July 3
I explored this online
database in another course. I will share what I discovered about this
educational tool.
TeachingBooks TeachingBooks | Author & Book Resources to Support
Reading Education
https://school.teachingbooks.net/
This database
is focused on connecting the readers with books and resources to enrich the
reading experience and create educational value for K-12 students and teachers.
The materials on this site can be used in educational and home settings.
I did not sign in to
an account, so I was not able to see the contents of documents such as
activities and lessons tied with a title or Meet-the-Author recording. From
what I was able to see and discover on the TeachingBooks.net, it has many
valuable features. The most notable one, in my opinion is that the
database was founded on the premises that there is a special value to see
and hear authors talk about their works. Building on this premise and the
founder's experience with hosting authors' visits at schools and libraries,
TeachingBooks has accumulated a large collection of original recording or video
with the book creators.
I will expand on this
and other prominent features of this database.
·
Video
and audio resources to connect with authors: This database was founded on the premises that there is a
special value to see and hear authors talk about their works. The founder, Nick
Glass had built a long career of bringing authors to libraries and schools.
Given this historical background, this database has built an extensive
collection of exclusively created primary source materials featuring authors
and illustrators. Under “Meet authors and illustrators with exclusive
movies and recordings”, you can find 32,498 titles, and every title has an
original recording or video with the book creator. In the educator’s resources,
under “Author’s purpose” you can find meet-the-author
movies, meet-the-author recordings, website and blogs, and written
interviews where the authors reveal their writing and research
process. These resources offer unique aspect of the stories behind these books
and must be highly valued by the fans of these books.
·
Vetted
materials:
Unlike most websites, but as most databases do, TeachingBooks’ collection of
resources including instructional materials about children's and young
adult books and authors have been vetted. This tells the users especially the
educators that the materials in this database have met the standard of the Ed
Tech market.
·
Search
criteria: The searching
function uses many criteria. It generates a multi-leveled search that is not
seen in a public library database. Criteria like Lexile level, word
count, cultural experience and curricular area take
into consideration the specific needs, interests and achievements of the
individual student. I have not seen this effort to align an individual’s needs
with resources in other databases.
·
Text
Complexity Toolkit: Another feature that stands out is the “Text Complexity Toolkit”. This is a tool for teachers to help
put the right book in each reader's hands. It uses measures and data-drive
analysis to implement comprehensive text complexity analyses. While I have not
seen an example using this set of tools, and the concept is difficult to
understand, it seems that it is something that can be used to support lessons
in class and homeschool.
·
Reading
Lists: Another interesting
feature is creating a reading list. The reading lists come with instructional
materials and resources that provide deep connection with the books and
authors. Educators can also obtain a list analysis report that reflects on your
collection’s genre, cultural and curricular classifications, while pointing to
areas and titles that are not included and might be considered. This seems to
be something that might help the teacher to build reading lists that are
inclusive and diverse.
Evaluation:
Navigation: The database site could have done better with presentation
of information and topics that can be browsed. The site’s home page is too
long, so that the information at the bottom of the page could be overlooked by
the user, when they might the most important to the users. This database covers
a wide range of resources under different topics and for different groups such
as schools and public libraries. It would be better if it had shorter pages and
topics were organized in a more concise and intuitive way for easier use.
Searching
for Book: This
database provides a sophisticated search with parameters that users can use to
refine a search. You can search by selecting genre, curricular area,
cultural experience, grade level, word count, Lexile reading level, and interest
level. You can even advance the search by choosing awards &
distinctions, year published, resource format and resource type. The
results you get are displayed as images of book covers. The quality of search
results is commendable for their visual appeal and the related information.
Price:
As a
database, there are prices for using the resources. There are different
types of licenses for different types of users (personal, school, district,
single family, public library, etc.) Price varies depending the type of
license. A
single family in homeschool pays $225 per year. An entire school pays $575 per
year. A single library branch pays $850 per year. According to the database
site, there are 3000+ public libraries supporting reading with TeachingBooks
for schools.
An
example of TeachingBook's original resources:
Book:
Dog
Man by Dav Pilkey, Book 1 of the Dog Man Series
Our Original Resources:
Meet-the-Author Recording with Dav Pilkey about Dog
Man
In-depth
Written Interview with Dav Pilkey
Audio
Name Pronunciation with Dav Pilkey
Story
Map Multi-leveled Lesson
Graphic
Novel/ Graphic Format Multi-leveled Lesson
View
Comprehensive Text Complexity Measures
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