This page contains a list of short exercises, complete lesson plans, as well as a few sample comic books scripts. This material has been contributed by various cartoonists and educators. All items are available in printer-friendly adobe .PDF format (links at the bottom of each article).

Each exercise has, listed after its title, a grade range for which the exercise is most appropriate. Many exercises, though, can be modified to suit older or younger classes as needed.

At the bottom of the exercise itself shows what content standards each exercise satisfies, based on The National Standards for Arts Education as developed by the Consortium of National Arts Education Associations (under the guidance of the National Committee for Standards in the Arts). Breifly, the standards are as follows:

• Content Standard: 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes
• Content Standard: 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions
• Content Standard: 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas
• Content Standard: 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and culture
• Content Standard: 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others
• Content Standard: 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines

For more on The National Standards for Arts Education, click here.

Exercises and Lesson Plans

NACAE Study Guides -- This section contains study guides which are geared toward a English/literature classes as well as a studio environment. Also available here are handouts useful for class discussion. Several of the study guides contain reading questions designed to facilitate the teaching of prominent works such as Ghost World, Palestine, and Watchmen. Many of the guides were created in conjunction with The Center for Cartoon Studies. All items are available in printer-friendly adobe .PDF format (links at the bottom).

Study Guides and Handouts

On this page you will find a number of complete course syllabi, most if which are indended for teaching at the undergraduate level. The syllabi are divided into sections for studio classes and non-studio classes and have been contributed by instructors from institutions such as Yale, The Savannah College of Art and Design, The University of Florida, and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and many others.

Complete Syllabi

This section contains links to internet reosurces which relate to teaching comics and cartooning. If you would like to suggest a link which you think should be added to this list, please forward the URL to links@teachingcomics.org

Useful Links

The reference material here consists of books and magazines which may be useful to educators teaching classes in comics or cartooning. Most of the items listed are instructional in nature, but a few are critical or analytical texts relating to the cartooing artform; Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics is probably the most well known of these. Several items listed are currently out of print, but reasonably priced copies can usually be located via bookfinder.com.

Books and Magazines