Boost Skills and Fluency With Flipgrid

Editor's note: The Link Ladies are back with yet another fabulous app tutorial that will help you create a collaborative learning community in your classroom—this time about a topic kids can't resist: toilets! Try out Flipgrid and let us know how it goes.

Every kid loves a little potty talk, right? In the February issue of Storyworks Jr., the paired texts are about toilets—but that's really a way in to some very important subjects: the history of the flush toilet, and a new disposable toilet for people without access to flush toilets. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out an awesome app that's catching on in schools all over the country. 

The app

Flipgrid

Why we use it

We're always looking for easy ways to use technology to create a collaborative learning environment. And we're constantly asking students to share their thinking. We want them to reflect on what they are learning. With the Flipgrid app, students can use video to share their responses. What kid in elementary school doesn’t want to see themselves on screen? Knowing that their peers will be viewing their videos virtually guarantees quality responses.

Skill focus

These are the skills we focused on, but you can focus on any skill you’d like:

• Citing Text Evidence
• Comprehension
• Fluency development

Time

1 class period

What you’ll need

• Storyworks Jr. paired texts "The Greatest Invention Ever" and "A New Kind of Toilet" in the February 2018 issue
• iPads OR Chromebooks (camera needed) with Flipgrid app
• Note: Flipgrid has both a free and a paid version for $65/year. Both versions work the same. The limitation with the free version is that you can only create one grid (sone classroom)—but within that classroom, you can create unlimited prompts (topics). Honestly, the free version is all you need. 

The setup

To create a Flipgrid response topic, simply follow the steps to create a new topic on your grid.

Fill in the details:

• Topic title
• Video response time (up to 5 minutes)
• Topic description and question: Enter your instructions or question for students to respond to.
• Topic Resources: Add a link to a website, video, or document for your students to access, or simply add an image that matches your topic. Choose your topic and privacy settings here as well.

The lesson

In this example we will focus on the paired texts in the February issue of Storyworks Jr. We read each of the paired texts as a whole class, then had students do a close read independently. We asked the students to focus on the big question of the texts: How do toilets save lives?

We want the students to be able to use evidence from both articles when they share their thinking. Since vocabulary comprehension is critical in understanding the main idea of articles, challenge your students to use the content vocabulary (bolded words) in their responses.

When students are done reading the texts, they are ready to share their responses using Flipgrid. To access your grid, students open the app and either enter in a grid code (given on your grid homepage) or opt to scan the QR code that leads directly to the topic you’ve created.

The steps to record their responses are simple:

1. Press the green plus sign. Press the video camera button and record your response. (You can pause and then continue to record.) Press the pause button to stop recording.

2. Press the green arrow to preview your video response. If you're satisfied, press the green arrow again to take a selfie.

3. Press the camera button to take a selfie. This is the image that your audience will see for your video response. This helps identify whose response they want to view.

4. Press the green arrow again to enter your student's name. (We only enter the first name and first initial of the last name—all other boxes can remain empty). Then press Submit and return to the topic.

Flipgrid allows your students (or you) to view and then respond to one another via video.

You can share your topic, your grid, or an individual response. Choose the Share button for whichever option you want.

The "grid" you create becomes an active and continuous place to learn: Once you sign up, creating a prompt for your students takes only a few minutes. What an amazing opportunity to develop a collaborative community! Win/Win: Kids love it and they work hard at it!

Follow this link to our topic page to view some of our student responses to this reading prompt.

Try it—you will catch #Flipgrid Fever! And check out the hashtag on Twitter for many more ideas from teachers!