Hello,
Teachers!
My proposal is to work with families, classrooms, and the app Book
Creator to make a multilingual e-book library available on tablets in the
library and also shared as iBook formats for the entire school to access.
Why:
· We must have books that represent our
whole school community.
· It’s often hard to find high-quality
books in all the languages / of all the ethnicities of our students.
· Many bicultural families have
literacies that are not appreciated by white, mainstream culture. Storytelling
is one of these.
· Students succeed when families feel
honored and meaningfully engaged!
This
can be a pre-K – 6 activity! When I was working on my final paper on bilingual
librarianship, I found two articles that I thought to combine for a
technologically-savvy, family-honoring, literacy-rich environment. They’re
cited below.
This
project would of course be after creating a space for the students to engage
with the app – they would begin in small groups or centers-based exploration.
On a pre-K/K level, this could look like this:
Once
students are comfortable manipulating the app (whatever this means on their
level), families are either invited in or a descriptive letter is sent home.
Essentially, a family member will sit down with their student and tell them a
story in their native language (English, español, Diné, Chichewa…). They can
either record themselves on their voice recorder app (there’s a free version on
every Smartphone) and email it to the teacher/librarian, and/or write it out afterwards.
If the story is in a language that a teacher does not speak and the student is
in the younger grades, parents can write in English /draw key concepts.
This story will be the plot of the book. Then,
students will create one or more pages of the story. The images can be their
illustrations or photographs, or photographs sent by the parents.
Roughly,
then, the Levels could look like this.
● Level 1: Picture Book With Labels:
Students write one or two words under each image. (For students who cannot
write in their native languages, teachers or families can insert the native
language.) Families record the text with teacher directions or assistance.
● Level 2: Picture Book With Simple
Sentences: Students write a simple sentence under each of the images, often
with sentence starters provided by teachers. Families record the text with
teacher directions or assistance.
● Level 3: Simple Story With Text-
Structure Template: Students wrote their own sentences to provide details and
context. They also manage recording with assistance.
● Level 4: More Complex Text With More
Details: Students provide context and details multilingually. They independently
teach family members how to record and may add other sound effects to their
book.
(modified
from Louis & Welton-Davis, 2016, p. 600)
Here’s
what a Level 1 and a Level 4 might look like:
This
sort of project could be within your classroom, an optional extension activity
with families during curriculum night, and/or within your class’ weekly library
time.
Interested?
Any questions? Don’t hesitate to let me know!
¡Hasta pronto!
ISTE
Standards: 2b, 2c, 4b, 4d (big time!), 5a, and 6d.
Resources
Louie,
B., & Welton-Davis, K. (2016). Family literacy project: Bilingual picture
books by English
Language Learners. The
Reading Teacher 69(6), 597-606.
Rowe,
D. & Miller, M. (2015). Designing for diverse classrooms: Using iPads and
digital cameras to
compose eBooks with emergent bilingual/ biliterate
four-year-olds. Journal of Early
Childhood Literacy, 1-48.
