1. Experiences from Comic Workshops in Finnish schools Heidi Leino 6th November 2012

2. In the beginning of the workshop Convince the participants: It is not important to be an excellent drawer. The grassroots comics are tool for communication, not art! Remind the participants: To think about the subject of their comic when doing the exercises about global issues.

3. Making the comic It’s not easy for all to come up with an idea for the comic In the beginning, five minute’s silence to think and plan. After that talking is OK. Stay near the pupils so that they can have contact with you easily If the pupil’s comic draft is difficult to understand or not linked to the global issues – react! If the participants have made the comics from Africa exercise, tell that their comics do not need to be as solution oriented

4. What to do if a pupil has difficulties in coming up with a story Questions / suggestions: Where did you put the stickers, what could happen in that country? Which of the discussed themes could be interesting for you? Compare life in your country and far away Choose one power point photo and turn it into a comic Other possibilities: - pecha kucha slideshow - two pupils work together - additional exercises

5. TO ALL OF US WATER IS NOT SELF EVIDENT

6. In the end of the workshop The pupils are often restless at this phase and the concentration to the feedback session is not always easy. Every comic deserves to be studied together! Unfinished comics are also to be included in the feedback session To calm the situation ask the pupils to sit on chairs in front of the comic posters. The feedback about the workshop with thumbs up/down works well

7. Keeping up with the time The teacher makes photocopies of the comics during the workshop Don’t let the participants to make many details to the draft Remind the participants about the time that’s left: they can catch up a lot especially when working with the marker pen If someone is very slow you can enlarge her/his draft into a big poster by a photocopy machine If the time is running out, five minutes is enough for the feedback session

8. Running the workshop with a partner Plan the workshop together with your partner One can learn a lot from other workshop facilitators Be yourself even the other person has a different style from yours Split the group into two when drawing the comics