Wednesday, review of Book Creator app (Language Arts)

          The purpose of the Book Creator app is the allow the user to create a digital book. I was originally drawn to this app because it gives students a chance to incorporate visual creativity with creative writing, and to have a finished product to show and to be proud of. This app may not be suitable for the youngest users, but probably a second grade audience or older would be ideal.
          The app opens with a tutorial, given in the format of a digital book, like one that will be created later on. This tutorial gives seven steps to creating your own digital book, which I will explain in more detail. The first step is to add content to the page. By pressing the + button, content such as pictures, videos, sound, text, or a drawing may be inserted. Step two is to position the content you have just inserted. By using simple finger adjustments the image or textbox can be rotated, enlarged, or moved around the page. Step three explains the process of syncing your imaged with Book Creator in order to give you more image options to add to the book.
          Step four is about using the Inspector. The Inspector is a menu option shown at the top of the page, represented by an i with a circle around it. This option allows the user to adjust specifics such as font, font size, font color, background, alignment, etc. Step five on the tutorial is called "Give it a go!" and is an invitation to experiment with the app for yourself. Step six is building your book, and gives details on how to view your book, your pages, or to undo. From here, you can reorder your pages or even share your finished product via email or other social networks.
          The final step is Step seven: reading your book. Once your book is completed it can be saved into your library of books, so that multiple books can be created and stored on the app.
          As a teacher, Book Creator would be an awesome tool to allow my students an outlet of creativity after a language arts lesson. Students could use Book Creator to implement some of the concepts gained through the lesson, or just to practice creative plot writing skills. For those students who are gifted in artistic areas, this would be a great project to incorporate creative writing with visual art. This app would also allow students to have a finished product that they could read over and over again, save, and be proud of. They could even email it to their parents at work! Students could work in partners or individually to create a book, and once the entire class has finished we could have a book reading in which each student or partnership could present their final product.