Weekly Reflection #2 — Epic Books!
This week in class we experimented with and learned how to do screencasts using Screencastify It was my first time doing a screencast and the learning curve was moderate. Downloading the app and applying the extension to my web browser proved complicated on Microsoft Edge. Once I switched to Google Chrome (Thanks Allie!) it worked much better.
Epic books is a classroom based website that requires some level of subscription that is initiated by a teacher or school. Students require a class code that they can enter during the log in process. Once logged in they can edit their profile, change their avatar and start searching for books! Epic offers books with interactive reading, audiobooks and more! Below is my screencast of the website. The one downfall to the website is that it is only available from 9 am – 3 pm unless the parent is willing to buy a subscription for unlimited usage.
As a teacher you can implement Epic Books into your classroom for research (for projects, science fairs, group projects), developing reading skills & fluency (students can read independently or with buddies), using audio books for emerging readers (allowing all students an opportunity to engage with the books), exploration across genres (comics, picture, graphic, more text heavy and lots of non-fiction options). All around it appears to be a great website for all different abilities. I did find that some of the “classics” like Carle and Seuss are NOT on Epic, but I’m sure every student could still find a book to read while on Epic! I made a quick screencast showing some key features of the website.
I think that there could be a couple of helpful ways to incorporate screen casting into a classroom. I found a YouTube video with some great ideas… see it below. Out of these ideas, I think I would consider recording important lessons, if possible, especially if a number of students are away and the lesson is a new topic / subject / skill. It would be great to be able to have them watch it upon their return. I think students could use screen casting as a new ADST skill to highlight their favourite educational websites or even a Minecraft tutorial. It could also be a good strategy for students who don’t love to write. They could do a screencast of them reading a book, reviewing a moving or podcast etc. It could become a mode of assessment for some kiddos who need an alternate way to present their learning.
Cover photo credit: iStock Photo House Number 2
