Happy Trail-ers To You...Until...#2

Larry Ferlazzo posted on his bog,  Larry Ferlazzo's Web Sites of the Day this morning about using Fotobabble as a practice vehicle for students making more sophisticated book trailers.  I had previously posted (September 22, 2010) about this web 2.0 app but had thought of it more as a voice enhancement for a particular photograph rather than as a book review device.  This would be one of those "Now why didn't I think of that?" moments for me.  A colleague of his developed a simple rubric which is free for all to use.  Depending on your classroom requirements students can write a review, script, etc. individually or with a partner prior to recording their voice coupled with a picture of the book jacket.  Images for use in Fotobabble can be uploaded from your computer and Facebook or via a link to an image.

 Due to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act they must be 13 years of age to use this app.  What a great opportunity for an adult to partner with a younger student to take advantage of this integration of technology into the classroom setting.

 

That post also linked to a previous post dated August 3, 2010 that mentioned an additional app called Bookr .  As far as I can tell there is no registration or age requirement.  Bookr is a tool to create and share your own photobook.  To begin users type in a tag which searches the site Flickr for creative commons photos.  These can then be dragged to fit a frame on the original four pages or clicked to fill the entire page of a book. Text can be added to each page.  Each book needs a title and an author.  Following a rubric students can create a book trailer which is another step up from the Fotobabble style.  A photobook can be embedded in a page entirely or with a link. 

A final site mentioned in Ferlazzo's older post is Book Trailers For Readers .  This wiki was started and is maintained by teacher librarian, Michelle Harclerode, 2010 Elementary Media Specialist of the Year, Lee County, Florida.  Categories include New Releases, Popcorn Worthy, Blockbusters (Student created) and Cult Classics (Teacher favorites). 

Harclerode includes on her wiki highly useful pages, Rules for Book Blogging and How to Make a Book Trailer.

What a fantastic way to promote reading and writing, blend technology into the curriculum and break away from the traditional dreaded book report.