Personal Introduction via Book Creator

Let’s start the semester with a creative task using Book Creator, a simple tool that lets you express yourself through text, images, audio, and video. Book Creator can help students share their ideas, culture, and identity in creative ways. It builds confidence and gives them ownership of their learning.

For teachers, it’s a great way to design engaging assignments and better understand student thinking. Teachers can use Book Creator to design interactive lessons, support student voice, and differentiate instruction through multimedia storytelling

The Purpose

This activity helps you do two things at once:

1. Introduce yourself to your instructor (and possibly teammates)
2. Explore a tool you might use in your own classroom

This activity supports several key  InTASC Standards for Pre-Service Teachers:

• 1(g) Learner Development: The teacher understands the role of language and culture in learning and knows how to modify instruction to make language comprehensible and instruction relevant, accessible, and challenging.
  
• 3(m) Learning Environments: The Teacher knows how to use technologies and how to guide learners to apply them in appropriate, safe, and effective ways
  
• 4(g) Content Knowledge: The teacher uses supplementary resources and technologies effectively to ensure accessibility and relevance for all learners
• 6(i) Assesment: The teacher continually seeks appropriate ways to employ technology to support assessment practice both to engage learners more fully and to assess and address learner needs.
  
• 6(k) Assessment: The teacher understands the range of  types and multiple purposes of assessments and how to design, adapt, and select appropriate assessments to address specific learning goals and individual differences and to minimize sources of bias
  
• 8(l) Instructional Strategies: The teacher knows when and how to use appropriate strategies to differentiate instruction and engage all learners in complex thinking and meaningful tasks.
• 8(r): Instructional Strategies: The teacher is committed to exploring how using new and emerging technologies can support and promote student learning.

This activity supports mostly the following ISTE Standards for Educators:

• 2.1 Educators continually improve their practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning.
• 2.2 Educators model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation and adoption of new digital resources and tools for learning
  

Assignment Steps

1. Log in to Book Creator as a teacher using a free account (follow the steps there, you may need to add University of Northern Iowa as your school).
2. Complete the short, four-page tutorial book that appears after login.

   Examples and Resources:

   • Book by Seth Vickers
   • Book by Wilson Rojas
   • Book by Natialie (our GA)
   • Book by Magda Galloway
   • Getting Started tutorials
3. Read the example book about one of your instructors ( see the yellow box =>)
4. Create a personal book to introduce yourself. Be sure to include all required book content components listed below in the next section.
5. Publish your book
6. Create a post in the designated discussion in eLearning:
   • Submit the link to your published book.
   • Choose and answer three reflection questions in your post.
   • Interact with at least two classmates' posts by replying thoughtfully.

Required components for book content

1. Your name, with a recorded pronunciation
2. A photo of you
3. An image that represents something important to you
4. Responses to the following prompts (typed, recorded, or as video - try them all!)
1. Who are you, and where are you from?
2. What year are you in college, and what’s your major/minor?
3. Do you work? What are your responsibilities?
4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
5. Tell us something unique about yourself.
6. Rate your tech skills (1–10).
7. What are you currently binge-watching? Favorite movie/show?
8. What are you currently reading? Favorite book?
9. Anything else you’d like to share!
5. Experiment with multimedia features (audio, video, voice recording, images, links etc.)

Important TIP: You are a student at the College of Education and a future teacher. What you say, how you present yourself, and what you show in your immediate surroundings while you capture your image or video matters.

We are looking forward to learn more about you

Book Creator Reflection Questions

Answer the following Questions in a provided discussion board in eLearning

1. First Impressions: What did you think of Book Creator overall? Do you see yourself using it in your future classroom?
2. Ease of Use: Was it easy to learn and navigate? What parts felt intuitive or challenging?
3. Creativity & Inclusion: In what ways could Book Creator help spark creativity and support inclusion for your students?
4. Accessibility Tools: How might features like audio, video, alt text, or voice recordings help reach all learners? What accessibility features stood out to you?
5. Classroom Application: How could Book Creator support different learners in your classroom? (Tip: Check out the templates and examples for projects inspiration!)
6. Assessment Ideas: How might Book Creator be useful for assessing student learning in creative or alternative ways? Think about how it could support different goals, learners, and reduce bias. (InTASC 6(k))
7. Language & Culture: How could you use Book Creator to celebrate and build on students’ home languages and unique cultural backgrounds? How might you adapt instruction to make it more relevant, accessible, and challenging for all learners? (InTASC 1(g))

NOTE: Reflections prioritize the student’s authentic voice and perspective. Clear personal opinions and honest thinking are valued more than polished writing or trying to “say the right thing.”

Submitting

In the group discussion ( link under Assignment 1 in eLearning)

• Share the link to your published book 
• Post your reflections
• Read and interact with at least two posts by your peers

Point Structure (60 points)