I've posted about Flipgrid before (see here!), but I recently presented at two conferences on video assessments, and have learned so many new and amazing ways that you can use Flipgrid in any classroom! If you are unfamiliar with Flipgrid, here is the tagline from their website: “Use student created video segments to ignite student discussion and increase engagement.” And they mean it - Flipgrid gives students the opportunity to record a short video where they answer a question, pose a topic, record a song, or do whatever it is that they are asked to do. There are ENDLESS possibilities, and (generally) kids love it! A "grid", or the spot where videos go, looks like this: That big green plus sign is what you click to record, and really...that's it! The teacher is the only one with a log in, the students just click a link to access, and the grid can be shared with anyone as long as they have the link. It's that simple! Flipgrid has also recently opened the Discovery Library, which is a place you can find pre-made topics already created by teachers, for teachers. Sweet! Some of the cool ways that I've seen Flipgrid used: There are hundreds of other ways this tool can be used, and to keep our 21st century students engaged in their learning, this is an awesome website for student voice and learning! One of the biggest questions that I get about Flipgrid is: "How do I make this work!?" It seems chaotic to let 30+ students record a video at the same time, but there are tons of ways around that problem to make this tool work for you. Have more questions about this tool? Contact me! Or, check out the hashtag #FlipgridFever on Twitter for some awesome ways to use this in your classroom!
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I have been overtly pushy to everyone I know about Google Slides being the ONLY website/program that you need to create anything and everything. Every worksheet, rubric, or document that I need to make for students, I make it in Slides. The ability to manipulate and move anything anywhere makes this my go-to program (sorry Google Docs and Microsoft Word...you're out!). To start, I always change the page settings: You can change them to any paper size you need, and just change it to 11x8.5 if you want the document to be landscape instead of portrait. Then, you can move and create boxes and shapes however you'd like! I'm always trying new ways to move and create boxes to keep papers interesting - here are some of my favorites that I've made recently: This is a set of notes on the Crusades. Making the transition to any new format is hard - just this year is when I really started to get into the habit of clicking "create a google slide" rather than automatically going to Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Trust me though...you'll never go back once you make the switch!
I'm sure many of you know about Flipgrid, but I've just recently started using it and it is amazing! Here's the tag from their site: "Flipgrid is a video discussion community for your classroom that supercharges your students’ voices. You add the topics, your students respond with short videos, and everyone engages!" I used it recently to have students reply about the Columbian Exchange. It was around the time of state testing, and they had been doing so much writing and typing that I was looking for an alternative way to engage and assess them at the same time. This was definitely the answer. They LOVED that they got to record themselves (well, most of them loved it!) and they could watch each other's responses as well. If you click here, you can see my students' videos (the site only applies first name for privacy which is great), and I even had a quick rubric that I used to grade them (click here!). Currently, I'm only using the free version. However, I think I'll be buying the paid version next year because it gives you the ability to provide feedback digitally, and students can comment and reply back to one another as well. What an awesome tool for instant feedback! Here are their purchasing options: I saw people on Twitter recently talk about using this as a way of introducing kids to a new grade level - at the end of the year, current students can record a message to future students letting them know all about the grade they are about to enter. Then, near the beginning of school, new kids can watch the videos and feel more at ease about the upcoming year!
I am by no means an expert, but if you have questions, let me know and I can try to answer. Flipgrid's twitter page is also a great resource, and they always answer questions quickly. |