Ignite a Flipgrid Fire 🔥 15 MORE Ways to Use Flipgrid in Your Class

A year ago I wrote a post called Catch the Flipgrid Fever! 15 Ways to Use Flipgrid in Your Class and it quickly became my most popular blog post. Matt Miller was even kind enough to share it on his blog as a guest post. Since then I have had some wonderful experiences sharing my love of Flipgrid with others and have seen so many incredible ways to use this tool with students. You can check out all of my Flipgrid resources at the end of this post 👍 

If you're not familiar with Flipgrid it is a video response platform where users can respond to a prompt and have online video discussions. Teachers can provide feedback to students and students can also provide feedback to one another. With Flipgrid One (Free) you get one Grid with unlimited topics. So if you have multiple classes or subject areas you can just create a different topic for each and share that topic code. With Flipgrid Classroom ($65 per year) you get unlimited grids, topics, responses, and replies to responses. 

To learn more about Flipgrid and all of the bells and whistles available to you check out the free eBook Sean Fahey and I wrote: The Educator's Guide to Flipgrid.

So how can you use the Flipgrid with your students? Here are 15 MORE ideas for using this video platform in your classroom. 

1. Virtual vocabulary word wall When working on a unit have your students record a video describing the meaning of important vocabulary words. They can hold up a card in their selfie video with the word written on it so the words are easily accessed by other students. 

2. Activate prior knowledge on a topic My good friend, and awesome high school math teacher, Mark Tobin recommended simply asking the students to activate their knowledge on a topic before teaching it. He said he had tremendous success by just using that strategy. Why not take it a step further and have your students record a Flipgrid video sharing their background knowledge on a topic before you begin? Students could then reply to their original video after the unit sharing everything they learned.

3. Three Act Math  A brilliant mathematical teaching strategy developed by Dan Meyer is Three Act Math. Three Act Math is a series of tasks consisting of three distinct parts taking the learner through deep mathematical thinking. This strategy gives learners lots of opportunities to reflect on their mathematical understanding. Have your students record a Flipgrid video after each act replying to the previous video to share their reflections as they go through the acts to document their learning. Looking for more ideas for using Flipgrid in math? Check out 10 Ways to Enhance Math Lessons With Flipgrid by Sean Fahey.

4. Celebrate Global Read Aloud all year long The Global Read Aloud is a set 6 week period that spans from early October through mid-November and teachers all over the globe read one book and connect with other classrooms all over the world. With a tool like Flipgrid, you can connect with educators all over the world anytime and share as you read a novel together. Want to take it a step further? Find a book with a companion novel HyperDoc to complete at the same time. Many of these HyperDocs such as The Wild Robot and Pax were GRA books from past years. Choose a book, a companion novel HyperDoc, get connected and get reading!

6. Speaking skills assessment With Flipgrid you can provide written feedback to students and give them a rubric score for performance and ideas
With Flipgrid classroom, you can even customize the rubric (how-to screencast). Speaking well is an important and often undertaught skill. However, there are amazing FREE resources out there to help you and your students. Sean Fahey and I shared the benefits of using the PVLEGS framework created by Erik Palmer with Flipgrid in our Unplugged Webinar. The PVLEGS framework includes a great rubric to use when assessing students speaking skills in Flipgrid. A great tip from Matt Miller in his recent Classroom Live 2.0 webinar was to pick just ONE of the PVLEGS expectations to focus on at a time. It's too much for students to focus on them all at once.

7. Computer science shareout After creating a project in a coding program such as Scratch students can explain their project, ideas for improving, what issues they came across and how they debugged their program. Students can add a link to their project when they respond to the grid so the teacher or another student can view their program while listening as the student explains.

8. Debugging a program or ??? When we refer to debugging we are usually talking about finding and fixing errors in a computer program. However, my six-year-old son found and fixed his errors when reading and happily exclaimed that he had just debugged. After completing a math task, reading a passage, working through the engineering design process or when creating a computer program students can use Flipgrid to reflect on the process identifying their errors and sharing how they fixed them. Want an example of how this would work? I created this topic in the Discovery Library to get you and your students started using Flipgrid to debug in computer science.

9. Map of historical landmarks In California, our fourth-grade curriculum is famous for the Mission reports the kids are expected to do each year. Of course, students also do state reports and various other projects for social studies. What if instead of, or in addition to a fun alternative to a report, students also share what they know in a Flipgrid video and a QR code link to the video is stuck on the map? Geography, history and oral reports all rolled into one.

10. Flipgrid film festival Short films can be incredible teaching tools and are just plain fun to watch. Pixar has even paired up with Khan Academy to create Pixar in a Box which is a behind the scenes look at how Pixar artists do their jobs. Challenge your students to create their own short films and use Flipgrid as the platform for sharing their stories. Have students reply to their short film introducing themselves and sharing their thought process while filmmaking. Pleasanton Unified School District hosts a yearly film festival and provides some great resources including HyperDocs to help get you started.

11. Record an ongoing story When I mentioned that I was going to write an update to my 15 Ways to Use Flipgrid post my friends Claudio Zavala Jr. and Scott Titmas of course shared some amazing ideas. Claudio suggested having students record an ongoing story through Flipgrid. Have one student think of a title then the next record a 30-second beginning the next builds on that and so on and so forth. What a fun way to get the whole class involved in and create a unique story to share!

12. Encouragement from home Scott suggested having families record videos for their children to provide encouragement from home. Don't just wait for testing time to have your families record videos. The beginning of the year, at parent conferences, a send-off to the next grade are all ways to get families involved in encouraging and supporting their kids.

13. Flipgrid in Physical Education Using proper form when exercising is important. Students can record a video of the proper way to do a jumping jack, lunge, stretch, lift weights or kick a ball. As a soccer coach having a short video to remind me and my team how to perform the proper moves is a valuable resource.

14. A virtual library of tech tips and tricks How many times have you had something go wrong with the Chromebook or iPad and you KNOW you have fixed it before but you just can't remember how you did it? Have your school tech squad or group of tech-savvy students create videos with tech tips and tricks on a Flipgrid topic to share with the rest of the school. You can have a topic for Chromebook troubleshooting, a topic for iPad tips and even a whole topic for getting started with commonly used apps and programs.  

15. GridPals! An incredible idea from Bonnie McClelland, GridPals connects classrooms across the globe creating virtual pen pals. You can take advantage of GridPals using Flipgrid One. However, if one of the GridPals teachers has Flipgrid classroom then you can become CoPilots on the same grid giving both teachers access to the educator dashboard.

So there you have it. 15 more ways to use Flipgrid in your class. However, the possibilities are truly endless for innovative educators. 

Looking for even MORE Flipgrid resources? Check out the links below to blog posts, webinars, ebooks and more that I have created or co-created with other awesome Flipgrid ambassadors. Have fun and happy Flipgridding!


Blog Posts:
Flipgrid and HyperDocs: Amplifying student voice in purposeful digital lesson design.

Meet the All NEW Flipgrid! 10+ Must-Try Ideas for Using These Updates With Your Class

Take Off with Flipgrid's Newest Feature: CoPilots!



HyperDoc:
The 411 on Flipgrid HyperDoc

FREE Ebook:
The Educator's Guide to Flipgrid (2nd Edition)

Webinars:

Flipgrid Unplugged 4: Sean Fahey and I go beyond just using Flipgrid as the new cool tool in edtech.
We answer the question, "What Now?" and share instruction-based ways you can use Flipgrid to amp up engagement in your classroom in this webinar and provide LOTS of resources on our website.

Flipgrid Unplugged #4: What Now with Sean Fahey and Karly Moura from Flipgrid on Vimeo.

"Flipping out with Flipgrid" on Live Classroom 2.0
Both teachers and students are flipping out over using Flipgrid. But why? ***Hint, hint...Cause it's AWESOME!***
Learn more about what Flipgrid is, how to use it, and ways to you can implement this incredibly versatile and awesome tool in your classroom to help give students voice and choice in their learning.

20 Ways to Use Canva's Templates With Your Students

I recently had to create an invoice for something and I honestly had no idea where to start. So naturally, I Googled it. Imagine my surprise when a TON of amazing templates popped up from one of my favorite creation sites, Canva. 

Apparently, I haven't been very observant when using Canva lately because the section of templates is pretty obvious. You can find them on the side of the page and can even search for the type you want. This new discovery took me down a rabbit hole of awesome and I began thinking of all of the ways we could use these Canva templates with students*. 

I recently blogged about 10 terrific templates you can use in class tomorrow and included a few Canva templates so the first two may look familiar. Here are 20 ways to use Canva's templates with your class.

1. Invoice
Have your students create an invoice after completing an engineering design project. How much did their materials cost? How much was their time worth? A real-world application that will add mathematics and even more critical thinking.

2. Resume

How fun would it be to have students create a resume for themselves at the end of the year to share their skills and accomplishments? They can even share them with their next teacher. Alternatively, have students create a resume for a storybook character or their classmates as a "star of the week" activity.

3. Magazine Cover
The days of boring reports are gone. Students can create an engaging magazine cover for their report to hook readers in. Pair that with a brochure (#6) and your students will be begging you to complete another.

4. Book Cover
Students can put the finishing touch on their creative writing project or on their entire writing portfolio with creative cover. Students can also create a book cover for the sequel to a book they read or for a class novel that doesn't already have one.

5. Brochure
A fun twist on an old project. State report? California Missions? Animal habitats? Ancient Civilization? All of these reports can be turned into a brochure. Highlight the important places to see and the history or facts about your topic. Add pictures, color, and fun fonts to make it visually pleasing. Way more fun than writing it out on binder paper!

6. Flyer 
Our students work hard on their projects and should advertise that hard work to show it off. Creating a flyer would be a great wrap up to an engineering design project or a PBL unit. For example in this Simple Machines Unit, students are challenged to design a product using 2 or more simple machines that would help a person with disabilities. As alternative option students can use this Canva template for their product ad. 

7. Newsletter
Well, this one speaks for itself. Challenge your class to write a monthly newsletter. Give each group a different section to write and have one "editor" each month put it all together. You can upload it to a class Google site or SeeSaw to share with parents.

9. Menu 
The templates that are included already have an awesome selection of menus. Have your students choose one and write their own math problems for the class. Each week (or perhaps once a month) students can use one of the menus on the site and collaborate in groups to write math problems for their classmates in a collaborative Google Slides presentation. Your daily math warm-ups are done
and the problems have real-world application.

10. Bookmarks
When reading a class novel pick out quotes that stick with your students. Have students create their own bookmark as a fun way wrap up your unit or as an extension activity.

11. CD Covers
Any music teachers out there? Well, you may have to first explain to your students what CDs ARE and bring in a couple of examples then you can give your students an opportunity to create their own cover for their school band or choir. 

12. Invitation
Build the excitement for a class celebration by creating invitations for your families. Make Back to School Night, Open House, a winter concert or school play personalized with a special invitation from your students.

13. Worksheet
Yes, I said worksheet. Hear me out here. The templates on Canva are not only pretty but they are adaptable. Who said the worksheets have to made by you? Challenge your students to create their own writing prompt. Students can adapt the template and write a new prompt that would interest them. Give them some parameters on the genre of writing you are working on and let them go. Students can create them in groups and can vote on the one they want to use for their assignment or give them the choice of using any of them. Either way, the engagement level goes way up.

14. Social Graphic
Begin the school year or the new year by choosing their "One Word" for the year.  Using the socialOne Word HyperDoc created by Sean Fahey to get started.
graphics templates students can create an eye-catching graphic to share their one word. Be sure to check out this

15. Poster
Quotes can be inspiring and motivating. We see them all the time online, hanging up in the dentist office, pinned up on the wall of our workspace. Challenge them to create an inspiring poster to gear up for standardized testing at the end of the year, design a poster for a quote from a historical figure or a character from a book they are reading.

16. Report Card
Yep, Canva even has templates for report cards. We may be confined to our district report card but our students aren't. They can create a report card for themselves at the end of each trimester as they reflect on their strengths and goals. As a class, you can even create your own class report card and have students give you feedback on the year on tips for improving.

Infographics
Sharing information in a simple yet engaging way can be more challenging than it seems. Infographics are an excellent way to encourage your students to be concise and organized as they convey information in a visually pleasing format. Canva provides TONS of infographics for many different applications. Here are a few ideas:

17. Design Process Infographic
This template would be a great place to start with your class. Instead (or in addition to) using it to explain your design process for an engineering project, almost any grade could create an infographic outlining the steps in a class procedure or routine that you could display on the wall.

18. Timeline
There are quite a few timeline templates for students to modify for all different purposes. The one linked above is simple yet has a place for pictures and is easily adaptable. Students can create a timeline for a particular time in history, for a biography report or even for themselves to mark accomplishments over the course of the year or in their life.

19. Digital Citizenship Poster
Even the youngest students can help create their own digital citizenship poster. This "do's & don'ts" infographic is a perfect way to get started identifying good digital citizenship habits. Older students can work in groups to create a poster for different apps you use in your classroom and can even share their posters with younger students to teach them how important it is to be a good digital citizen. You can add this project to this Super Digital Citizen HyperDoc too =) 


20. Facts about a topic
We know that easily digestible bite-sized chunks are preferable when reading facts about something. However, for writers synthesizing information can be tricky and is a skill that students need to learn. Utilize this infographic to give your students a jumping off point when writing.


*It is important to note that according to Canva's Terms of Use you must be 13 years or older to use Canva without direct supervision. If you are under 13 years old your use of the service must be directly supervised by your parent or guardian or another authorized adult (e.g., a teacher) who agrees to be bound by this agreement.

10 Terrific Templates You Can Use in Class Tomorrow

Staring at a blank computer screen as you try to create something is daunting. Where do you begin? How do you organize all of your ideas in a way that others can understand?

Enter templates 👍

I LOVE templates. They help guide me in creating great lessons for my students and aide me as I share great tools with teachers I work with.


Templates save us time and give us a place to begin. These 10 templates can be adapted to use with almost any grade level. Do you have a favorite template you use with your students? Add it in the comments below.

I have recently discovered the world of Canva templates (apparently I was living under a rock). There are SO many and the opportunities to utilize them in the classroom are almost endless. Stay tuned for a Canva templates focused post coming in the near future. Here are a few ideas for now 😉

1. Invoice
Have your students create an invoice after completing an engineering design project. How much did their materials cost? How much was their time worth? A real world application that will add mathematics and even more critical thinking.

2. Resume
How fun would it be to have students create a resume for themselves at the end of the year to share their skills and accomplishments? They can even share them with their next teacher. Alternatively have students create a resume for a storybook character or their classmates as a "star of the week" activity.

Ryan O'Donnell has created some amazing templates that have been shared and raved about all over the Twittersphere. You can see them all on his blog creativeedtech.com. The two templates I mention below are ones that I have used with students and can personally attest to the incredible increase in engagement and fun that they have added to the lessons.

3. Time Magazine

Recreating a Time Magazine cover and article is WAY more fun than a boring old paper and pencil biography report. Students insert photos, add captions and write their own articles as they publish their own Time Magazine.

4. Twitter Profile
Another crowd favorite is Ryan's Twitter profile template. Students can create a profile for an author or book character including a few "tweets" they may have sent. We have also had students create their own Twitter profile page where they can display their accomplishments and a link to a digital portfolio. A fun twist on an "About Me" page.

My all time favorite templates are for HyperDocs. Creating quality HyperDocs can be challenging, especially if you are just starting out. Templates were my go-to when I began making HyperDocs and I still fall back on them often when creating units or lessons. Below are two that I have modified or co-created for sharing with teachers. You can find even more at hyperdocs.co/templates.

5. Explore, Explain, Apply, Extend
The original Explore, Explain, Apply template is fantastic. It is simple and easy to use when creating a HyperDoc for a lesson. In this version I added a few more instructions, links to resources and tips for creating. I use this Explore, Explain, Apply, Extend template in trainings for teachers or when co-creating a HyperDoc with a teacher who is just jumping in.

6. Novel HyperDocs
Heather Marshall originally began creating Novel HyperDocs as a way to move her students into a blended learning version of the old novel companion activity packet. If you are an experienced HyperDoc creator or just want to dive in and create a full unit for your students then starting with a novel HyperDoc may be a good place to begin.

This Novel Hyperdoc template was created by Sean Fahey, Michele Waggoner and I to get you started. It includes various slides for different purposes including extensions, figurative language, summarizing, vocabulary and more. There is also a link to a teacher's guide with even more resources.

7. Daily Check in with Google Forms
Frequent check ins with your students is important as you are assessing their learning. It's just as valuable to check in with them about their social and emotional health as well. Kids have a lot going on outside of our classroom and having an easy place to share how they are doing is important. Check out this daily check in  google form template created by Mari Venturino which can be easy modified to fit your class.

8. Motivational quote
Quotes can be inspiring and motivating. We see them all the time online, hanging up in the dentist office, pinned up on the wall of our workspace. Your students can create their own motivational quotes with these Google drawings templates created by Eric Curts. Challenge them to create an inspiring poster to gear up for standardized testing at the end of the year, design a poster for a quote from a historical figure or a character from a book they are reading.

9. Infographics
Sharing information in a simple yet engaging way can be more challenging than it seems. Infographics are an excellent way to encourage your students to be concise and organized as they convey information in a visually pleasing format. While Canva and Piktochart also offer great infographic templates as a GSuite for education school having students create using a Google app is preferable. Jeff Herb has created some great options in Google drawings. The Steps infographic template would be a great place to start with your class. Almost any grade could create an infographic outlining the steps in a class procedure or routine that you could display on the wall.

10. Flipgrid Grid Templates
A BRAND NEW update to Flipgrid is one that will make Grid creating  that much easier. Honestly, I don't know how they continue to make Flipgrid even more simple and user friendly but they do. Grid templates are now available to ALL users, including Flipgrid One, as you get started creating a new Grid. Get started using Flipgrid in your classroom right away with the Classroom template pre-loaded with a Class Intros topic complete with a nifty gif and an easy to follow prompt "Introduce yourself in 90 seconds or less and share something that makes you smile."

*I have curated 10 templates that I have found that I believe will work well in your classroom. A few I created or co-created myself but many were created by other incredible educators. I love to share amazing examples of ready to use resources but also want to be sure the original creator gets full credit AND a big shout-out. If you LOVE a template too please be sure to reshare the original blog post instead of, or in addition to, sharing this one.