"The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.
A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.
But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule."
Scan here for the my book trailer:
I made a book trailer for
These Violent Delights. This is a historical fiction novel. I read this for my other class where I learned that historical fiction books are often overlooked by students so I thought this was a great book to try and create a trailer for. I thought it was really fun to make the book trailer. I can see how the possibilities to create and use these would be endless. I will say after using Animoto, it was easy to use, but it seemed to have more limitations to the other sites we have used for content creation. There were only a few free options on the site. I also felt like I couldn't move things around as easily on the page. I was still able to be creative and make a trailer to (hopefully) entice readers to a great book!
I think there limitless ways to use QR codes in the library. It would be an easy way to post information around the library without taking up as much space. It could also make it so things are interactive-like using links in real life. It could be used for younger readers, who might not be able to read yet. It could be used for ESL students, to help them listen, view, or more information. It could be used to help students research or learn more about new books or newly taught genres. It could be a way for students to connect learning in the library to the classroom.
Some of the ideas that I found online for using QR codes would be for students to respond to the book they had read. It could be a great way to incorporate higher order thinking skills into the library. You could also use QR codes to give more information about the author or related topics.
I created a comic for younger students about how to look at a book. I used Fotojet for the first comic. I thought it was pretty straight forward to use. I don't think it had very much free stuff to use, but I was able to add my own images easily. The set up of the design space was very similar to other sites I've used so I think that was helpful when navigating through it. I couldn't save my design, only share or download which I thought was a negative to using this site. It would make more work to have recreate anything if I needed to edit or change after the fact. I think that students would be able to use this site if they were older and more comfortable with using similar tools.
My second comic was created on Pixton. I thought this site was incredibly cool. I could see this being an amazing tool that students would find really engaging. It was very easy to use and create it. I think students would be so excited to create with this. They had a lot of options for teachers as well as students. For teachers there is lesson ideas, for students there is story starters. Users can also rat their work with is a great feature. This site was designed for teachers and students. I wasn't able to share my project though without a paid account. That was frustrating!
The last comic I created was through MakeBeliefsComix. This site was the most simple of all the three sties we used. I enjoyed that this one was free. There were lots of story starters and ideas for comics to make. I think this could be a great introductory tool to creating online comics for students. I thought the information for teachers on the site was also helpful to have. They have a smaller amount of content available and the choices are very unique. For students using this, I think they would enjoy it, but for me as an adult, I found them a little strange :) You are able to download your creations.
I will share comics with teachers in my school to help connect what we are learning in the library with the rest of the school. This will make is easier for students to remember what we have learned, use online resources and more. It will give everyone even more access to the information that is available to them in the library.
