Plan of Implementation: iBook Author

This school year I am going to focus on using iBook Author in my classroom.  I currently teach 7th and 8th grade social studies and I would like to use it with both grade levels.  While attending the Kodiak Virtual Learning conference, I learned how powerful this tool is.  It will be a great way to have kids show what they know in a in an authentic format.

The biggest challenge I am having in planning the use of this technology is deciding how I can get the biggest impact from it.  I have several ideas,  some of which rely on buy-in from the rest of my team.  For instance, we have thrown around the idea of implementing a school-wide Genius Hour and I think creating ibooks as the final format would be very powerful.  Until, however, I can get back with my team and share all my ideas, I will instead focus on a plan of implementation that I can control.

7th grade project
Step 1
I Do, You Do: Student Handbook
First Month of School

At the Kodiak Conference we had the opportunity to work with Sally Eberhart.  I really appreciated the way she taught us to use the iAuthor tool.  Sally had all of the clips, photos, text, movies, etc., all ready for us to use.  Because of this, we were able to concentrate on how to use the tool and not be distracted by surfing the net to find what we wanted.  I think this is especially important for teaching kids!  Everyone knows how distracted they can become then a laptop gets placed in front of them.

I am planning on using the content in our school handbook as a teaching tool for how to use iAuthor.
I will send all of the students the content and use the I Do, We Do, You Do method of teaching how to use the tool.  The creation of the handbook with likely take the better part of a week, and it will be one of the first things we do in class.

Step 2
You Do: Where I live Unit
Every couple of weeks throughout the school year.

The next step of the plan will take the better part of the school year to develop.  My plan is to pause after each standard is taught and have the student's apply their knowledge of the standard in  creating sections of an ibook about Metlakatla.  The book will include the following sections:

• Geography
• Government
• Culture
• Economics
• History
• Citizenship: My place in my community

Step 3

Collaboration

May

At the end of the year each student will be a charge of a section of the book; pulling information from  their classmates, finding/taking photos, adding video clips, creating quizzes and using all the various aspects of iAuthor.

In the end we will have a collaborative book that describes Metlakatla.  The ibook will be published and shared with students from other states.