Preparing our students to create digital content is more important than ever in our classrooms as we at Grandview are committed to making learning more engaging, relevant, and meaningful. Students are pretty good when handed an iPad and asked to practice their skills on an app, but it takes learning to a whole new level when asking them to use an app to create something.
For example, take one of our amazing teachers Mary Thacker, 4th grade teacher at MM. She decided to give her students a chance to be content creators rather than content consumers. Students were learning about regions of the United States and were asked to create their own digital book describing different aspects of their region.
Mrs. Thacker gave her students time to learn and teach each other how to use the app, Book Creator, before they started working on their projects. Once students understood the app better, they dove right in on making their digital book. If you were to walk into this 4th grade classroom, you would have seen students engaged with this assignment, helping each other with questions about the process, and thinking critically about the content and design of their books. Students will eventually use these books to present their information.
For example, take one of our amazing teachers Mary Thacker, 4th grade teacher at MM. She decided to give her students a chance to be content creators rather than content consumers. Students were learning about regions of the United States and were asked to create their own digital book describing different aspects of their region.
Mrs. Thacker gave her students time to learn and teach each other how to use the app, Book Creator, before they started working on their projects. Once students understood the app better, they dove right in on making their digital book. If you were to walk into this 4th grade classroom, you would have seen students engaged with this assignment, helping each other with questions about the process, and thinking critically about the content and design of their books. Students will eventually use these books to present their information.
The real question is why use Book Creator? Can’t students just write their information on paper? First, exposing our students to a variety of technologies throughout their education will help to prepare them for their future careers. Second, using technology like Book Creator allows students to do something that paper and pencil can’t… it can allow them to reach a global audience. The next assignment these students have to create a book, it will be more familiar, they can learn from their mistakes during the first assignment, and they can publish their books to a blog like Edublogs or Seesaw, or they could even submit their books to the iBooks store to become published. Students who know their books will be read by a more global audience will invest more into their books and they will be proud of it. That is a powerful and authentic learning experience for our students and we as teachers need to encourage our students to be content creators.
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