Last Monday, I used FlipGrid in class for the first
time.  I first heard of this app from the
English Department when they used it for the National Day on Writing.  As well, people in some of the ed chats I
follow on Twitter have recommended it as a way to engage students and to allow
them to have their voices heard.  So I
thought I would give it a try.

In my Algebra 1 with Math Lab class, we watched Carol Dweck’s
10-minute video “The Power of Believing You Can Improve” as a part of our
continuing discussion on growth mindsets. 
I asked the students to write down three take-aways as they
watched.  Then I gave them about 20
minutes to use FlipGrid to create a short video with their response.  I told them they could work with others, but
they had to stay on task.  OK, that didn’t
work.  While few of the videos were focused
and addressed the prompt, others were just down-right silly.  I realize now they needed more direction.

So I’m going to try it again this coming week as a review
tool for the Chapter 5 Test.  Here’s my
plan:  Students will work in pairs to show
and explain how to solve inequalities.  Each
pair will have four different questions to answer.  My hope is that by explaining how they
arrived at their solutions and by watching others do the same they will gain
confidence in their ability to solve these types of questions.  I also plan to review their videos before
making them visible to the class.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.  Stay tuned for my follow-up blog post “FlipGrid
– Take 2.”