Flip Cameras and QR codes

In teaching Reading and Language Arts, I have hundreds of books in my 6th grade classroom for the students to read. The problem arises when a student asks me about a book that I haven't yet read, and I don't know if it's a good read or not.

This lesson allows the students to watch "reviews" about books they might want to read. It is an ongoing lesson throughout the year because there will never be a shortage of books to read.

Lesson Sequence:

1. A student reads a book that interests them.
2. The student drafts a 30-second commercial on paper to advertise their book without giving away too much detail or the ending.
3. Once their draft has been polished and is written like a commercial, they will record their 30-second video using the Flip camera.
4. The student will then upload their 30-second commercial to the computer and edit it if desired to create a title screen and other effects.
5. The edited video will then be uploaded to the classes' SchoolTube channel.
6. Once uploaded, the student will copy the URL address for their video and paste it into the QR-code generator website, http://qrcode.kaywa.com/.
7. After the QR-code is generated, the student will print and cut out their code.
8. The printed QR-code will be placed into the back cover of the book they read.
9. Each time a student reads a book, they can follow the above steps, and the cycle continues again.

Using the QR-code:
10. When a student chooses a book from the classroom library, they can open to the back cover to see if there is a QR-code present.
11. If there is not a QR-code present, they can follow the steps above to create one.
12. If there is a QR-code present, they can take the book to the "Book Review Station" in the classroom and scan the code (using an installed Desktop QR-Reader and webcam) to watch a 30-second commercial about the book to see if it is something they might want to read.

This activity allows ALL my students to become class "librarians" and take ownership of their reading. It also gets them excited to create and edit videos. The students get to be the star in their own commercial on SchoolTube for the world to see. Students who are reluctant readers are also more apt to read a book if they know another student enjoyed it or if the book does not have a QR-code yet attached, and they get to create the video.

Reading in the 21st Century!