It's time to banish the worn-out expression "thinking outside the box." With Comix strips, students can learn to create emotion, dialogue and story lines by making their own comic strips, box by box.

An online, free site to generate educational comic strips, MakeBeliefsComix.com allows students to choose characters, emotions, thought or talk balloons, dialogue and story lines.

Prompts for dialogue and story structure guide the student writers along the way.

A teacher resources section provides 21 ways to use the comics in class.

Childhood memories

"My own love of comics and understanding of their value as a learning tool began when I was a child," said MakeBeliefsComix creator William Zimmerman.

"Back then, the very best day of the week was Sunday mornings when my dad left home early to bring back an armload of newspapers, all with their glorious color comics sections," he recalled. "The funnies were my paradise."

Zimmerman converted that memory into an educational tool. Students can choose from 15 characters — more will be added this fall — and change their expressions as the story moves along.

They can pick background colors for each box, flourish the strip with trees or flowers and select objects to illustrate a character's hobby or food interests. Conversation in the comic strips can happen in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Latin.

"The site can be used by educators to teach language, reading and writing skills, and also for students in English-as-a-Second Language programs to facilitate self-expression and storytelling, as well as computer literacy," said Zimmerman, former writer and editor of the nationally syndicated Students Briefing Page for Newsday.

The site is being used by educators in 180 countries, said Zimmerman, who has taken part in workshops for adult literacy centers and with the United Federation of Teachers, NYSUT's affiliate in New York City schools.

Workshop host Josie Levine, chair of UFT's English as a Second Language and Bilingual Committee, saw the benefit of using graphic stories during her 25-year teaching tenure.

This comic strip site, she said, can be used "across the curriculum, across all grades and contents areas, with teaching adapting to students needs."

Using new words

On the teacher resource site, Zimmerman suggests the comic strips as a vehicle for students to use new words.

Different scenarios and scripts can be used to help teach autistic students about different types of social behavior and how to read emotion.

Students learning a new language can use that for their text. Students can use the strips to comment about local and national politics. They can also serialize their creations.

The Web site, Zimmerman said, reflects an effort to repay a debt to the public education system.

"I am a product of city public schools and colleges," he explained.