Innovative Method: Creating Book TrailersJamie Fleming

What is a Book Trailer?● Digital storytelling is the process of digitizing a composition

using images, music, narration, and text to create a movie (Morgan)

● A Book Trailer is a short video clip that advertises a book ● Goal of creator is to encourage viewers to read the book● Develops students’ skills in:

○ Using iMovie and similar apps○ Writing/creating for an audience with the purpose of

engaging/persuading ○ Analyzing the elements of a novel and projecting them in a

concrete visual and auditory manner

Sample Book Trailer for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

Factors that Encourage/Obstruct Book Trailers

● Encourage:○ Digital literacy teaches students in a way that matches their

environment○ Technology and digital resources are crucial to 21st-century

success● Obstruct:

○ Many teachers and some students are not confident with technology

○ Some students prefer and excel in the traditional form of writing/book reporting

Students Who Benefit/Struggle Most from Book Trailers

● Benefit:○ Ages 8-adult, 3rd grade on○ Unmotivated readers○ ELLs○ Students with learning disabilities that affect writing

● Struggle:○ Those who are not technologically saavy○ Those who lack creative ability

Conceptual Background of Book Trailers● Today’s students are “digital Natives” and will learn best

from digital resources because it matches their environment and usually their preferred way to learn (Morgan, 2014).

● Neuroscientific studies show that digital natives tend to be more responsive to digital resources than to print format (Morgan, 2014).

● Media is a major source of popular culture and popular culture is a major source of pleasure for students (Finch, 2013).

My Criteria for Evidence of Success from Book Trailers

● If there is measurable proof that students are reading more as a result of exposure to fellow students’ book trailers

● If there is measurable proof that students’ reading and/or writing ability is enhanced by exposure to or creation of book trailers

● If formal or informal assessments are able to detect an increased enthusiasm for reading and/or writing as a result of exposure to book trailers

Evidence of Book Trailers Ability to Meet My Criteria

● Large publishing companies like Simon & Schuster have accredited book trailers with significantly increased sales (Fitzpatrick, 2010).

● At Whitehorse Middle School in Madison, WI, all students who participated in Book Trailer Film Camp were able to maintain or enhance their reading level throughout the summer break (Anderson, 2013).

● School Librarian Amanda Galliton’s informal assessments show increased enthusiasm toward reading through a proliferation of campus-wide conversation about reading/book suggestions, heightened counts of teacher reading, and competition between students to read more than one another (Galliton, 2014).

BibliographyThe Scarlet Letter- Book Trailer. Dir. Kelly Casi. YouTube. YouTube. 09 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkrW5ma7iXc>.

Morgan, Hani. Using digital story projects to help students improve in reading and writing. (n.d.)> The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Nov 12 2014 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Using+digital+story+projects+to+help+students+improve+in+reading+and…-a0372556118

Finch, M. (2013). Less like a lesson, and more like an adventure: Learning, libraries, and hte zombie apocalypse. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53(2), 108-112. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/14708749?accountid=43872

Anderson, A. (2013, Aug 10). At this summer camp, students call reading fun. Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1419312756?accountid=48732

Fitzpatrick, Katherine. “Judging a Book by its Trailer: Media Literacy, Viral Advertising and the Novel.” 3pm Journal of Digital Research & Publishing2 (2010): 19-29. Online. http://www.artichokewebdesign.com/ARIN6912/3PMjournal_2010s2.pdf#page=20

Galliton, A. (2014). Strategies to create lifelong readers. Knowledge Quest, 42(5), 62-63. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1525844384?accountid=43872