This summer something magical happened for teachers everywhere! Book Creator came out for Chrome (insert excited shrieks here). What this means for teachers is that if you have Chromebooks in the classroom, you have just hit the creation jackpot.
Why do I love Book Creator for Chromebook so much?
Book Creator | Book Creator Blog
- Book Creator is simple to use – it takes literally no time to explain it to students and they can jump on and use it pretty fluently in the classroom
- It’s so much more than just a Book (see below)
- It has a comic book option
- Adding layers of information is almost intuitive for your Generation Z students
Although at first glance it seems simple, the power is in the layers of information you can create that make its so powerful and meaningful. Book Creator is a formidable tool teachers have come to cherish on iPads – but now that it is on Chrome – everyone can enjoy having students create demonstrations of learning that are meaningful, creative and highly informative.
Fun Ways to Use in the Classroom : Where Tools Meet Pedagogy (okay there are way more than five)
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- Published Book/ Comic Book – Each year students write creative narrative pieces. Book Creator is a great way to have students publish their final writing to give them even more ownership over their work. Better yet -do a complete writing portfolio by having students publish their best narrative, persuasive, expository and descriptive pieces. Include pictures , media and videos to make it even more interesting or turn into an audiobook by having students read the writing aloud.
- Image courtesy of Book Creator and Emma B.
- 2. Learning Journals – This is my personal favorite use of BC. Have students create a journal of their learning over time. Collect assessment of prior knowledge, pieces of work, formative assessments and then final products to show growth and understanding over time. When the unit is complete, have students examine their work and do a learning reflection – noting their strengths, weakness and overall assessment of their personal learning journey.
- 3. Sketchnoting Journal – I am obsessed with this idea. Have students create sketchnotes and keep them in one easy to access book creator journal – and then have students explain the thinking and information in their sketchnotes so that you can make their thinking visible. BOOM this is a game changer as you make the move toward visual note-taking rather than the tired text heavy linear version we all learned.
- 4. Student Created Textbooks – Have students work together to retell parts of a unit. They can work on the textbook together (and in real time in January) helping each other find mistakes and add needed additional information. They can even send their book to an expert to get even more feedback.
- Image courtesy of Book Creator
- 5. Collaborative Book – Students can work with students in another class or city to write a book together. Example from Carolyn Skibba from Burly School in Chicago – students from Chicago wrote a book with students in Iceland sharing details and fun facts about each of their cities.
- 6. Student Fluency Journal – Capture student reading fluency by having them take pictures of reading material and then record themselves reading the section. Collect these over time to show student growth throughout the year. Consider capturing comprehension by having them explain what happened after the reading.
- 7. Wonder Journal – Thinking Routines. Thinking Routines are a great way to have students think about and unpack their learning. Using the thinking routines found here have students keep a journal of their thinking and wondering throughout the year or at the end of a unit.
- 8. Student Created Language Books that Talk – Teaching foreign language? Lucky you, technology should be your go to for exceptional lesson ideas! With Book Creator, have students create a talking language book. They can take pictures of items and record their pronunciation and put into a complete sentence. In the final pages add a video where students take someone on a tour of an area using their new words and verbs. I have even seen great sentence starter books by Hebrew teachers that I loved and more importantly that parents loved!
- 9. Math Tutorials Workbook – Using a great program like SeeSaw or Explain Everything have students create math tutorials. Compile them into one book that students can quickly reference and find. Why not publish and share with the world!
- 10. History Journals/Instagram Feeds – Have students take on the characters of a historical person during a unit of study. As they learn more have them create a diary like journal or fake Instagram postings from his time period – using text and hashtags – that you compile in book creator. It’s a fun way to include and app they love, while keep the information private.
- 11. Science Journals or Lab Reports – Students can take time-lapse videos using their phones – during the science experiment phase. Then bring the video into Book Creator and use that to do the write-up of the lab – the can do this collaboratively and later they can compare their findings with that of the other groups as they look at the library for other examples.
- 12. Character Study Journals – While reading a book students follow a character constructing a timeline of their changes throughout. Have them think of themselves as a detective noting details about the character and how their personality is being revealed through the authors words. This might be a fun place to incorporate Book Snaps that grab quotes from the book to further illustrate the characters personality traits.
- 13. Field Trip Journal – Going on a field trip? Don’t miss out on an incredible learning opportunity. Have students take pictures and use those pictures to later explain and reflect on learning that happened on the trip. It is sad how many times we take field trips with no documentation of learning.
- 14. Reflection Journals – Collect work over a unit and have students reflect on how that affected their learning and where they felt they were strong learners or might need to develop more skills.
- 15. What I love Journals – In an effort to help students learn who they are as learners and begin to discover their passions have them collect learnings they love or that really hit home with them. Then at the end of the year have them reflect on how this might help them discover what job they might consider when they get older.
Book Creator on Chrome allows teachers with Chromebooks to finally begin creating content and really powerful demonstrations of learning. Go ahead in 2018 try to find one way to use this amazing tool into your curriculum – you won’t be sorry!