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Amy Bowllan

Bookwink Interview Continued

December 9, 2006

A.B. Explain how educators could benefit from the resources you provide at Bookwink.

S.C. Booktalks are a great way to get kids excited about reading. Bookwink provides video booktalks for teachers and librarians to use with kids in their classes, or for kids to access on their own. My hope is that the Bookwink videos will inspire kids to want to read the books I talk about. And that experience will inspire them to come back and look for more books to read. As educators, we sometimes assume that kids know how to find good books to read, but for some kids that process is a mystery. When faced with a library full of choices, kids can feel overwhelmed. Devoted readers may be undaunted, but reluctant readers are likely to give up if they aren't inspired right away. Bookwink arranges books by grade level, subject, author, and title, so kids can limit their choices to books they are interested in. Then, as they gain confidence, hopefully, they will branch out into other types of books too.

The subject lists can help teachers extend their curricula. For example, a Social Studies teacher could assign books from the Historical Fiction section or the Countries and Cultures section to build on a unit. A teacher doing a unit on The Giver can recommend other read-alikes from the Dystopia section. Librarians looking for all of the books in a series can look in the author section.

The videos can be a teaching tool as well. Teachers or librarians may use them in addition to or instead of their own booktalks, as an introduction to literature circles, or any time they would like to generate excitement about books.

The videos can also be used for teaching students to booktalk their own favorite books. One of my most successful book clubs was with a group of very outspoken readers who did not want to all read the same books together. Our book club meetings consisted of them booktalking to each other and sharing books that way. It was really fun, but the kids definitely needed to be taught how to be concise and not give the whole plot away. The Bookwink videos can be a model for that. Videotaping the student booktalks can extend this even further, allowing the students to "publish" their work and perform for the entire community, or now with YouTube, they can perform for the entire world.

A.B. Could you give examples on how educators are using audiobooks and podcasts as a teaching tool.

S.C. I haven't seen firsthand uses of podcasts as teaching tools, but I can imagine the possibilities. Podcasts empower students and teachers to share information with anyone anytime. If a student is absent, she can download the podcast of the recorded lesson. It can be a tool for teachers or administrators to communicate curriculum, assignments and other information with parents and the community. I can see the potential uses for teacher recorded vocabulary or foreign language lessons, international pen pals (podcast pals!), music performance, interviews, debates. Podcasting can be a publishing tool for any student oral presentation.

Teachers can also assign students to listen to particular podcasts as part of the curriculum. Social Studies teachers can incorporate NPR podcasts into Current Events lessons. Home economics teachers can use cooking podcasts. There are several language podcasts. Grammar Girl is a great podcast for teaching grammar to older students. There is no limit to the variety of podcast subjects a teacher can find on iTunes. And of course, Language Arts teachers can assign Bookwink as a book selection tool when kids must choose a book for free-choice reading.