Students are the Sage on the Stage With the #Flipgrid Craze!

        Over the summer, I joined a community of educators that desired to attend the ISTE 2017 in San Antonio, TX, but for various reasons were unable to make the trip.  It's only the BIGGEST educational technology conference in the world, and the #FOMO was torturous and unbearable.   The community that I became a part of was appropriately referred to as #NotAtISTE.  The purpose of this community is so that those of us who could not attend could still learn from and participate in the conference remotely.  A virtual conference goer of sorts!  Long story short, I participated in many of the #NotAtISTE community's activities, games, and challenges, so that I could network with others and learn from those who were actually at the conference.  The #NotAtISTE community gave away door prizes for members that accepted the challenges and got involved in the games and activities.  Well, what do you know?  I was a winner!  Unbeknownst to me at the time, but my prize was ONLY one of the biggest, Edtech tool crazes in education.  Flipgrid!

https://info.flipgrid.com/

      Oblivious to the  Flipgrid hype, I gladly accepted my consolation prize of a classroom  Flipgrid subscription from the #NotAtISTE community and gifted it out to a fellow Technology teacher.  I was grateful for my prize, don't get me wrong, but I do not have a classroom of students where I could put it to good use.  Therefore, I graciously passed my subscription along to someone who could.  Then, wholly moly, it seemed like every blog post I read and every podcast I listened to was about  Flipgrid!  So, what did I do?  I went to my fellow teacher that was the recipient of my classroom  Flipgrid subscription and said, "Call me an Indian giver, but I'm gonna need that back!"  Even though he had already set up the subscription with his information for the account, he obliged, and sent me the information I needed to sign into his account.  I was relieved to see that there were no hard feelings from my "giveth and taketh away" and got a good chuckle when he changed his account password to "indiangiver"!😂
     Once I had my prize in hand, I was off to the races to see what this  Flipgrid craze was all about.  One thing that immediately struck me about this tool was how effective it is in giving each and every student in a classroom a voice.  No one is left out!  You see,  Flipgrid is a video response platform that can be used for classroom discussions.  It is a great venue for collaboration and tool for formative assessment.  With  Flipgrid, teachers can assess what their students know and give them timely, relevant feedback.  Students also have the ability to provide feedback for their peers.  The more I dig into  Flipgrid I can see the value it brings to student-driven learning in the classroom.  Teachers, are you ready to loosen the reins and let your students become the "sage on the stage" while you embrace being the "guide on the side"?  If the idea of this excites you even just the slightest, then  Flipgrid is a great place to start.  But, I encourage you to put your information literacy to work and evaluate your resource. I'm just a messenger!  Check it out and see if it's actually something that would work for you.
     What are some ways that you can use  Flipgrid with your students?  Let me count the ways...

1. Pre-Assessments
2. Formative Assessments
3. Book Reviews/Book Talks
4. Reflection - I used my  Flipgrid classroom subscription to create a "grid" topic for one of my peers, so that it could be utilized for reflection in a HyperDoc activity.
5. Discussion Boards
6. Entrance/Exit Tickets
7. Debates
8. Class Introductions
9. Advice Topics
10. Shout-outs
11. ....infinity!

Here are some resources for you to use to validate your resource: 😉

• Catch the Flipgrid Fever! 15+ Ways to Use Flipgrid in Your Class
• Using Flipgrid in the Classroom: I've Caught #Flipgrid Fever!
• Podcast - Flipgrid: Fun Ideas to Engage Learners