Community-Created E-Books!

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:

 Though it looks like a mess, students have imported photos, taken their own, and played with the pen, sound, and resizing options. For older students, placing tablets in a center with an engaging prompt (make a book about your favorite animal! Write a fairy tale or comic about yourself or a friend!

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.