Episode 315: Katie Fielding

Episode 315: Unlock Creativity & Accessibility with Book Creator and Katie Fielding 

[00:00:30] Fonz: Hello everybody, and welcome to another great episode of My EdTech Live.

[00:00:33] Fonz: Thank you so much for joining us on this wonderful day and wherever it is that you're joining us from around the world. Thank you as always for your continued support. I would like to announce that today is a very special day. We have just hit 100,000 downloads, so thank you each and every single one of you, all our listeners.

[00:00:54] Fonz: Especially our amazing guests who have come on here, have shared their stories, shared their [00:01:00] journeys, their expertise, and again, we do what we do for you so we can bring you these amazing conversations so we can continue to grow in the education landscape. So thank you so much. For all of that support, and I'm excited to celebrate this milestone too, with a wonderful creator and somebody that is truly inspiring, who's been on the show before and is doing some phenomenal work.

[00:01:22] Fonz: So I would love to welcome to the show today, Katie Fielding. Katie, how are you doing today?

[00:01:28] Katie: Good. I'm excited to celebrate with you. It's been a few years since I've been here and I'm so proud of you.

[00:01:33] Fonz: Thank you so much Katie, and yes, it has been a couple of years. I think the, the last time you told me, I think we, what it was four years?

[00:01:41] Katie: Yeah, yeah. Four years in

[00:01:42] Fonz: May, I think. Yep. Yes. Four years in May. So this is amazing just to have you back on. And of course, you know, at that time you were sharing your wonderful inspirational story, the work that you were doing, obviously through Covid and being able to help so many educators, not only in your area, but.

[00:01:58] Fonz: Really globally, [00:02:00] you know, with the resources that you were putting out. And then of course you're sharing your inspirational story too as well. And, uh, now you are in a new role and I am excited to have you on here so you can tell us a little bit more about that new role. So, Katie, for our audience members who have, are not familiar with your work just yet, can you give us a little bit of an introduction and what your context is within the education space?

[00:02:26] Fonz: Sure,

[00:02:27] Katie: of course. Um, so I was a teacher and then I was a tech coach, and then I was a STEM specialist, so I had 20 years in the K 12 space. And then this summer I joined book creator as the educational content manager, which means that I get to do really fun content creation all the time. So a little bit of curriculum creation, a lot of marketing creation, and it's just a lot of fun and a great extension of a lot of the work that I was doing before as a consultant.

[00:02:56] Katie: Advocating and presenting to teachers about accessibility, [00:03:00] which as a disabled person, is a huge passion of mine.

[00:03:03] Fonz: Exactly. And you know, it's amazing. Just what I love about your journey is the various lenses that you have seen, the education space in, you know, as a teacher in the classroom. And then of course with all those three specialties and then the, uh, professional development, which I know with professional development, it has to be something.

[00:03:23] Fonz: That is good. Something that is engaging and innovative because as teachers, you know that those are some of the things that where we go and find those gems that we can go sprinkle into our classroom. And again, following your work for years, and I've had the honor of meeting you at iste, I think that was what, maybe two years ago in Philadelphia?

[00:03:41] Fonz: Mm-hmm. In first. And then got to briefly see you at TCEA because you were running to, you were both so busy. Yeah. And then you were running too 'cause you had a session. But I must say that TCEA was wonderful this year that I saw book, the book Creator booth. Was like a whole different [00:04:00] thing. I mean, I, you can barely walk through that little section because everybody was surrounding the book creator booth, which is fantastic.

[00:04:06] Fonz: Which also is a testament to the work that you are all are doing in that you're engaging so many educators and they're finding the value in those tools and. I think, you know, with your expertise and like you mentioned, what you get to do now and, and really creating, and still advocating and bringing your passions together, I think that that's a great fit.

[00:04:25] Fonz: And so I'm excited to dive in a little bit more into that. So, for our audience members that, you know, weren't able to make it to TCA or get to see all the wonderful stuff that you guys were doing in the booth, can you tell us a little bit about what Book creator is and you know, how it could be used in the classroom?

[00:04:44] Katie: Yeah, so we like to say that we're the most inclusive tool for creativity and demonstrating learning for K 12. So, um, we're a blank kind of canvas. Students can make books, but you don't always have to think of it as a book. You could [00:05:00] think of it as a digital activity. Um, and so it can be a blank canvas, but we also have tons of templates that students and teachers can start from, or teachers can make their own templates and assign them to their students.

[00:05:12] Katie: So it has a book like format, which is really familiar for, for people, but we have so many inclusive accessibility features and we just launched one really this week. I'll be glad to show you, uh, which is Text to Speech and PDF. So now when you add a PDF to your book. It will read that PDF aloud to a student, which we know can be a really nice, uh, way to elevate that PDF that maybe you printed out before.

[00:05:37] Katie: But now it can be more inclusive and accessible to a student because they can have it read to them and then they can respond in the best way for them either with text or audio or video. That

[00:05:48] Fonz: is wonderful and we'll definitely get into that. 'cause Yeah, I'm really excited for you to share some of those features because like I mentioned many educators out there and I saw the number there at the booth and I know that there were many people [00:06:00] that were doing presentations, including yourself, um, book creators.

[00:06:03] Fonz: So I know that we have some audience members that maybe have heard of it, maybe kind of dip their toes a little bit. But maybe after today when they get to see a little bit more of what can be done, they'll definitely just dive right in. But before we get into that. I think that you described book creator in a very good way, which is just a multimodal learning tool, which yeah, I absolutely love because I know currently many times in the classrooms we'll see that.

[00:06:28] Fonz: And there's nothing wrong with this because I know that it could still be effective depending on the classroom. And of course with the teacher engagement too, it's a, you know, teacher centered. This allows, what I like is that it's a little bit more student centered or you can partner up and then the students are able to share their learning process, share their thinking, whether it's through, uh, speaking, whether it's through uploading, whether it's through creating something within the book itself, uploading images.

[00:06:57] Fonz: So there is a myriad of [00:07:00] ways that the students can show mastery of the concept. And I think that's something that is very beneficial and very needed. And I think that, uh, there is some new tech that is out there, obviously. Mm-hmm. You know, everybody's buzzing about ai. Yeah. But sometimes just to kinda reel it back in and just get back into just the basics of it, in that sense of just allowing the student to share their thought process in a way that is creative and it's engaging.

[00:07:27] Fonz: Also inclusive. I mean, it's fantastic. And that's the one thing that I do love. As I was flipping through some of the pages of the books that I had created, um, one of the things I do wanna highlight is one of the most read books in my district was when I was doing the Google level one, level two certification.

[00:07:43] Fonz: Yeah. So I created it using book creator. And so the teachers would just go view the book. They go like, okay, chapter one, we're talking about spreadsheets. Chapter two we're talking about this. And so it was a fun way. To present the material and still engage [00:08:00] the, and still engage my audience, which in this case was my teachers with the video format and the speaking and all of that great stuff.

[00:08:06] Fonz: So that I think is very, very exciting. So now I know you mentioned there is that new feature, which I think is fantastic with PDFs. So what I would love to do now is, if you don't mind, let me go ahead and just share your screen so you can kind of give us an overview of what book creator. Is and what it's doing and some of the tools that are there.

[00:08:27] Fonz: So here we go. Yeah.

[00:08:29] Katie: Great. So this is book creator. This is one of my libraries and something that you just mentioned that I kind of love using book creator for is presenting. Um, so I love, you know, I used to use a Google slide or maybe another presentation tool. But now when I present with Book Creator, I have all of my like attendees and my presenting sessions join my library.

[00:08:50] Katie: All they have to do is join with a code and then I get like an instant attendance list of everyone who's come to my presentation session. So that's a really nice feature that, you [00:09:00] know, other, other presentation tools don't automatically give you. So if someone joins my library, I get like kind of a point of contact for them, which is nice.

[00:09:08] Katie: If I'm have my library here, of course it's creating books. Every new book has three pages and the newest thing that we launched this week is touch text to speech for PDFs. And so you'll see our import PDF button is now highlighted 'cause we really wanna feature that. And if you come in here and you look for a PDF on your computer, I'm gonna pull this one, you can come in, you can pick the size that's best based on that PDF.

[00:09:35] Katie: And now I can right click on it and select scan for text. I'm gonna say current page only, and now it can be read aloud. So I'll see now the speaker button down here.

[00:09:47] Fonz: Name, I can identify three different forces, think and plan.

[00:09:52] Katie: So now I can have that whole PDF read to me and I've had some people on social being like, oh, I don't like that voice.

[00:09:58] Katie: Um, if they have a different voice. And [00:10:00] all you have to do is come up into read mode, the play button in the top right, and go into the gear, and you can select a different voices. So I can go into those English voices and I can look for, you know, another English voice. If I'm Australian, I could choose Catherine Fred.

[00:10:14] Katie: Mm-hmm. I don't know if I like Fred's voice.

[00:10:17] Fonz: Gordon.

[00:10:18] Katie: Gordon. All right. Maybe I'll go with, uh, Kathy. Kathy. Okay. All right. I'll go with her. So now if I go back into edit mode, um, and I click on this again, um, I can, uh, I can have it read by Kathy.

[00:10:35] Fonz: That is fantastic. And I think that that is something that is so useful because I think, like for the most part, I know within my district, our content specialists, what they do, or cotton co content coordinators, I should say, what they do is they create a lot of, uh, you know, activities for the teachers to share with students.

[00:10:53] Fonz: And for the most part, the, the delivery. Is always going to be a PDF. Yeah. And I know that we have tools [00:11:00] that, you know, students can work with PDFs and so on, but just the fact that you can also bring it in into book creator and also be read and be read nicely and clearly too as well, depending on the voice type that you like.

[00:11:12] Fonz: Yeah. I think that takes that to that next level because within book creator, like you mentioned, there's so many other things that you would be able to do. Like, so for example, I would be imagining too that. In looking at this PDF and getting read to me as a student, uh, I would also have the ability to vote, like record my answer using my voice and just pop it into one of those boxes instead of necessarily having to type anything in, which would be just something great for accessibility as well.

[00:11:40] Fonz: Correct?

[00:11:41] Katie: Yeah, exactly. So I can just click start recording. If I'm thinking about the different types of forces pushing and pulling, I can think about a potential energy be my student's response. So that can then be a response here. I. [00:12:00] If my student, let's say they were a newcomer, uh, Spanish speaker, and they wrote, they spoke that in Spanish, but I'm a, a, a science teacher and I don't speak Spanish.

[00:12:10] Katie: Um, I could easily add a transcript to whatever they said in their home language, and then after I transcribe that, it takes just a moment.

[00:12:23] Fonz: This is fantastic.

[00:12:24] Katie: I could then translate it so I could bring it to English. In this case, I'm gonna go to Spanish 'cause I spoke in, in English. Uh, but now I have that exact audio, what the, what students said or what I said can be easily translated.

[00:12:36] Katie: So yeah, the, the accessibility features and the potential to really build and reduce barriers in our classroom, uh, to reduce the barriers and start those relationship building, uh, things from day one with a, uh, multilingual newcomer are really empowering.

[00:12:52] Fonz: No, I agree with you. And I know, I think last episode, the episode, because this is episode three 15, episode three 14, [00:13:00] uh, I had a gentleman here, you know, they from Pocket Talk and he mentioned something that's very important is the, like you mentioned too, is the highlighting that relationship aspect.

[00:13:10] Fonz: I mean, what I get to see too here and, and I, and I know it's not just in my area. But pretty much in the whole of the United States too, when you get new students that are coming in, whatever nationality that may be in, I mean, they're leaving their home behind, their culture behind. Mm-hmm. They're coming in now.

[00:13:26] Fonz: You know, as a teacher it adds a, a stressor to the teacher as well. It adds a stressor to the student as well and having that barrier to that language. But the fact that now through book creator, the student can go ahead and speak the answer in their native language and it still shows. They have mastery of that content or you know, explaining the thought process.

[00:13:47] Fonz: The teacher now can also listen to that and be able to see, okay, although the language may not be the same, the content is there or the thought process is there. And I think that's something that [00:14:00] is fabulous too, to have, because now. The student kind of has a, a relief of anxiety. Mm-hmm. And I've heard that happen many times here, even with our district, with something like tools that are able to translate, just that stress level goes down and now the learning can take place, that engagement.

[00:14:17] Fonz: And so what I want to add too is even here in Texas, I know we have what is called the TELPAS testing. Yeah. Where our students, which, which is very kind of difficult in a way. Uh. Students have to speak for 45 seconds. Mm-hmm. And they're giving a prompt or they're giving a picture. Yep. And if the students don't get to practice their speaking skills, that could be very difficult because now you have to carry on a conversation for 45 seconds.

[00:14:46] Fonz: And if you don't hit those 45 seconds. It doesn't matter if you used proper vocabulary or if everything was pronounced correctly because it's not 45 seconds. It's like, nope, sorry. You don't, you don't get to pass on or maybe exit the [00:15:00] program or show any growth. Yeah, so having this tool available is something that is fantastic because now the students can really dive in and practice and I think that would be something that's very beneficial and, and it is being beneficial to the classroom.

[00:15:14] Fonz: So I absolutely love that.

[00:15:16] Katie: With the, uh, four, you know, domains of language, reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students can do all of those things in book creator with the audio and video features. So you can have a, you could record something and have them do a listening exercise, or they can record something and do that speaking or a language piece.

[00:15:35] Katie: Uh, the possibilities are totally here, especially for those, those wida help us I think, in, uh. If they have another name in California for their testing. But yeah, all to lots of options for that.

[00:15:49] Fonz: All right, perfect. Now I do see here too, like I do wanna show our audience members this, 'cause I know you pulled this up, the all About Me journal.

[00:15:56] Fonz: So tell me a little bit about this and what the, the students are gonna be able to find through [00:16:00] this and the teachers as well.

[00:16:01] Katie: Yeah, so this is in our Discover area. So if you're on your teacher dashboard and you click on Discover, you're gonna find all of our REM mixable books. And this one's right here under getting started, and it is a journal that we've made just for newcomer students.

[00:16:14] Katie: So if you do have that new multilingual learner in your class, what I would do if I was in the classroom still is I'd remix this book. That's how you get your own copy of it. I'd put it in my library, and then I would make this book about me, the teacher, and I would then be able to translate this whole book into their home language and that.

[00:16:35] Katie: Student and their family can meet me and get to know me as a teacher, and then I can make another copy of it for them to complete in their home language. And once they've filled it in, I can translate it back to English and I can get to them, know them from day or week one. So that relationship building, this reduces that language barrier and we can start getting to know each other and building that teacher student relationship

[00:16:58] Fonz: again.[00:17:00]

[00:17:00] Fonz: Yeah. I'm gonna go ahead and just add a little something here. When I was still in the classroom, they didn't have this before or just these types of tools for that accessibility. And I would constantly in the, in the demographic area that I lived, and especially here in deep South Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley and because we're so close to Mexico, you know, there, there's a lot of manufacturing.

[00:17:23] Fonz: So we would get students that come in from Korea. Because their parents were working in the manufacturing. Or they would come in from Israel, they would come in from Japan. So sometimes middle of the semester, middle of the year, you would get a new student that comes in. And again, like we were talking about, yeah, kind of immersed in a new culture, immersed in a new language.

[00:17:42] Fonz: And for me, and I was just having a discussion with one of my colleagues and talking about the accessibility and how we can do better, and something like book creator being able to help out is that without wanting to single out the student. I was already, you know, singling them out in the sense that I would have to sit them [00:18:00] close to me because I had the iPad and then it was just Google Translate, can you type in?

[00:18:06] Fonz: And then me wait and listen. Mm-hmm. And then of course, having to take care of all the other students and, you know, just making sure that I'm doing my, my service to help them out. And also my other students. But now what I love here is the fact that what you just shared. Is now I can share who I am as a teacher, you know, philosophies or little rule, like, you know, classroom procedures, things of that sort that now the family gets to listen to in their language.

[00:18:32] Fonz: And then they can comfortably go ahead and create something in their language and then I can listen to it. And now I feel like I wouldn't have to. Kind of pull all those students together right next to my desk. They can also work with each other, communicating next to each other, you know? Mm-hmm. Even in the think pair share activity, and they can go back and forth.

[00:18:52] Fonz: And I think that that is something that we need to see more because again, going back student getting singled out, I, [00:19:00] it's, it, it's not fun as it is. They already have that additional stress. Mm-hmm. And so now it's a great way for them to build relationships, not only with you as a teacher. With the students, they can still collaborate and, you know, fill, you know, create those projects together, even though they may be speaking a different language.

[00:19:18] Fonz: But book creator helps break that, break down that language barrier, and I absolutely love that. That's fantastic. Yeah.

[00:19:25] Katie: Yeah. My, when my last year is in school, we had a lot of the students from the Afghan airlift when all those people quickly left. And, you know, I had a student, she was like, oh, they're not gonna have mine.

[00:19:37] Katie: No miss, like they don't have it. And then I was like, well, let's just look. And so, you know, I was like, let's take a look. And then she was like, she saw it, she saw Urdu and she was like, ah, like so excited that her language is there and she could do the assignment that everyone in the class was doing and her newcomer class, like.

[00:19:54] Katie: She had just gotten there and she was like empowered and she felt good about what she was doing and [00:20:00] that was really rewarding for me as the tech coach at that time.

[00:20:03] Fonz: That is fantastic. I love that, Katie. So if you don't mind if we go back to, uh, book creator here as well. Yeah. Then, um, let me go ahead and ask you here, as a new teacher coming in, talk to me a little bit about what the libraries are or the discovery where if, if I'm, this is my first time after watching the show Yeah.

[00:20:24] Fonz: And I'm like, okay, I wanna dive in. Where shall I go first to go ahead and just kind of dip my toes in and start getting comfortable with book creator.

[00:20:32] Katie: First of all, you're just gonna go to book creator.com and you're gonna click create a free account. So if you've never used it before, it is a, you can get in for free.

[00:20:41] Katie: You can get started for free with a free account. You can have one library with 40 books. So you'll see that I have a zillion libraries because if you have a premium account, you have unlimited libraries and you can have a thousand books. So the free account is really great, especially if you're an elementary teacher.

[00:20:59] Katie: We know that's a [00:21:00] really great number you can get started with. And then after you use those 40 books, you can archive them and then you'll have 40 more. So, um, so we try to make it so that the free account is really usable. Our founder, Dan Amos, he created book Creator because he had a son with dyslexia and he wanted to find a way to help him.

[00:21:21] Katie: Like reading and like writing. And so that's why he created book creators. So we still wanna make that available to a lot of students, uh, despite, uh, you know. Price barrier. So that's why we have the free account. Um, and we will keep it. Uh, but if you do want more bells and whistles and more libraries than the pre-med account is for you, and then you are gonna see your libraries.

[00:21:44] Katie: You can think of those as like your classrooms. The discover section is where we have our rem mixable books. Uh, I'm gonna highlight this one at the top, middle, our March activity journal. This is a great. Starting point. Every month we put out one of these activity [00:22:00] journals, and every day of the month there's a celebration or a recognition of something that's happening in the world or in the, in the states.

[00:22:08] Katie: Uh, so for instance, today is March 1st, and so it's world compliment day. And so, uh, FAS I'm just gonna compliment you, not on the postcard, but in person about how great this podcast has been for the education space. I've learned so much over listening the past few years. So kudos to you. So students can come in with their copy of the book and they can write a, a compliment card to someone and every day in March they can have a different activity.

[00:22:36] Katie: Wow, that's fantastic. So that's just one thing. A quick, quick win, you know, that's great Bell. Work at the end of, you know, you're done with your, your activity, go work on your activity journal or, you know, coming in for the day, a little getting in seat work as you first get into class. Um, that's a great one to go to.

[00:22:52] Fonz: Okay, so Katie, let me get this straight. Okay. And this is again, just to clarify and then for all our audience members here too. Yeah. So you're telling me that every [00:23:00] month there is a book that will be put out just by book creator to for, I mean, teacher can dive in and let's say that maybe next month is her first month in April, they're gonna find something there that they can go ahead and use for that whole month.

[00:23:13] Fonz: Is that really, is that, am I, am I understanding correctly?

[00:23:15] Katie: You are understanding. A hundred percent correct. So every month we have it highlighted up here. Uh, that's where you'll find it really easily.

[00:23:23] Fonz: That is fantastic. So for my educator friends out there that have been kind of on the fence or maybe just kind of dipping your little fingertips and toes into the book Creator kinda water, like as you notice here, Katie's just sharing what would be available for you every month as activities, things that you know, like she mentioned either.

[00:23:40] Fonz: Early morning, like kind of bell work, like welcome or at the end of the day, or maybe in between periods and things of that sort, and it's already built out for you and the students can go in there and go ahead and engage in that learning that sometimes, you know, it's great that they would have that independent learning time as well.

[00:23:57] Fonz: And it doesn't necessarily have to tie in to the [00:24:00] content at that given time, but. They get to, you know, go ahead and work on something and be engaged. But I do notice here at the bottom tabs you do have it broken down also by, you know, some subjects. Mm-hmm. You know, you have literacy, ELA curriculum and so on.

[00:24:12] Fonz: So tell us a little bit about that too, as well.

[00:24:15] Katie: So we have other templates. Um, and so we have it by, by content. So the student templates, these are the ones that are rem mixable on our Discover page. And so if you wanted to look for stem, you could come in here and maybe you teach science and you use the five E model.

[00:24:30] Katie: So this notebook template is gonna be perfect for you. Again, you just click remix this book, copy it into the library you want, and then. Edit it. I would not give every student this whole book up front. I would, you know, give them a few pages. That's another great feature in book creator is like you could assign a book with five pages and then after you can add a page to their books.

[00:24:53] Katie: As it goes. So it's a really great way to chunk the information for students. You know, you don't have that kid running ahead, you don't have that kid [00:25:00] that feels behind. You can, uh, really, uh, manage the classroom experience and the pace by our copy two feature, which allows you to copy a page, two student's books.

[00:25:11] Katie: Um, so we have all different kinds of content that you can remix, and then further down we have like inspirational content, content that's been made by our community for different grades and different content. If you scroll down even further that you can explore to see what real teachers are doing with book creator in their classrooms.

[00:25:29] Fonz: Oh, this is great. Yeah, this is wonderful. Now, Katie, I wanna ask you, I know that we had previously talked before and you showed me one that I think that for a lot of teachers, I mean, it definitely just like blow their mind and especially if they're, you know, kinder teachers working with, you know, learning the alphabet or learning letters and things of that sort.

[00:25:47] Fonz: And I think that that was fantastic because it includes. You know, the audio, it includes video and so on. Mm-hmm. So would you mind sharing that with me for the lower grade levels? Yeah. Because I think that that is something that they would absolutely love.

[00:25:59] Katie: I [00:26:00] think like the core of our really good content is found under literacy.

[00:26:03] Katie: And you'll see we have some recent, like text prep actually. We created these originally with the teaks in mind. So these are really great. Uh, these fourth, fifth and third grade, uh, reading response practice. But if we're looking for even younger students, you're definitely gonna wanna check out our, our literacy content.

[00:26:22] Katie: I love this one, the vowels teams book. Um, and so you'll see within this book, uh, a vowel team for every, you know, vowel team that little learners are learning. And it goes through and it gives them opportunities to hear it, say it, uh, find images that go with the vowel team. Write it. So they're really doing like step-by-step learning of understanding these, these vowel teams.

[00:26:47] Katie: And so we have those for all the vowel teams. We also have a whole collection of the five pillars of literacy and content to support that too.

[00:26:56] Fonz: Oh, that is fantastic. Yeah, and I know like for my [00:27:00] lower grade teachers, you know, I think that this is something that is wonderful that is already there again, as a supplement to what you are already doing.

[00:27:07] Fonz: Great. So imagine you're doing this, your initial teach, you know, you're going through it with your students and then now you can go ahead and, you know, put open up a Chromebook or you can work on this together. You can either project it and then just have an engaging, colorful. Editable classroom discussion and students can definitely, you know, continue their learning and be engaged, whether it's independent or through the help and support of a teacher.

[00:27:31] Fonz: And I think that this is something that is fantastic. Wow. Yeah. Alright, Katie, next thing that I wanna talk about, because I have been seeing this all over social media, and I know it's been for the next, for the last couple of weeks, now we're talking about. Be an Author Month, which starts today, March 1st when this episode will be released.

[00:27:51] Fonz: Yes. March 1st. So tell me a little bit about what Be an Author Month is and the competition that book creators putting together.

[00:27:58] Katie: Yes. We started be an author [00:28:00] month a few years ago with a celebration every March. Encouraging students to be creative and become authors. So we have a lot of exciting things happening this year.

[00:28:09] Katie: We have a competition where it's a personal narrative competition for students to tell their stories. Um, this is actually something I helped my my el teachers do back when I was a tech coach and using book creator to tell those. Those newcomer stories, uh, was really a powerful opportunity for them. But we wanna give that to every kid in the world, and so every kid in the world can enter this.

[00:28:32] Katie: Every school can submit three books. To represent their school. And we have great prizes this year for students, but we really just wanna encourage them to be creative storytellers and obviously students know themselves and they every, everyone has a unique story to share. I know that I've been empowered by sharing my own story, and so we wanna again, pass that along to students and.

[00:28:53] Katie: Empower them to share their stories and what they love, what their passions are, what they like, helping people with [00:29:00] what you know, um, gets them excited, uh, what's been challenging for them. So whatever angle they wanna go at, we really excited to read their narrative.

[00:29:09] Fonz: I. Oh, that is fantastic. Yeah. So let's go ahead and take a look at this here and tell us a little bit more.

[00:29:13] Fonz: So as a teacher diving in, and I see this on social media, or after today, this afternoon, on, on Saturday, I'm listening to the episode and I'm like, okay, I gotta go here. Where can they find the information and what should they be able to follow? That way they can enter their school or their class into this competition.

[00:29:31] Katie: So you're gonna find our Be an Author Month Hub on our website. If you go to our website, you'll see a banner at the top that will get you to this page. And we have four main areas on this page. So information about the tell your story, competition, and if you go onto, uh, this page or further on the competition page, I should say, um, you're gonna see all the rules, all the prizes.

[00:29:52] Katie: We have some really great prizes this year. So the winning kids are gonna get a Kindle Color Soft, their class is gonna get a pizza party. [00:30:00] We got swag, um, and we will get your book printed as well. So really fun things, uh, to support teachers and helping their students submit entries. We've created a whole set of templates, so in these templates we have some for elementary and some for secondary.

[00:30:16] Katie: And all you need to do is again, remix the book. And assign it to students and it will help them. This one will be a planning book where they can plan their personal narrative, and the other book is the template that they can use to put their final story in and submit it. Um, and teachers will be submitting those to be clear.

[00:30:35] Katie: Um, so yeah, once the entries open, which is going to happen on the fifth. And they close on April 5th. Um, so you have a whole month to get your entries in, three entries for every school. Um, and then in later in April, we'll be announcing the winners.

[00:30:52] Fonz: That is fantastic Katie, and I think that this is a, a great exercise too, not only in obviously engaging with book [00:31:00] creator, but just like you mentioned, being able to tell your story, being able to write, and then of course for a lot of students, you know, sometimes that may be something that is difficult, maybe writing for that specific subject matter.

[00:31:11] Fonz: But for them to be able to relay their story, their message, their experiences, and so on, I think that this is a great exercise for them to just really put themselves out there and just get to learn a little bit more writing skills, putting this together, and then the teachers allowing the students just to be creative.

[00:31:28] Fonz: And I think that this is fantastic. This is wonderful. Yeah.

[00:31:31] Katie: And if students wanna use audio and video to tell their story within their book. We welcome that and we encourage that too. So if you're more comfortable as a student telling it with an oral and oral storytelling, we know is a huge, uh, you know, historically cultural, uh, practice.

[00:31:48] Katie: We're encouraging that. We wanna see that whatever is, uh, important to you and the way you wanna share it, that's what we wanna see.

[00:31:55] Fonz: That is fantastic. And I think right now when you said that, you know, if [00:32:00] I, when I was growing up, like I said, I didn't learn English until I was probably, that I can remember maybe like till like about third grade, that's as far back as my memory can go as far as kind of getting that language because it was just like immersion.

[00:32:12] Fonz: But the fact that what you just mentioned right now. I have always thought of myself as a better speaker and telling my stories than a writer. So the fact that we are allowing students to be able and empowering them to be able to share their stories, because I feel like I learned more from listening to people's experiences than, than just the reading aspect.

[00:32:32] Fonz: And yeah, so now even as an adult, I'm, I'm still kinda learning how to. Properly read and, and just really taking my time and things of that sort. But for me it's just the listening. You know, that that really is what helps. So this is wonderful that Book Creator is allowing the students to make a, do a combination, either the written and the storytelling aspect of it.

[00:32:51] Fonz: And I think that's, I. Great and fantastic. One other thing that I do wanna highlight too, for book creator, I noticed that as I scroll all the way down [00:33:00] past, uh, you know, the, the activity journals and all that, that is there. Yeah. I do see a page for partners that have partnered up for Yes. This. So can you tell us a little bit more about those partners?

[00:33:11] Katie: Yeah, we have some amazing partners this year. Some of them you'll see featured in our teacher guide. That's gonna be this change. Pink Teacher Guide that is in our library. Um, so some of them we have some ideas for App Smashing, how you can take, uh, your student narratives to the next level, either through AI feedback, AI brainstorming, video creation with WeVideo.

[00:33:35] Katie: We have some amazing partners here, um, with some ideas on App Smashing to take those books to the next level. And for some of our partners, we have webinars this month, so we have one with class companion. Magic school and we had one with, we will write just this past week. So, and we have some other of our partners that we've had webinars with or will have webinars with after be an author month.

[00:33:57] Katie: So ways to get connected to them, [00:34:00] um, and just help students writing their, their, uh, personal narratives or refining them.

[00:34:06] Fonz: That is excellent. Yeah, so guys, as you notice, book creator not only is multimodal learning tool, I mean, they're doing some wonderful stuff and advocating for students, for accessibility, for all those great things and partnering up with some amazing, amazing.

[00:34:22] Fonz: EdTech platforms like Katie mentioned, app Smashing, being able to use a different app and bringing it into a different platform and working together to just create some magic. And that's really what it's all about as educators. Really just creating that next level of magic. Just sprinkling, you know, that little extra.

[00:34:39] Fonz: To what you are already doing. Great. And I think that book creator is definitely a great tool for you to be able to do that, but also with part with them partnering up with all of these other, uh, wonderful EdTech uh, companies and platforms, you can just definitely take that learning to the next level.

[00:34:53] Fonz: So that is fantastic. Katie. Thank you so much. Yeah. I really appreciate you coming on the [00:35:00] show and just sharing the book Creator Magic and telling us more about not only how useful book creator can be. For the learning, breaking the language barriers, but also the wonderful resources that are already built out for teachers as well, and how wonderful you guys are in building out resources every month for teachers and the webinar.

[00:35:20] Fonz: So I think that that's why what I was at TCA, I saw your booth packed the way it was because you. Have all built a wonderful community. I mean, your team has done a phenomenal job. Like I mentioned, I, I got to meet April at TCA, I got to meet Dan. I got to run into you. And then Yeah. But everybody at Book Creator has been so wonderful and so kind, and I think that, that the success that you're having, and obviously your booth filling up, is really a testament to the work that you all are doing.

[00:35:52] Fonz: So thank you so much for everything that you're doing as well.

[00:35:56] Katie: I think we all just really wanna support kids and, uh, support [00:36:00] teachers that are supporting kids. So that's our, our mission and I think the ethos of everyone that works on the team. And so that I think is, is going well and being effective.

[00:36:08] Katie: Yeah.

[00:36:09] Fonz: Awesome. Well, you, you heard it here, guys, book creator, like I mentioned to you, and I've said it several times during the show, if you have been looking at it or have you been thinking about it, you've been on the fence, or you're just like, I don't know, maybe it's too overwhelming. I think Katie today gave you a really, really just wonderful walkthrough as to, as to what is available, what can be done, and so now if you've just dipped your toes in, you can definitely now just say, you know what?

[00:36:33] Fonz: I'm gonna go ahead and take the plunge because you don't have to feel like you're alone, that Katie showed you that you are a built-in resources. That can help you walk through some of these, uh, creations that you know, for your, your students to be engaged with. And, you know, just take it to that next level a little bit at a time.

[00:36:50] Fonz: So, Katie, thank you so much. For our audience members, please make sure you check out this episode because this is gonna be wonderful and this whole month, you know, be an author month. [00:37:00] Definitely take that learning and your classroom engagement to the next level. Well, Katie, before we wrap up mm-hmm. As you know, I always love to end the show.

[00:37:08] Fonz: With the last three questions, so hopefully you're ready. And I'm, I'm just anxious to hear your answers, so here we go. Are you ready?

[00:37:17] Katie: Yeah, I'm ready.

[00:37:17] Fonz: I'm ready. All right. Here we go. Question number one, Katie. Yeah. As we know, every superhero has a weakness or just, you know, some kind of pain point. For example, Superman.

[00:37:27] Fonz: Mm-hmm. Kryptonite kinda weakened him and took some of those powers away. So I wanna ask you, in the current state of education, what would you say is your current edu kryptonite?

[00:37:39] Katie: Yeah, it's, it's definitely cute over, I. Uh, accessibility and function. So sometimes, you know, I love seeing that, you know, teachers put so much effort into the aesthetic of their physical space, their digital creations, but when those things aren't accessible because of the aesthetic [00:38:00] or.

[00:38:00] Katie: Because the time was spent on the aesthetic and not the accessible piece. Uh, that's definitely my kryptonite. So I hope that teachers will start to take, um, a little more time on the accessibility that they're putting into like the, the aesthetic and the, the cuteness of things. There

[00:38:16] Fonz: you go. Good. Good point.

[00:38:18] Fonz: Good point. Alright, here we go. Katie, question number two is, if you could have a billboard with anything on it, what would it be and why?

[00:38:27] Katie: Yeah, I guess it would have to be, um, whenever I present at conferences, I use the, uh, my like hashtag slogan thing. I guess my branding of be a accessibility ally. But you don't use the word accessibility.

[00:38:41] Katie: I use the hashtag. Which is hashtag A one one Y. So it kind of looks like be an ally ally if you're just a visual person and you don't know what the hashtag is. Uh, but it's hashtag a one one y is just the first and the last letters of the word accessibility and the 11 letters in [00:39:00] between. 'cause I want everyone to be an accessibility ally and, and be an advocate for disabled people.

[00:39:06] Fonz: Absolutely. And you know what, Katie, that's one of the things that I absolutely love about you, that in the work that you have been doing since I started following you on social media and obviously your presentations and the work that you do with students, and now the work that you get to do with book creators as well is just really prioritizing accessibility.

[00:39:24] Fonz: And I think that that's fantastic in having a wonderful advocate such as yourself to be able to just bring this to light and just help us as educators. Kind of slow things down a little bit and be like, okay, did I do, you know, my students the due diligence by providing this or this, or this or this? To make sure that everybody is engaged in the learning in a proper way.

[00:39:44] Fonz: So thank you so much for that. Yeah. All right. Last question, Katie, and I'm really, really curious to hear your answer here is if you could trade places with anyone, anyone for a day, doesn't have to be in education or anything. It could [00:40:00] be anyone for a day. Who would it be and why?

[00:40:05] Katie: Well, I am. Like the Quint central eighties kid.

[00:40:09] Katie: So I definitely think I'm gonna have to have my own back to the future moment, um, and go back and switch with my earlier self. Um, one, I would like them to come and like get any stock secrets from the future. Um, two like Nvidia, we're investing in Nvidia. Um, and then two would be, I wanna go be able to tell like my parents, uh, that.

[00:40:34] Katie: Like the miracle medicine, they hope is coming for me. One day comes and that I'm a really thriving, happy adult. So I know like through my childhood, you know, my parents worried a lot, like most parents with any child, but especially a child with a chronic disease. Um, or, you know, any type of disability worries about their child and what is that life gonna be like for that child?

[00:40:58] Katie: Um, I would just wanna go [00:41:00] reassure them that it's gonna be okay.

[00:41:02] Fonz: That is wonderful and that's such a great message, Katie. That is really also a testament to who you are, your heart and your story. And again, if you wanna catch a little bit more of Katie's story, please go back to our episode four years ago, back in May of 2020, uh, I believe it was 2020.

[00:41:19] Fonz: Yeah. So Rob around there. Yeah. But I'll make sure I link that in the episode. If you wanna know more about Katie and her wonderful journey and story, I mean, just to give you more background because I think that with this episode, you know it. Once you put both together, you'll see where her heart is, what her passion is, and why she is the way she is a wonderful educator.

[00:41:40] Fonz: Who is a wonderful advocate for accessibility. So Katie, thank you so much for joining me today and I am excited to put out, put out this episode. And so if you're listening to this today, it is March 1st. It is be an Author month for book Creator. So please make sure that you log on, go to book creator.com.

[00:41:59] Fonz: Get your [00:42:00] account, whether it's free or hey, put the, you know, put the bug in your principal's ear or in your district's ear to say, Hey, I just learned about a wonderful application platform that is gonna help us, you know, in our classrooms. Go ahead and do that. You know, you've heard what it can do. You know what is available, so please make sure you check them out.

[00:42:18] Fonz: And also, don't forget, if you're listening to this episode, we also have 300 and. 14 other episodes also for the last five years, and I promise you, you will find some knowledge nuggets that you can sprinkle onto what you are already doing. Great. You definitely will and, and as always my friends, thank you again for your support and making today extra special waking up.

[00:42:39] Fonz: To a hundred thousand downloads. This, again, is a testament to you, is a testament to all our wonderful guests, such as Katie, who have been sharing their stories to all our listeners, especially you, all that are downloading the shows and are finding value in what these wonderful educators, creators, founders, uh, you know, are [00:43:00] saying and inspiring you.

[00:43:02] Fonz: Thank you for engaging with our content. Thank you so much for that, and I wanna give a big shout out also to our partners who have partnered up with my A Tech life who believe in our mission. Thank you so much to EDU Educate. Thank you so much. Yellow dig alongside content clips. Thank you so much.

[00:43:19] Fonz: Pocket Talk. And I would love to announce our newest partner and our news partner is book creator. Thank you so much, book creator for believing in what we are doing, and I look forward to many more wonderful episodes, many more wonderful partnerships. And again, as always, more wonderful interviews, voices that are amplified to help our education space continue to grow.

[00:43:42] Fonz: So thank you all for everything, and don't forget my friends. Until next time, stay techie. [00:44:00]