Flipgrid Basics: Amplify Student Voice Using Flipgrid

One thing that all teachers want more of in their classrooms is more student participation. How do we do this when we have a mixed bag of personalities all in one class? Some of those personalities can and will dominate the conversation while other want to participate but are afraid to possibly be wrong in front of their peers. And then there are some who genuinely do not want to participate because “it’s stupid”. How do we get participation and more #studentvoice in our classrooms while keeping it relevant and engaging? Flipgrid! That’s how!

Flipgrid is a digital tool that allows teachers to create a “Topic” (question) and have students respond with video. That video can be recorded on the spot, can be a YouTube video, or can be a video created with digital software such as iMovie. It’s easy to use and can be done so on a Chromebook, PC, Mac, Android, and iOS (the response part, at least). Not only that, these student responses can be created at anytime, not just in the classroom. If you’ve never used it, here is a recipe card to get you started quickly. In addition, you can upgrade to a Classroom account, which has more bells and whistles, by using promo code: GABRIELC . So here you go, amplify student voice in your class with Flipgrid.

If you’d like to experience Flipgrid first hand from a student perspective, there are many grids and topics out there. Just search #flipgridfever on Twitter and see what is out there that might interest you. One of my personal favorites is by fellow San Diego rockstar Claudio Zavala who posts a different music genre every week to help you get your week going. Check it out at hashtagsingasong.com.

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Turn Your Awesome Google Slides into an Interactive Nearpod

We all have a couple hundred Google Slides presos that we’ve borrowed, copied, and stolen over the years right? How about taking those bad boys and creating an interactive Nearpod preso with them? The beauty of this is that there is no need to recreate it, simply upload and transform! Here is a recipe card that goes over the How-To. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Nearpod, I challenge you to peep this and give it the ol’ college try. For those of you who are familiar with this, I challenge you to revisit this and beef up what you are presenting to your students. Beef, that’s making me hungry. Talk to you guys later! Deuces and as always, enjoy!