My Pet Monster is an imaginative book about what a pet monster could be like. This collaborative book began in the imagination of a grade 2 class and the images were refined by grade 11 graphic arts students. Each page has an audio button for you to hear the description of the monster. We know you will love every monster.
Jason Sand is a Multi-Media, Digital Citizenship and Personal Branding Online for Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. He enjoys helping students build a positive digital footprint as they generate digital media in a variety of forms.
Jason’s interest in art from a young age has helped fuel his passion for creating. Now, as a teacher, this passion for creating combined with a love for technology is transforming the way he looks at learning in the classroom.
Jason became an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2009 and he is currently a member of the Canadian Board for the program. Jason presents regularly at conferences and delivers PD on digital media, digital citizenship, personal branding online, and the effective use of technology in the classroom.
Robyn Torry is a grade 2 teacher for Lloydminster Public School Division in Lloydminster, Alberta. She encourages her students to create, collaborate and share their learning with students from around the world.
Robyn has been passionate about teaching since she was a little girl. Now, within her own classroom, she is creating opportunities for her students to showcase their learning. Her students use technology to create content, collaborate and share. Her students collaborate with each other and have recently been collaborating with a grade 11 class in Saskatoon.
Robyn became an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2013. Robyn has presented at regional conferences on innovative ways to use educational technologies.
Over the last 4 months, Robyn's grade 2 class and Jason’s Grade 11 class have co-created a digital book titled, My Pet Monster.
Robyn's grade 2 students wrote imaginative descriptive paragraphs about a monster. Then using the Drawing Pad app, her students created a matching illustration. The variety of choices that were available to her students in the app allowed them to digitally create how they perceived their own “Pet Monster.”
The work that Robyn’s students created in Drawing Pad gave the grade 11 students a great visual of what they imagined. When the grade 11 students recreated their images, the goal was to try and stay true to the childlike quality that their work has and add then raise it to a higher level of illustration for the publication. Jason's students recreated the illustrations with the app Procreate.
Once the book was ready to start assembling the classes used Book Creator to assemble their ePub. It was easy to share the book back and forth as it was being developed by sharing the book via Dropbox and then opening it back up in Book Creator. This allowed the text and audio to be added.
Why Collaborate and Publish?
In this digital world it is important for students to realize what is possible and how they can use technology in a positive way. By creating and publishing a book our students are contributing to their positive digital footprint.
As we launch our book we are trying to create a real book launch experience for our students. As a book author the best validation for your work is positive feedback. With this launch we are looking to have our students receive positive feedback though the iTunes Store so it to lasts as long as their book will. Now that the book is available for free we ask that you download it, give it a 5 star rating, write a review and share it with everyone.
To access your free copy of my pet monster please go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/my-pet-monster/id960017384?ls=1&mt=11.
Now that this book is available online Jason and Robyn are planning a follow up book for her students and Jason's new Graphic Arts class next semester.
To Get your free copy of the book click on the link of your choice below. This is an ePub file and needs an appropriate viewer.
Apple User - iBooks Store Link
Other Users - Innovative Teacher Academy Store Link
