Regularly checking for understanding during a lesson or project is vital. This book covers workflows for students and ways to use Book Creator to make sure your learners stay on track.

Using Book Creator for Formative Assessment

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, EdTech &amp; Curriculum Consultant and founder of the blog <a href="http://www.classtechtips.com/">ClassTechTips.com</a>.

She is the author and co-author&nbsp;of numerous books including Tasks Before Apps, #FormativeTech, and Taming the Wild Text. Monica is a big fan of Book Creator and has introduced it to teachers and students across the world!&nbsp;

You can find Monica at one of her upcoming <a href="http://classtechtips.com/events">events</a> or using the links below.

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Email: <a href="http://mailto:monica@classtechtips.com">monica@classtechtips.com</a>

Use video recordings at the end of a project for student reflections!

So you’ve just finished a three-week long project with students. They’ve submitted their work to you and presented it to their classmates. Maybe your students shared their project with a class a few time zones away using Skype, or you’ve established an authentic audience like a community organization to celebrate their accomplishments. Do your students get a chance to reflect on their project? Using Book Creator, ask each student to create a single page that captures their reflection. You might give students a prompt like: What is your biggest takeaway from this experience? or, What would you do differently next time?

In this screenshot from Book Creator, the Camera tool lets students record video straight from their device.

Students each showcase their reflections from the unit your class studied. As you check for understanding by reviewing student projects, these reflections can also give you insight into areas where students felt confident and areas you might want to explore further in another unit of study.

Students can each create one page with their video reflection and share it in your Teacher Library. By combining this one page from each student in your class, you can create a collaborative ebook. 

If you ask students to add video reflections to their page they can change the position, lock the video, and layer other elements. <a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/2398633-working-with-video">Here’s a link</a> to a resource with tips for adding video.

Clicking / tapping the 'Home' icon will take you straight back to this contents page

<a href="bookcreator://page/x0z84z_rRFWnIGmzw-db1A/left">Introduction</a>

15 Tips for Using Book Creator to Check for Understanding

<a href="bookcreator://page/tQlwI447TNCLZzu-V9Ugaw/left">Pictures of Project Progress</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/BDmgPp54Rh6pnqDrP6kvhA/left">Daily Reading Logs</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/4Dkcjk2CRCCwFoSsoB1E1g/left">Unit Video Reflections</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/9XRAftuFQeSz4s-Pw9K8ag/left">Audio Feedback Loop</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/gculBr1GSziGkf7w0OBB1w/left">Vocabulary Reference Notebook</a>

<a href="bookcreator://page/x0z84z_rRFWnIGmzw-db1A/left">Create a Teacher Library</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/BJmgFOz-RWKUvWR15L4jvg/left">Differentiate Student Responses</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/kT2NjW8ZS4SdlrjKpITbVQ/left">Do Now Journal Entries</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/Te9QMAgcSEmWs35gIDf-YA/left">Everyday Exit Slips</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/Kh8gK2EdRa2XG_9AL2UcOQ/left">Collect Graphic Organizers</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/edvgcTgORReOps10O-xRtQ/left">Weekly Goal Setting</a>

<a href="bookcreator://page/b3o9PsuWRH-hS95_EN0VRA/left">App Smash with Seesaw</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/nhN0ZPbiS4GxlwddntGm6w/left">Checklists for Student Creators</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/S_DJ2rN7SPevBlI0MtjnOA/left">Google Forms for Conferences</a> <a href="bookcreator://page/jFCkvV9XR9-2wZkj33beng/left">Culminating Unit Projects</a>

<a href="bookcreator://page/1uXodq8yRUKdZH2gZAWuUQ/left">About the Author</a>

Check for understanding in your classroom with Book Creator

Other tips are designed to help students create ebooks with support;

Book Creator is a powerful, open-ended creation tool that lets students capture the story of their learning. How can you check for understanding while students are creating ebooks in your classroom? How can you use Book Creator to check for understanding throughout the school day and school year? In this ebook we’ll tackle these two questions together! You’ll see just how easy it is to use Book Creator to monitor student progress, provide feedback, and help students create ebooks they are proud to share!

so you can check for understanding during the creation process. You’ll find ideas to tailor to your group of students regardless of age and subject area.

<a href="https://classtechtips.com/books/">#FormativeTech:&nbsp;Meaningful, Sustainable, and Scalable Formative Assessment With Technology</a>

<a href="https://classtechtips.com/2017/05/21/formative-assessment-examples/">3 Quick Formative Assessment Examples for Teachers</a>

How is this book organized?

In this ebook you’ll find 15 tips for using Book Creator to check for understanding in your classroom. Some tips are designed to help you envision a workflow for students; one where they share work and updates through ebooks so you can make sure students are on the right track. 

<a href="https://classtechtips.com/2017/03/01/3-things-need-know-formative-assessment/">3 Things You Need to Know About Formative Assessment</a>

Share your ideas for using Book Creator in the classroom using the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BookCreator?src=hash">#BookCreator</a> or tagging <a href="https://twitter.com/BookCreatorApp">@BookCreatorApp</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ClassTechTips">@ClassTechTips</a> on social media!

With the audio tool in Book Creator teachers can share feedback with students!

Feedback is an important part of the formative assessment process. As you check for understanding in your classroom you can use the information you gather to help drive instruction. Teacher feedback to students should be actionable and relevant. But if students don’t see this feedback in a timely manner, it is hard for them to act on your advice and guidance. With an audio feedback loop, teachers can add an audio recording to a student page in an ebook hosted in their Teacher Library. For example, you might ask students to use Book Creator for daily journals in a foreign language classroom. As you check in on these digital journals, you can use the audio tool to give students feedback on their work. Instead of typing a note to students, you can record your voice instead.

In this screenshot from Book Creator, you can see the option for adding audio to a student page so a teacher can give feedback on a student's poem.

Audio feedback is useful in lots of situations. It can save time and communicate your message more clearly to students. After students listen to the feedback you’ve left on their page, they can delete the recording and make changes to their work based on your advice.

Ready to record audio in an ebook? <a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/collections/1389505-creating-books#working-with-audio">Follow these steps</a> to get started.

Students can keep track of their reading each day with a reading log ebook!

Keeping track of independent reading in your classroom is a challenging task. Your elementary students might read a variety of picture books and chapter books this year. Your high school students might choose a novel to read that connects to a unit of study in the social studies classroom. Regardless of the grade level and reading material, keeping track of student reading behavior can take many forms. A daily reading log can help you understand how students are moving through a book. It could include a quick summary of what happened in a piece of literature or capture lingering questions after students read a current events article. An ebook is a great place for students to keep track of their reading. Using the shared Teacher Library, you can tap on a student ebook and look at their daily reading log.

In this example of an ebook page, students can combine pictures with text or an audio clip.

You might ask students to record the number of pages they read along with a reflection or response to a prompt. This can help you check for understanding related to a particular unit of study or an English Language Arts skill you would like students to apply to their reading.

With a daily reading log, students can jot down the title of the text they are reading as well as the progress they’ve made. 

If you are looking for more ways to check for understanding in the reading classroom, check out my free ebook <a href="https://classtechtips.com/2018/05/17/book-creator-for-reading-responses-2/">15 Ways to Use Book Creator for Reading Responses</a>.

Use audio, video, text, and illustrations to differentiate student responses!

Teaching a new concept to students? How will you know if they understand? The success criteria you identify for students will show you if they’ve “got it.” There are lots of ways to be sure that students understand something new. You can differentiate the way students respond to a prompt or question using Book Creator. Book Creator lets students add a variety of media to their page. This can include audio, video, text, and illustrations. So if you are studying ecosystems with your class, you might ask students to respond to the prompt, “What is one thing that threatens the habitats of polar bears?” Students can respond in different ways. You might give students a choice in the way they respond, or have specific instructions for different students.

In this image you can see all of the options for adding different media to a page.

For example, you might ask some students to respond to the prompt with a voice or video recording, while other students use the text tool to add a few sentences to their page.

If students respond with audio they can make their audio hotspot “invisible.” <a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/2398631-make-audio-hotspots-invisible">Follow these steps</a> to make an audio hotspot hide behind an image or shape.

If you are in a classroom with limited access to technology, you might spend time on paper and pencil on “low tech” days. Combining these two mediums is important as you help students learn to balance their use of digital tools. When students use graphic organizers in your classroom, they can keep track of their work in a Book Creator ebook. First, distribute traditional graphic organizers to students. This might include a Venn Diagram, T-chart, or another way for students to organize their thinking. When students are finished, or on a special day of their week when they have access to Book Creator, students can use the Camera tool to snap a picture.

Students can snap pictures of their graphic organizers and share each one on a Book Creator page!

In this example of a page from an ebook, the Camera tool lets users snap a picture to add to their page.

For example, if your students are reading novels in a literature circle they might complete a graphic organizer with their classmates every day. Students can snap a picture and add it to their page. You can check for understanding and decide if they need to check in with a particular student based on their responses.

Instead of sorting through piles of paper at the end of the week, you can peek into student ebooks to see their thinking about a topic. 

Use the Shape tool to create graphic organizers within Book Creator. <a href="https://support.bookcreator.com/hc/en-us/articles/202728152-Adding-shapes">Learn more about Shapes</a>.

Use Google Forms to keep track of formative assessment data collected during writing conferences!

Are your students creating ebooks this year? It can be hard to keep track of every conversation you have with students during the ebook creation process. <a href="https://www.google.com/forms/about/">Google Forms</a> are customizable, survey-style, data-entry forms that let users easily capture and organize information as you check in with students using Book Creator for their writing. Before you create a Google Form, think about the information you want to collect. For example, if your students are creating ebooks that include a personal narrative, you may want to talk to them about adding figurative language or dialogue to their writing. When you meet with students for a writing conference, open up the Google Form you created and jot down notes on your conversation. All of the notes you submit will go to a Google Sheet for you to access at any time.

In this example of a Google Form, there is space to input data from a Writing Conference.

Why collect notes during a writing conference? This formative assessment data can be used to drive future instruction. If all of your students are struggling with the same writing skill, you can introduce a new strategy to the whole class. If one student is consistently struggling with the same thing, you might carve out time to work with them one-on-one. Google Forms can keep the information you collect during a writing conference organized and ready to act on.

A recent Book Creator update means you can now embed Google Forms directly into a Book Creator book. <a href="https://bookcreator.com/2018/08/you-can-now-embed-content-in-book-creator/">Learn more here</a>.

Finish each day with exit slips added to student Book Creator journals!

Checking for understanding at the end of a lesson gives you valuable information. An exit slip (sometimes called an exit ticket) provides essential formative assessment data. At the beginning of a lesson decide on your success criteria. The success criteria is what you need to see from a student to feel confident they understand a new concept. At the end of the lesson provide five minutes for students to open up a Book Creator ebook. Students can respond to the prompt you announce at the end of a lesson. This prompt should give you information on student understanding of a concept. When you review these responses, you will gather valuable information. Student responses will tell you what changes you need to make, or things you need to consider when reviewing your plans for the next day’s lesson.

In this example of an exit slip page, students have written the prompt in a question bubble and added their response in the space below.

Have students create one ebook specifically for exit slips. They can add their name to the cover and search for pictures to customize the cover of their book. Set a timer or reminder at the end of each lesson so students can open up their ebook and respond to your prompt before the class ends.

Use Seesaw to share student books, facilitate peer feedback, and check progress!

You might have heard to term “app smash” used before. It simply means to combine two or more apps or digital tools in the classroom. Book Creator and Seesaw are perfect apps to smash - at any grade level and in any subject area. If you haven’t used Seesaw before, it is a digital portfolio tool for students that also acts as a way to share work with teachers and classmates. Using Seesaw, students can share their Book Creator ebooks with classmates. This is a great way for students to solicit feedback from their peers and to practice digital citizenship skills in an authentic manner.

When students are ready to ask for feedback they can publish their book online and create a link to share.

First, have students publish their Book Creator ebook to a link. Then, ask students to open up Seesaw and post their link to their Seesaw journal. Once their link is posted, other students can comment on the book and leave feedback for their classmates.

Students can publish their book online for their peers to view and update the link at any time. <a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/4097451-share-book-creator-books-to-seesaw">Follow these steps</a> to publish to a link to share on Seesaw.

A weekly goal page can contribute to a ebook that chronicles goals across the school year!

We all know that setting goals is an important skill both inside and outside of the classroom. How can you help students build goal setting habits this school year? A weekly goal setting ebook can provide a space for students to keep track of their accomplishments and progress throughout the school year. Whether cross-curricular or subject specific, a weekly goal setting journal can become an important part of progress monitoring. As you and your students review formative assessment data, use this information to craft goals. By chronicling their goals, students can set an intention for the week ahead. Goal setting is appropriate for students of all ages. You might have students draw a picture and record a video on each page. Alternatively, you can ask students to write a paragraph one afternoon each week to reflect on the previous week’s goal.

In this example of a weekly goal ebook, the page includes a space for students to add different types of media.

Instead of requiring students to write their goals, provide a choice for students. This could include asking students to record a video. <a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/2398633-working-with-video">Follow these instructions</a> when recording video inside of Book Creator.

Students can create a reference book of vocabulary words in any subject area!

If your students are struggling with new vocabulary words they can create a personalized vocabulary reference notebook. Students can use this type of ebook to capture words they might struggle with across the content areas. Your students might self-select tricky words or you might suggest words for students to add to a journal after reviewing a quiz or assignment. Book Creator lets students add text to the page and search for images. For example, in the social studies classroom, your students might study terms like latitude, longitude or Equator. Students can add a new vocabulary word to their page and use the Import tool to search for images using a Google Image search.

In this example of a vocabulary reference notebook, this page features a tricky word and space for finding an image and adding audio.

Personalizing a vocabulary notebook is a great way to put formative assessment data into action. If you notice that students are having trouble using a particular new vocabulary word, you can suggest that they add it to their vocabulary notebook. 

Alternatively, you might have your class work together to create a collaborative vocabulary reference notebook by each contributing one page that features a single word.

Students can use Shapes to create sections of their Vocabulary Reference ebook, as seen in the image on this page. <a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/2398634-add-shapes">Here are more tips</a> for working with Shapes.

Let students demonstrate what they learned in a unit of study with a culminating ebook!

As you check for understanding during lessons and units of study, students can work towards a specific end product. When students use Book Creator for a culminating unit project, they will take all of their learning from a multi-week unit of study and apply it in their ebook. Culminating unit projects help you check for understanding on a larger scale than everyday lessons. This is an opportunity for students to show off everything they learned. You’ll want to check in with students during this process as described in earlier tips in this book. When you check for understanding at the end of a unit, a rubric can be helpful.

In this example of a culminating unit project, you can review student work to make future instructional decisions.

Although you will want to share a rubric with students when they begin a culminating project, you can use this at the end of their project to provide specific feedback. When reviewing student projects, keep track of areas where students may need support in the future. Even as your unit of study changes, this information can drive future instruction.

A rubric lets you evaluate student work on a scale and gives both students and teachers a clear picture of expectations. 

There are many ways to create a rubric using online tools. <a href="https://www.forallrubrics.com/">Check out this tool</a> for teachers.

Start the day strong with “do now” entries completed daily by students!

Whether you’re flipping your classroom or setting the stage for a new lesson, a Do Now journal is a great routine. When students enter the classroom, you can have a prompt waiting for them to answer. Students can open up their Book Creator ebook that they use every time you give a Do Now Prompt. If you are using a Teacher Library, you can easily look at student journals. A prompt for a Do Now journal can vary from class to class. In the math classroom, you might ask for students to solve a problem related to a Khan Academy video they watched the night before. Then students can discuss their problem solving strategy in small groups while you listen in to their conversations or peek at their journal entries. Checking for understanding at the beginning of a lesson can drive your instructional decisions. It lets you know if certain students need extra help. This formative assessment data helps you decide if you should shift the focus of your mini lesson.

In this example of a Do Now journal entry, a text response is combined with an audio recording.

Just like I linked to a previous page in the first paragraph, your students can link to other pages in their books. So if they reference a previous response in their daily Do Now journal, they can link to a specific page. <a href="https://support.bookcreator.com/hc/en-us/articles/201908271-How-to-add-hyperlinks">Follow these steps.</a>

Develop checklists for students to use to keep them focused and on track with creating ebooks!

Student projects can include many components. A checklist is a great tool for making sure students include particular elements in their ebook and meet the expectations set for them. Checklists can act as a formative assessment tool as you meet with students to discuss their progress on an ebook and support them during the creation process. The checklists you share with students can be digital or on paper. The goal of a checklist is to simply outline all of the things you would like students to include in their ebook. For example, if your students are creating ebooks to profile an endangered species, you might create a checklist that outlines what information about the plant or animal should appear on each page.

Here's an example of a sample checklist for a Book Creator project featured in <a href="https://bookcreator.com/2015/06/informational-research-and-book-creator/">this blog post</a> by Sara Malchow.

This type of data is useful when crafting new lessons or grouping students to provide extra support. Checklists are customizable and you can decide what type of items to include.

If students struggle to complete a particular component of a checklist, it can give you insight into areas where they might need extra help.

Are your students printing their Book Creator ebooks as a PDF file? They can staple their checklist to the last page to show off the creation process. <a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/2398647-export-your-book-as-a-pdf-file">Follow these steps</a> to share your book as a PDF.

Discover even more fun ways to use Book Creator in your classroom

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Using Book Creator in the elementary classroom

Using Book Creator to develop thinking routines

Book Creator for the high school classroom

15 ways to use Book Creator for reading responses

15 science projects for the Book Creator classroom

Using Book Creator for formative assesment

Try Book Creator for Chrome for free today

Students can capture pictures of how a project is progressing to share updates in Book Creator!

Are your students working on a big project? How can you check for understanding throughout the process? Book Creator is perfect for creating Project Progress Journals. As students work on a multi-week project, you can monitor student progress and check for understanding. Before kicking off a long-term project with students, ask them to create a new ebook you can view in your Teacher Library. Students can use this ebook to snap pictures of their project and provide updates as they work. This will help you monitor the progress of their project and provide feedback or support when needed. For example, if your students are growing bean plants in your classroom, they can capture the progress of their projects in an ebook.

Each day, or once a week, they can snap a picture of their bean plant and write or record an update. You can peek at their journal and check to make sure every student has the support they need.

In addition to using the Camera tool to take photos in the moment, students can upload photos they’ve already taken using the Import tool. <a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/2398636-upload-a-photo-or-video">Follow these steps</a> to upload a photo.

View student work in real-time in your teacher library!

An important part of checking for understanding is having quick and easy access to student work. The Teacher Library feature in Book Creator lets teachers establish a special place for students to create. After creating a new Library, teachers can invite students to the library and view their work in real time. When it comes to checking for understanding, a Teacher Library is essential! It gives you a window into student work throughout the school day. As students make changes to their books, they will appear in your Library.&nbsp; The formative assessment routines in your classroom could include asking students to complete work in their Book Creator ebook so you can easily check it. This gives you the chance to monitor student progress, give real-time feedback, and make sure your students have the support they need.

Teachers can create a new library and invite their students to join.

<a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/2398701-create-a-new-library">Creating a new library</a> <a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/2398623-how-to-join-a-library">How to join a library</a>

<a href="https://intercom.help/bookcreator/en/articles/2398624-library-settings">Managing your library</a>

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