ASI in the Community: Comic Creators Program

For nearly 20 years ASI has partnered with Minneapolis Public Schools to create in-classroom programs centered around reading, storytelling, character creation, and craft. First came the Pippi Project, designed in 2007 by ASI and teachers at Anderson Elementary School. In 2021, ASI and teachers at Bancroft Elementary School created a new program together, Comic Creators. The experience combines special elements including the study of Bamse, a famous Swedish cartoon bear and a local artist in residence (Stephanie Watson, author of “Behold! A Baby!” and “Pencilvania”) to learn about character creation, the elements of storytelling, and comic strips. In December 2023, students gathered in the Media Room at Bancroft to celebrate their artwork, thoughtful characters, and unique stories. Adults and children alike grinned with pride and excitement as students lined the halls to share their creations.  

ASI reached out to two educators at Bancroft Elementary School to share their perspectives on this program and partnership with the American Swedish Institute. Susan Francis is the IB-PYP Coordinator at Bancroft and manages the International Baccalaureate (IB) program which focuses on core instruction. Rebecca Ramgren is a first-grade teacher at Bancroft, and a co-creator of the Comic Creators project. Rebecca previously worked with ASI as part of the Pippi Project.  

Can you introduce yourselves and your role within the Comic Creators program? 

Susan: I have the amazing opportunity to work with all our grade level teams to plan for inquiry-based learning and as part of that, I also have the opportunity work with our community partners, such as the ASI, to make that learning come alive for our students in the form of residencies or other field experiences. My amazing teammate, Becky, had a relationship with the ASI at her former school and when she moved to Bancroft, we were fortunate that she brought it along with her and it started for our school!  

Rebecca: About a million years ago I was working with ASI on a Pippi Longstocking project – we were celebrating Astrid Lindgren’s 100th birthday (2007) and my students worked with ASI to help create characters like Pippi to decorate an exhibit at ASI. This project lasted and grew for a number of years. When I moved to a different school (Bancroft) – I asked ASI if they were willing to come with me. I switched grade levels to 1st grade in the fall of 2021, I reached out to ASI to see if there was a way we could create a writing project for this grade level. We brainstormed how this could look, knowing that first graders have limited writing skills. We thought about how a comic strip is a form of writing that combines both writing and illustrating and it could be a great way for 1st graders to express their creativity. Lindsey (ASI’s Youth and Family Programs Coordinator) and our local author Stephanie Watson looked for a mentor text that could work for this project and Bamse the amazing Swedish bear was perfect! Thus, the Comic Creators project was born! 

What excites you and your students about the Comic Creators project? Is there something meaningful or impactful that you see happening in the classroom during this program? 

Susan: It excites me to see community partners engaging with our students in meaningful ways. We have created the 1st grade Comic Creators in collaboration with our teammates at ASI to be a meaningful and engaging learning experience that directly connects to our unit of inquiry, “How We Express Ourselves.” The central idea, also known as the big or enduring understanding, is “People use creative ways to tell stories.”  

The thoughtful collaboration that we engaged with Stephanie Watson using her own experiences as an author as well as Bamse as a mentor text brought forth a meaningful week for our 1st graders to experience the writing process in a developmentally appropriate way through writing comics – something they could connect their own life experiences and/or their creative ideas to tell their story!  

Rebecca: There is so much that excites me about this project – but the thing that is the BEST in my opinion is that students finish this unit and see themselves as writers. They know that they have the power of creativity. They know that anything they think can be written down! Words are powerful. Words tell stories. Our first graders know this and live this – it is amazing! It is especially meaningful for me to see this with students that may be struggling with learning to read, or have limited English proficiency – with adult help, their words and pictures are telling stories. 

On the partnerships between Bancroft Elementary and the American Swedish Institute:  

Susan: The partnership with ASI is a treasure to Bancroft! The real-life author experience is like no other opportunity we could offer as teachers and (local artist) Stephanie Watson makes authentic and meaningful connections to our students in the context of our unit. Having a writing “expert” share her experience and then share a mentor text is meaningful for our students to also see themselves as creators and authors. Being able to learn about the writing process with her and then experiencing it ourselves makes it so much more meaningful and this is something special that we cannot provide for ourselves as the classroom teachers!  

Rebecca: This partnership is a gift to me as a teacher. I could teach students about writing and the writing process – but being able to have an author and illustrator come into our classrooms and do that provides a level of expertise that I do not have. Also using Bamse as a mentor text is perfect – he is a great example of a comic strip that tells stories through words and pictures. I would have never known about Bamse without ASI. It is also a gift to have adults that are able to come and support our students during the week of the residency at school. Writing is a challenge for first graders, and they need a lot of support. The people that come to help that week are an invaluable asset, and we couldn’t do this program without them. 

Were there any highlights of the program this year? Is there anything you look forward to next year? 

Susan: The whole residency was a highlight this year, but the final publishing party is always an amazing celebration of learning. Students show such excitement and pride in showing their work to the families and community! We most definitely look forward to continuing to work together to create such a meaningful experience for our students! We appreciate the collaboration!  

Rebecca: I think a highlight is the Comic Creators Celebration – seeing all of those families (standing room only crowd) is so amazing as a teacher. The pride of our students sharing their characters and their comic strips brings me such joy. It is also a highlight for me to see the students so excited about their writing. They bring in comic books, they write comic strips at home, they talk about their characters with each other. Their enthusiasm for writing is also a highlight for me! What makes me the most excited about on-going partnerships like this one is that they get better with age. The more times we do this, the better we all get at it. 

Comic strips created by Bancroft First Grade Students

ASI is grateful to our community partners for their collaboration, and to our member and donors for their support of programs like these. Learn more about how ASI serves our community here.