Perhaps even more so now that many schools are facing remote learning environments. Students need to share. If they can’t share then you should share for them. We all have a story to tell and getting that story out to others is powerful, and incredibly motivating for students. I want to end this article with a favorite quote of mine from the educator, Rushton Hurley. “When children create for the world, they make it good. When children only create for their teachers, they make it good enough.” Well, guess what? Good enough ain’t good enough anymore. Let’s get that work off of the refrigerator at home and get it onto everyone’s refrigerator! Happy book making. PRODUCT INFORMATION Book Creator is an easy-to-use tool for making multimedia digital books in any subject area, from primary upwards. Create: combine text, audio, video, drawings, photos and appsmash other content!
Real-time collaboration - https://player.vimeo.com/video/272330586?autoplay=1
photos of themselves was the icing on the cake! After a month of work, the book was ready and we published it on the Apple Books store. The downloads started flying in and this is where the real transformation occurred. The students were so excited about the downloads. They put a map in the hall and began to chart which countries had downloaded their book. This seems like such a small thing but to these students it was the world (and from the teacher’s perspective— how about that, not only were they improving their literacy but now they were focusing on math too!). These students who were afraid of talking to others, had few friends and were thought of as outcasts soon became the stars of the school. The students were talking to kids in the hall explaining why there was a red pin in Japan and Norway and Canada. One stu- dent’s parent, who never came to any IEP meetings, showed up for the first time. She was so excited to see what her son had done that she came to her first meeting at the school in four years. The students couldn’t stop writing and wanted to make more and more books. They had so much fun and learned so much while using this app that they wanted to write a whole series of books. In the end, they wrote and published three books in the social skills series. After experiencing the excitement and engagement that has happened over the last 8 years of making books with students, I’ve realized a few things. Students need to be making things. They need to create their learning. They can’t just sit back and let “education” happen to them. They need to be active participants who create wonderful things. Do you agree? Students need to collaborate with each other. They like it. They need it. They crave it. We need to provide students with the opportunities to work together in and out of the classroom.
Read: have your book read to you in multiple languages, with word highlighting and page turning.
Publish: share your book online, download as an ePub file or print it as a PDF. With over 2 million books made every month by teachers and students across the world, Book Creator can bring creativity to your classroom, help engage reluctant writers, and allow stu- dents to demonstrate their understanding. Teachers can get started for free by creating an account at app.bookcreator.com, which will give them 1 library and 40 books at no cost. Additional books, libraries and other features can be purchased with a monthly or annual subscription (start- ing at $10 per month). Book Creator online works on Chromebooks, laptops, PCs and most tablets. There is also a standalone iPad app available for $2.99 . Find out more at bookcreator.com.
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December, 2020 / January, 2021 | www.closingthegap.com/membership
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