Voice Thread (Digital Platform)

July 5, 2020

Book Creator helps amplify ELLs' Voices:

1.  Focus on students' strengths.

2. Use digital tools to scaffold in-person learning.

3.  Give ELLs an authentic audience.

English language learners (ELLs) come to us with diverse learning needs.  Book Creator, gives students the practice using English in a variety of settings.  The more we can get our ELLs speaking, writing, and communicating the better.  This digital storytelling tool empowers students to share their work with others, creating opportunities for authentic language acquisition.

The Book Creator app allows users of all ages to create and publish ebooks in several different formats.  Users can create ebooks with multiple pages and incorporate photos and videos from their camera roll into the page.  

Book Creator pages can also include multiple text boxes with a full text editor (size, font, color, etc.)  Uses can handwrite or draw on a page with the pen feature.  They can record sound bytes for each page.  

Book Creator App

These are the steps we'll go through:

1. Create a new book
2. Choose the book shape
3. Add your name
4. Style the text
5. Add a selfie
6. Record a voice message
7. Change the background

If your students need more help, check out our video tutorial for students.

1. A new book

First, click on the New Book button in the top right of the toolbar.

2. Choose the shape of your book

Now you need to choose the shape of your book - portrait, square or landscape. The numbers beneath the shapes refer to the size ratio. At this point you can also choose whether to work the basic templates, or the comic templates. For this guide we're choosing a basic template. Note: you cannot change the shape of a book once you've chosen it.

3. Add content with the + button

Let's start with your name. Press the + button in the top right of the toolbar and choose Text.

4. Styling your text

Type your name into the popup box and then click Done. The text appears with a blue box around it, which means it's selected. Now you can move it around or rotate it with the green handle.

Whilst the text is selected, click on the i button (Inspector). Here's where you can resize the text, change the font, color, and various other styles.

t's also useful to know that if at any time you make a mistake, you can click the Undo button in the toolbar to undo the last action.

5. Add a photo

It wouldn't be an 'About me' book without a selfie. Click on the + button again and this time choose Camera. Click on the Take Picture button when you're ready (don't forget to smile 😀).

Once it's added to the page, you can use the handles to resize and position the photo.

6. Record your voice

To make things really personal, let's record a short message telling the reader how you're feeling today. Click on the + button again and now click Record. Click the Start Recording button when you're ready. Wait for the countdown, then record your message and click Stop Recording when you're done. 

When you're finished, you can move the audio hotspot around, and resize it if you need to. To listen to your recording, just click on the audio hotspot icon.

7. Change the background

The last step is to choose a suitable background for your book. Click on the Inspector (i) and make sure you have the Page tab selected. Choose one of the solid color backgrounds or one of the decorative patterns, borders or papers.

8. Rename your book

Click the 'My Books' button in the toolbar to go back to your bookshelf. Make sure you give your book a title. By default it will be called 'A New Book' - just click on the title and you can type in a new one.

Create. Read. Publish. (Tools)