned during this course (practice makes perfect!)

Monday: Creating a five-panel comic about "something getting lost"
Wednesday: Creating a five-panel comic about "something getting found"
Friday: Planning for future prompts to work on at home + telling longer stories


Communication with teacher and students:

I will be creating a class Padlet as an option for students to showcase their work each week and share with others. Students can also post their assignments as a "gallery walk" on the discussion board each week, or can share with my privately via direct message so I can provide feedback. I will be providing feedback to all student work submitted to me each week, in an effort to help encourage student growth and development in this skill set. I will also be supplementing the course on occasion with additional videos, tutorials, and activities to reinforce and strengthen student practice in this area. Students should reach out at any time that they have questions regarding a lesson or activity, and I will respond within 24 hours.