iBook Authors at Harwood Union Middle School

Be your own Hero

Using the free iOS Shadow Puppet app, I created this brief look at an amazing unit designed by one of our partner educators, Jonah Ibson, at Harwood Union Middle School.

Ibson challenged his students to write their own “hero’s journeys” using the iBooks Author software. By taking ownership of the Hero’s Journey narrative, students are encouraged to create e-books that place them in the hero’s role. The resulting e-books will have a chance to be housed in an elementary school library, and read out by librarians to younger students.

Check out these amazing iBook Authors at Harwood Union Middle School, in Moretown Vermont.

Ibson’s essential questions tackled what it would look like for students to have an authentic audience for their work, so the books will be read at a local elementary school library.

iBooks Author is free e-book publishing software from Apple that allows users to create, edit and publish their own e-books, including such interactive elements as audio, video, comics and quizzes.

Check out some of the amazing other work going on at Harwood:

• an augmented reality periodic table
• long-form writing about Rube Goldberg machines
• personalized cell biology with Notability
• e-portfolios with Evernote

How would you encourage your students to write their hero’s journeys?