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flipgrid

Tracking Attendance for Virtual Learners

by Miguel Guhlin August 19, 2020

written by Miguel Guhlin

For decades, teachers took student attendance with visual checks and marks on paper. Then attendance tracking became an exercise in logging student absences and tardies in digital gradebooks. When teachers exchanged physical classrooms for virtual, however, it created a problem.

Few gave thought to how to track attendance. They scrambled to answer the question, “How can I track it in my learning management system?” In this blog entry, we’ll explore how some popular LMSs handle attendance tracking.

TCEA offers amazing learning management system (LMS) self-paced courses. These are designed to take the sting out of having to sit through hours of Zoom lessons only to realize that the presenters went too fast. Instead, take your time and learn what you need to be successful via TCEA’s courses. Learn more about why we did this on the Ed Tech Club podcast.

The Existential Question: Are They Here? Or There?

“Why can’t we call out their names and take attendance like we always have?” I overheard a teacher ask in a webinar. The question remains, How do you verify a student is sitting in your virtual classroom? That’s an important question since school funding is tied to average daily attendance (ADA):

The average daily attendance (ADA) is the total days of student attendance divided by the number of instructional days for the specified time period. For example, a student attending every day would equal one ADA. ADA is not the same as enrollment, which is the number of students enrolled in a campus on a given day. (Source: Texas Education Agency)

Some LMSs have attendance tracking built-in. Some educators are relying on one-question non-graded assignments, visual check-in, or Flipgrid to keep track of who’s there. Which of these solutions will work best?

#1 – Schoology Attendance Tracking

Using Schoology? If you have access to Schoology Enterprise, you have several ways to track students in the course. These analytics include assignment, discussion, link clicking, and materials access. Armed with this information, you can see the impact of your assignments and work. But what about attendance tracking?

Did You Know?

TCEA offers a $29 Schoology Educator course you can take to get up to speed on Schoology Basic and Enterprise features. Bulk discounts are available, and you get a digital badge and certificate. You also earn 12 CPE credit hours. Learn more.

One easy way is to take attendance with the Attendance menu, available in Schoology Basic. You can see what that looks like below:

Schoology Enterprise gives you even more information via their Analytics menu option. Their analystics system provides access to:

Consistent tracking of Schoology usage across web, iOS app, and Android app use
An insight dashboard. This dashboard provides insights into how students are accessing the classroom, including what materials students are viewing and the amount of time spent.

Source: View Image Source

Educators can export user analytic statistics as a comma-separated values (CSV) (a.k.a. comma-delimited) file. This makes importing the file to a spreadsheet program easy. Once in a spreadsheet (e.g. Excel, Google Sheets), you can generate graphs and more reports if needed. In summary, Schoology Basic gets you started with attendance tracking. Schoology Enterprise provides a wealth of information teachers can use.

#2 – Canvas

As you may know, Instructure’s Canvas is a popular choice for many school districts. But how do you track attendance in Canvas?

Canvas, like Schoology, enjoys an analytics section. It also has a specific feature to track attendance. That feature is the Roll Call Attendance Tool. It masquerades as an assignment. Here’s how Canvas Basic Guide describes it:

The Attendance (Roll Call) tool is an external app (LTI). Use it to take attendance in Canvas courses.

Enabled at the account level, use the Roll Call Attendance tool in all courses in a Canvas account. Some districts are choosing to not use fancy, outside LTIs.

#3 – Seesaw

Why did your district pivot from a more age-appropriate LMS like Seesaw? If that’s a question you’ve been asking yourself, here’s why. Unlike Schoology and Canvas, tracking attendance isn’t obvious in Seesaw or Google Classroom. There aren’t any fancy analytics in these tools. That’s why some school districts dropped Google Classroom and Seesaw. Some districts, like San Antonio ISD, dropped Seesaw and pushed everyone to Canvas. The problem, however, is that Seesaw for Schools is easy to work with for younger students.

While some districts compensated by tracking attendance in daily face-to-face, live (a.k.a. synchronous) meetings, others preferred daily assignments. The problem with that approach is that there is a time lag from when the student submits the assignments to when the teacher grades and puts it in the book. Putting the information into the attendance book is thus a manual process.

Were you aware that TCEA member Brittany Beaird created an amazing online course to assist you in learning Seesaw? Become an overnight pro with the highly-rated Seesaw Educator course. Or learn how to Bitmoji your virtual classroom with TCEA member Lisa Marie Bennett.

Even so, it is possible to track attendance in Seesaw without assignments. This approach relies on Seesaw’s Skills.

How do you track attendance with students in Seesaw? One approach that Lisa Monthie (Waco ISD) suggests is using Seesaw Skills. Kris Szajner describes this approach in the video below:

Source: Kris Szajner (@KSzajner)

“You can click on the skill and grade it by giving it stars. There’s a report that gives you the grades in a CSV file,” says Lisa Monthie (Waco ISD). This makes it easy to import into an external digital attendance tracking system. Chances are, your school won’t allow import into the gradebook system. That means most folks will be using the manual approach to transfer grades.

#4 – Google Classroom

Using Google Classroom as your LMS? One of the ways G Suite EDU educators are tracking attendance is to rely on a scheduled Google Meet.

Sign up now for Google Classroom, TCEA’s online, self-paced course. Learn what others are saying about this and TCEA’s other online courses.

As mentioned in previous blog entries, you can use Google Chrome browser add-ons. In my blog entry, Google Meet Add-Ons and Updates, I share several tools you can use. Some of those Google Meet tools for tracking attendance include:

Meet Attendance – Collect attendance in a Google Sheet from a Google Meet
Google Meet Plus – An amazing tool that is a must-have for any teacher. You can drop links, famous quotes, or use a whiteboard that tracks who did what.

Need analytics to complement Google Classroom? Find a few solutions in Five Amazing Add-Ons for Google Classroom. One worth looking at is Classwork Zoom.

Have the freedom to try a different tracking approach? Give this last option a try.

#5 – Flipgrid for Student Attendance

“Worried about evidence of attendance for school funding? No problem, it took me about three minutes to schedule my weekly Flipgrid attendance,” says Dr. Randall Sampson (@RandallSampson). He goes on to say the following:

I can insert attendance in required SIS and have a back-up security blanket of evidence. Plus, all videos are time stamped! Today’s scheduled attendance is working. I also receive email confirmations every time a student checks in for attendance. What does a school get from a 15-second Flipgrid attendance video? Export your Flipgrid Attendance videos to a spreadsheet.

Wow, let’s unpack some of that. Dr. Sampson asserts that you can use Flipgrid to:

Collect time-stamped attendance
Receive email confirmations
Export attendance records to a spreadsheet

“I want to keep it super simple. I set it to 15 seconds. Student: State your ‘first and last name’ and say ‘here,'” Dr. Sampson says. Isn’t that amazing? Thanks to Microsoft, Flipgrid.com is available at no cost to educators around the world. Get your free education account now.

Now that you’ve seen some different approaches to attendance tracking, share what you are doing. Have no doubt, attendance tracking is about bringing money into the school district. This makes doing it right and in a consistent manner important to your admins. Finally, don’t forget to explore TCEA’s free Remote Learning resources and blog entries.

August 19, 2020 2 comments

Class Discussions Gone Digital

by Miguel Guhlin March 17, 2020

written by Miguel Guhlin

A colleague recently posted the following request for help in finding an interactive way for his students to respond to literature questions via class discussions. He received some fascinating responses to his question. In this blog entry, I’ll try out some of the suggestions and share my thoughts about them.

“All teaching boils down to three key processes…The processes are: finding out where learners are in their learning, finding out where they are going, and finding out how to get there,” says Dylan Wiliam (2011, The Case for Formative Assessment, page 45).

Create Opportunities for Digital Class Discussions

Here’s a copy of the original request that a teacher shared:

Hi, would you happen to have ideas? I want to create opportunities for digital interaction around a short story. We’re reading the short story, and I want students to respond to the questions. Students need to be able to read each other’s responses and leave comments. I want to keep track of how many comments they leave so I can grade them. Thanks in advance for your ideas.

This teacher, whose request I’ve revised for length and clarity, is really looking for a virtual space. In this virtual space, students should have the option to post their responses to questions and should have the ability to comment on other students’ posts and responses.

The main challenge here is keeping the virtual space a safe place for learning conversations focused on the content. For K-12, the goal is to create a walled garden where students can interact. In this way, others (e.g. parents, community, strangers) don’t intrude on fragile chats.

Caution: In some districts, providing students with a virtual space is not allowed. Even when there is teacher supervision, in a secondary setting, there may be too many posts to review. That said, as teachers, we need to encourage civil discourse in our classrooms. Students’ failures to interact in an appropriate manner are opportunities for growth. Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Solution #1: Learning Management System (LMS)

A learning management system with a built-in discussion board is one possible response. Many schools provide teachers access to an LMS for use in their classrooms. If not, there are many other solutions you can take advantage of that are no-cost. Whether you are using Instructure’s Canvas, Schoology, Blackboard, or Moodle, solutions abound. You can even use Microsoft Teams and set up a specific area for discussion. Google Classroom may offer some opportunities as well.

One response to this teacher stated the following. I laughed when I read it because I did something like this once. Since then, I’ve learned to push for a school/district approved response. The one thing that will raise eyebrows is the following:

Get a free moodlecloud site and create a chat forum! It will do exactly what you want.. You can even make it so they can’t comment until they’ve posted their own response. Source: Kerry Crawford via Facebook group

If you are in a situation where going rogue with an LMS not under district control is okay, then options abound. You can find Moodle hosting sites everywhere with a low monthly price. Some districts or schools host Moodle instances in-house. This is great because it makes account management pretty easy.

Here’s a video overview of discussion forums in Moodle:

If you want to try this suggestion out, get yourself a “Droplet” in Digital Ocean. If you want to grow and learn more about GNU/Linux distributions, there are many you could start with (e.g. Ubuntu Linux).

Solution #2: Flipgrid

“Flipgrid? That could be fun!” says Bethany Nopajaroonsri. Would you like to try a solution that’s not text-heavy? Consider giving Flipgrid.com a try. It’s a versatile tool, cross-platform, and works great on smartphones. You can set up your Flipgrid to capture students’ responses to questions. Consider this example of Flipgrid use for Student Book Talks.

There’s no reason why a teacher couldn’t set up a Flipgrid Topic for their short story. If you want to learn more, explore Mike Tholfsen’s Wakelet collection, #FlipgridPD: Getting Started.

class discussions

One of the best aspects of this solution is that Microsoft’s sponsorship has made it completely free. And Flipgrid’s developers are conscious that their product must be K-12 friendly.

Solution #3: Padlet for Class Discussions

Need a virtual bulletin board solution? Padlet might be your answer, if you don’t mind paying almost a hundred dollars. Imagine your students posting content of all sorts, such as video, text, G Suite EDU documents, and more. Everything appears in the form of a post-it on a bulletin board. Ben Fisher describes it in this way:

Padlet is like a virtual bulletin board. Students can comment on a post you’ve made or they can make their own post on the Padlet board. It allows them to post text, images, and videos.

Padlet offers many different ways to organize content, as well as protect content. Your padlet can be as public or private as you like. As a veteran Padlet user, the only question you need ask yourself is, “Are you ready to pay $99 a year?” If so, you’re ready to get going.

class discussions

Solution #4: Verso Learning

“Check out Verso. It allows you to post a video, link, text, etc. and have students respond. They can then respond to each other’s answers. They even can upvote the responses they find helpful,” says Keith Schoch. You can read about Keith’s use of Verso Learning in his blog entry “How to Teach a Novel: How to Create Interactivity, Even Remotely” where he lists ways that teachers can use Verso to:

Build understanding of historical context of a novel
Review a concept or skill covered in class
Generate background information for a current events debate or writing
Review the steps of a process
Integrate SEL and discuss sensitive topics such as bullying
Provide alternate interpretations of classic literature
Practice inference skills
Create an online crowd-sourcing site

You will want to read his blog entry for the details. Verso’s website includes references to evidence-based, high-impact strategies. They assert they have put these together around the work of luminaries such as John Hattie, Robert Marzano, and Michael Fullan.

Watch the video appearing on this page to learn more. There’s a lot to like on the Verso website, and may well be worth a separate blog entry. There is a cost associated.

class discussions

Solution #5: Parlay Ideas

Parlay offers discussion prompts at a price. Teachers can get started with a no-cost account. You can see how it works via their website or watch video below:

As you might imagine, there are ways to use many of these digital tools to enhance class chats. You can stay old-fashioned with discussion forums (e.g. LMS-based forums) or go all in for video (e.g. Flipgrid). You can rely on Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, or even G Suite EDU Slides comments. There are many choices. Remember to keep it simple and inexpensive.

March 17, 2020 7 comments

Good Teaching

How to Increase Reading Fluency with Repeated Reading Strategies

by Miguel Guhlin February 20, 2020

written by Miguel Guhlin

How do you increase a child’s reading fluency? It’s a question that seems to have an easy answer. One common response is that you give them more opportunities to listen to others as they read. You also make it important for them to read aloud and then provide them feedback on their reading. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a high-effect size instructional strategy that can increase reading fluency and explore some ways technology can make implementing this strategy easier.

A Quick Review

If you’ve been following the TCEA TechNotes blog, you’ve sensed our new focus on the work of John Hattie. Hattie conducted meta-analyses of research on instructional strategies. Some strategies fall above what he characterized as the “hinge point,” or an effect size of .40. Strategies that speed up student growth in one year fall above the hinge point. For example, the jigsaw approach (1.20) yields three years of growth in one year when used in a consistent way. Reciprocal teaching (.74) yields almost two year’s growth in one year.

Picking a high-effect size strategy is not enough. These strategies also fall into general categories. They include “surface,” “deep,” or “transfer” learning. That’s because Hattie defines learning in this way:

…the process of developing sufficient surface knowledge to then move to deeper understanding such that one can appropriately transfer this learning to new tasks and situations. (Source: Visible Learning for Literacy)

Jigsaw is a surface learning approach that assists students in two ways. Fisher, Frey, and Hattie says that surface learning consists of two sub-phases. The first to help students acquire, summarize, and outline a topic. The second is to practice testing and receiving feedback. As you might imagine, the jigsaw approach works great for this.

Reciprocal teaching focuses on comprehension. As such, the goal is to assist students to transition. That transition is from surface knowledge to a deeper, conceptual understanding. Knowing when and why you will use a strategy remains important. Neither strategy (e.g. jigsaw, reciprocal teaching) would be appropriate for developing decoding as a part of reading fluency, which is our primary concern in this blog entry.

Definition: Decoding: Decoding is the ability to apply your knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words. Understanding these relationships gives children the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to figure out words they haven’t seen before. (Source: Reading Rockets)
Definition: Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately. (Source: Reading Rockets)

Developing Decoding Skills

Listening to teachers at a professional development event, one teacher pointed something out. She made a connection to the type of problem reciprocal teaching solves. “Students first need to move beyond the mechanics of reading. They need to become fluent readers first.” Reciprocal teaching addresses a different problem. That problem is, “What if students are fluent readers, but cannot comprehend what they read?” But what about those students who haven’t overcome the mechanics of decoding?

Why Decoding and Fluency Are Important

Students, from grades one through middle school, may encounter decoding challenges. This might also be true for older students learning a second language. Timothy Shanahan offers the need to:

Get students to read the author’s words in an accurate manner.
Read texts at about the speed of oral language.
Make reading sound like language. This involves pausing in the right places so that text makes sense.

While there are several approaches for addressing decoding, repeated reading offers one approach. It works for young readers as well as middle school students. Repeated reading (effect size of .75) enables students to move from decoding to meaning:

Repeated reading involves students reading the same passage (=>3x) to teachers. When the student miscues, the teacher can read the correct word aloud. Then, the student rereads the passage until reaching a satisfactory reading level.

Image Source

Repeated Reading Approach

There are several other approaches to achieve repeated reading effectively. One way is to have a student listen to a passage read aloud by the teacher. Then the student reads it to himself several times. Then, the student reads it aloud. The teacher calculates the rate, accuracy, intonation, pacing, and expressiveness and reports this to the student along with elapsed time. The student re-reads the passage again with this information in mind. The student has the goal of improving these elements.

How could classroom technologies facilitate repeated reading as a strategy? Let’s consider one of the challenges teachers and students face.

Opportunity for Repetition with Repeated Reading

One of the challenges teachers and students may encounter with repeated reading is the opportunity for repetition. A teacher with a large class may be unable to read for each child. Carol Chomsky suggested another approach that involves teachers recording a selection to audiotape. Students are then invited to record themselves as well.

With modern technologies, teachers have several options:

Option #1: Use Flipgrid. The teacher can read the text, modeling facial expressions and word formation for students. This is great for dramatic readings since students can see it. In return, students can record themselves reading their text. They can submit as many repeated responses as they like. What’s more, Flipgrid includes Microsoft’s Immersive Reader. This makes it a fantastic addition given Immersive Reader’s features.
Option #2: Seesaw. Teachers can share an audio/video recording of a reading, then invite students to leave a video/audio recording of their repeated reading. This is great because it makes archiving and tracking student growth easy for sharing via Seesaw.
Option #3: Google Slides or PowerPoint Online. The teacher can display text to be read on screen via a slide and then insert an audio recording. Students can then record their own versions for a particular number of times (three to five times) before turning it in to their teacher.
Option #4: Use web-based audio recorder. Using a web-based audio recorder, the teacher or student can record audio. Copies of recorded items can be saved to Google Drive, OneDrive, or submitted as part of Microsoft/Google Forms.

These are great options to use because they result in a record of reading, and it can be dramatic to see growth over time. What’s more, they make it easier for the teacher to provide corrective feedback. Corrective feedback has a significant impact on fluency and comprehension.

“Repeated readings has been the most researched and successful approach to improving reading fluency,” says Lauren Nienhuis. These technology tools mentioned can assist you in maximizing your impact on student readers. Give them a try for repeated reading.

February 20, 2020 2 comments

Educational Trends Good Teaching Professional Learning

Four Features to Make Better Use of Flipgrid

by Dr. Bruce Ellis January 29, 2020

written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

You have probably already heard of Flipgrid and perhaps even started using it, at least to some degree. It definitely seems to be the perfect tool to support students in many ways, not to mention using it as a way to provide peer- and content-support to teachers.

As I have worked with teachers and administrators, though, it seems that most folks using Flipgrid aren’t making the most of some great features it offers. I usually hear from educators, after sharing Flipgrid as part of a larger training, that they wish they knew about the features sooner and are stoked to start using it in even more engaging ways. You could say that they caught #flipgridFever!

Update Your Profile

Begin by making sure that your profile is updated. Don’t be shy. This will allow others to better connect with you. Click on your image in the top right and select Profile. Select a photo or avatar for your profile picture. If you have a picture that has a busy background or you want to use a quick editing tool to remove the background (as I did on my bitmoji image), go to remove.bg, upload, and edit your image as needed.

Once done editing, download your image and upload it for your profile by clicking on your current Flipgrid profile image. For your account information, be sure to choose all the grades and subjects that you have experience with. Complete the most current bio description of who you are and what you do within the 256-character limit. Lastly, share how you would like to connect by providing any social media information or links. When done, click the Update Profile button. Now, let’s jump into some useful tools.

1. GridPals

GridPals is, as you may have deduced, Flipgrid’s version of pen pals. It’s a super easy way to connect with other educators and enthusiasts to further learning and improve education.

Begin by clicking on the #GridPals link at the top of your Flipgrid screen (assuming you are on a computer). Change your status from Hidden to Active so that you and others can find each other and connect. A window will pop up allowing you to edit your profile and add the location where you are. For mine, I entered Austin, Texas, United States. Click the Next button to continue. You are now able to give permission for other GridPals to contact you. Plus, Flipgrid never shares your contact email with them until you reply, so you have complete control. Edit/add any social connections if you would like and then click the Join GridPals! button. Woohoo! You are now in the GridPals group!

So, what do you do if you don’t have students? Why would you want to be a part of GridPals? Even if you don’t have students, you might be asked to share with a group of students because of your job or area of expertise. It also helps you stay up-to-date on how others are using Flipgrid in the classroom, from early childhood up through college!

2. Disco Library

Yep, Flipgrid has a disco library. Well, in layman’s terms, it might better be called a template gallery, but “disco library” is so much more hip and exciting!

In the Disco Library, you can access templates that other educators have created to spark new ideas of interacting with your students, as well as jump start your process. No need to start a topic from scratch if someone else has already created it for you. Flipgrid also lets you know the following when you enter the Disco Library:

No student videos will be shared when a Topic is added to the Disco Library.
You can edit Topic information before or after you share. Topics can be removed at any time.
Other Flipgrid educators will not see that you’ve added their Topic template and vice versa.

Using Weekly Hits

The #FlipgridWeeklyHits shares 50 topic templates that you might be interested in. You can scroll (left-to-right) through the list of thumbnails or click on the View All link to jump down to the list as a set of search results. Scrolling through the list, I have found several that spark creative ideas of how I can support students that I haven’t thought of before using a specific student standard, or support teachers with a unique area to share on a particular topic that is meaningful to those like-minded teachers. It’s almost like a PLN (professional leaning network) in Flipgrid!

After clicking on the View All link, you will drop down to the list and be able to see who the topic template creator identified as the audience, the subject area, how many times it has been used, and how many favorites it has. Just click on the topic template to get more information about the topic. If you want to use it, just select which of your grids you want to add it to.

Featured Disco Playlists are sets of topic templates provided by various organizations such as code.org, Wonderopolis, Hacking for STEM, and more. When you find topic templates that you like, either as part of a playlist, a weekly hit, or ones that you find by using the search feature, click the Add to Favs at the top of the descriptive window about the template. This will allow you to begin creating your own playlist of favorites to share with others.

Using the Disco Library

The easiest way to add one of your topics to the Disco Library is to go to the list of topics within the grid you want to share. If you want to share multiple topics to the Disco Library, you’ll need to share each one individually. And remember, no student videos currently in your topic will be included in the template.

Right-click on the Actions button of the topic you want to share and select Add to Disco Library. Your topic will be submitted to the Flipgrid team to review for appropriateness and value. You will notice your stats near the top letting you know how many topics you’ve added (once they are accepted and added), how many times they have been used, and how much video engagement (hours/minutes/seconds) has been generated.

3. MixTapes

No, this isn’t creating mixtapes on cassettes like we might have done back in the ’80s and ’90s to give to someone special. This is a whole new way of sharing — but based on the same principle.

A mixtape is a compilation of any videos that are in any of your topics, in any of your grids. Begin by adding a new mixtape, which really means creating a folder for the videos you want to add.

Once a mixtape is created, go into the various topics and locate the videos you want to add. Right-click on the Actions button of the video to add and select Add to MixTapes. Select the specific mixtape to add it to and click the Add button. Voilà! You are now on the way to being a mixtape master. Now all you need to do is go to the specific mixtape and click on the blue Share button. You can easily share you a specific mixtape via url, QR code, embed code, Google Classroom, and via Remind.

Using MixTapes

Consider making a mixtape as a study aid or glossary for your students as they review information for a major test. If you work with teachers, then consider creating a mixtape of them sharing ideas of how they are making a difference in their classroom or how they are implementing a particular strategy in their classroom that the whole campus (or district) is working on.

For example, if I’m working with ELA teachers across the district, I may create a topic in which they share how they are implementing the new ELA standards, tips or tricks they have to share for other teachers, or ways they are implementing something they learned while in our district professional development time. I could then make a mixtape of several of the videos to create a synopsis of great things that are going on, and I might share this mixtape with principals so they can get an idea of how ELA teachers at other campuses are setting an example.

4. Shorts

Shorts are brief videos, no longer than three minutes, that you (as the teacher) can create to share how-to’s, introduce a lesson, provide a video note to parents, or just share an update.

Once created, you can share in a variety of ways: by url, embed code, QR code, Google Classroom, via Remind, or download and share via Google Drive or YouTube as you might normally share a video. As when students are creating a video, you can add a filter, stickers, text, draw on the video, and even make use of Live Inking on a whiteboard or blackboard.

Live Inking is great when you have a digital pen or slate (so your writing is more legible) to use and need to create a quick tutorial video on something such as how to solve a binomial equation, explain in a simple manner what cloud computing is, or some other situation where it is helpful for the person to see you illustrate the concept or skill while hearing you talk; in this instance the video isn’t on you but just the white/blackboard is being recorded. And if you right-click on the More icon (the three dots just to the right of the record icon), you can upload a sticker, which could signal to the students the topic or subject area or could be used as simple branding of your videos.

How Do You Use Flipgrid?

So how do you use Flipgrid? Which feature(s) have you found to be the most impactful? Even if you haven’t had a chance to use Flipgrid, have you come across an innovative way to incorporate it in the teaching and learning process or in professional development? We’d love to hear from you!

January 29, 2020 0 comments

Educational Trends Good Teaching

How to Start Your Flipped Classroom

by Jill Hobbs, Guest Author January 23, 2020

written by Jill Hobbs, Guest Author

Are you sold on the flipped classroom model but don’t know where to start? I’d like to help you get there. I’m very passionate about this method and can’t wait for others to join me.

It’s been a year and a half since I started flipping, and seeing the transformation of my class and my students is exhilarating. Students are more engaged and interested and there is more active learning in class. I’d like to share my knowledge with you to hopefully help lessen the anxiety of trying something new.

Let’s get started with a few things I believe are important to a successful transition to a flipped classroom.

Consider Access First

First, incorporating technology is the most important aspect of flipping your classroom as this is how students will access materials outside of the school. In my district, we use the learning management system (LMS) Canvas to offer a blended learning approach.

An LMS is a great tool to deliver vast amounts of information through a web-based environment. It is easy for students and offers 24-hour access to information (i.e. calendars, learning content, multimedia, assignments, etc.) anywhere they choose as long as they have internet access. Learning your districts’ LMS is crucial.

You can also register for a free account if your district doesn’t have one. Check out the 11 Best Free, Open Source LMS Tools for Your Small Business to explore some options.

Use the Right Tools

Secondly, integrating various digital tools for your students to use is also a must. One of the biggest struggles with flipped classrooms is having students come to class ready. In my class, students need to watch a video for homework and answer at least five questions to check understanding. How do you encourage students to complete this before class?

It helps to ensure that there are engaging, fun, and interactive activities during class for students to participate in when they come to class prepared. Make sure the students know this up front and they will come to class with their work completed so they can participate in all the excitement.

Plus, for the first several weeks, you can send emails to parents informing them of their child’s progress with homework. I also encourage a weekly newsletter so parents and students are well-aware of the expectations for the week. Whether you flip or not, communicating with parents regularly is very beneficial.

Useful Digital Tools

Here are a few digital tools I find very helpful to use with my class:

Edpuzzle – Edpuzzle uses videos you make or find to engage students. You can embed questions throughout the video to track comprehension.
Flipgrid – Flipgrid is a social learning platform. Students are asked questions and respond with a video, allowing other students to comment on their post and opening the door for discussions.
Nearpod – Nearpod is an easy way to engage students with interactive lessons they can do individually (self-paced) or in groups. There are a lot of lessons to choose from, or you can create your own easily.
Kahoot! – Kahoot! is a game-based learning tool. There are a lot of games already created by other teachers and you can also create your own. Students are highly engaged as they answer questions, creating an exciting learning environment.
Quizizz – Quizizz is a fun and engaging way to provide student-paced formative assessments.
Padlet – Padlet is a powerful resource for student collaboration. It is a digital canvas where students can upload videos or images, write text, or upload documents.

There is a lot to learn when flipping the classroom, so don’t try to figure it all out in one night. Learn as you go and don’t be afraid to go slowly. Start out with only flipping one lesson a week and then move to two lessons a week.

The same goes for integrating various digital tools – one at a time, and before you know it, you’ll be flipping all your lessons.

Let Your Students Shine

The best part about flipping is when your students shine. This past year, I had a student who really excelled with the flipped learning method. He struggled in math for years, and the first semester in my class was no different. However, once he and his parents grasped the concept of the flipped learning method, his grades and understanding vastly improved.

The use of instructional videos, external videos, practice problems, quizzes, and interactive games to play assisted him to see if he “gets it.” His success was a combination of having all the resources easily and readily available to him, as well as his willingness to work hard.

In your flipped classroom, you could see these same results. So remember to start with one lesson at a time and go slowly. Don’t rush, as it takes time to learn all the resources, but you will get it. Once you do, you won’t want to go back.

Photo: stem.T4L

January 23, 2020 0 comments

Chromebooks Content Areas Educational Trends Good Teaching

Fun with a Holiday Fliphunt

by Dr. Bruce Ellis December 10, 2019

written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Add some fun to your holiday season and learning by completing this holiday fliphunt. You’ll find a variety of options so you can start with any of the tasks. All you need is the Flip app on a phone or tablet and enter the code fa530c13. Or, if you are using a Chromebook or laptop, then you can point your browser to https://flip.com/fa530c13. Enter the guest password TCEAGuest if you do not want to log in with your Microsoft or Google credentials. Since this fliphunt is open to the world, don’t share your first and last name when recording. Instead, make up a holiday name or use a different fake name to protect your identity. To make it easier, consider printing out the holiday fliphunt tasks sheet.

What Is a Fliphunt?

A fliphunt is a fun way for students (and adults) to share their learning, interact with content, or just get to know each other better. Participants refer to a task list that is provided with the specific fliphunt that gives a variety of activities to record. Younger students and “newbies” to Flipgrid may find it easiest to work in pairs as they collaborate with other pairs to complete the tasks. Unless otherwise noted, you can start with any task on the sheet. You can find out more information about fliphunts by reading other blog posts I’ve written on the topic.

There’s Even a Reward!

Complete all the tasks on the holiday fliphunt this month and I’ll email you a special certificate recognizing your accomplishment! To receive your certificate, complete the following:

Use your fake name which should appear as the Display Name (if not, edit the display name to be your fake name).
Use the hashtagged task title (#tradition, #song, #worldgift, etc.) as the Title. (see the graphic below for an example)
After you complete and submit all seven tasks, Send Me an Email to let me know. Tell me the fake name you used so I can verify your submissions and your real name for the certificate. I’ll email you a PDF certificate to recognize your accomplishment!

More Winter Resources from TechNotes

Two Brand New Winter Breakouts and Bonus Puzzle
Tips, Tricks, and Tech Tidbits – Part 8 (more winter activities)
Winter Resources for the Elementary Classroom
Celebrate the Season with Holiday Websites
5 Holiday Seesaw Activities
Holiday Websites, Apps, and Extensions
Merry Merry Breakout

December 10, 2019 0 comments

Science STEM/STEAM

Investigating Science with Flip

by Dr. Bruce Ellis November 14, 2019

written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Regardless of what grade you teach, science processing skills are critical for all students to master. Though the focus of the content may change by grade level, these processing skills can continue to be developed and refined. For this post, we’ll focus on how to support the processing skills of observation and inferencing using Flip, as well as give you some resources for finding photos and videos that you can use in you grids and topics.

What Is Flip?

If you don’t already use Flip in your classroom, you are missing out on a great and engaging way of having students interact with you, each other, and the content. This free video response tool by Microsoft encourages students to verbalize and think aloud. I remember being in the classroom and wanting to hear from each student, but not having time to, so only a few were able to answer aloud. With Flip, all students get a chance to answer. Reluctant students have the opportunity to listen to their classmates prior to recording. This opportunity allows them to self-correct any misconceptions based on the knowledge and application their peers have shared, as well as become more confident in the information they provide. Additionally, students (especially those struggling in the content area) have the ability to review other students’ responses as often as needed, thereby reinforcing the learning and better integrating proper use of the academic vocabulary of your subject. So if you are new to Flip and need some basics to get started, then consider checking out the Educator’s Toolkit to help you get up and running.

Observational Skills in Science

Students begin learning observational skills in science starting in kindergarten. Though the skill is not as robust or refined as what a high school student may demonstrate, there is still great value in having them engage in observing the world around them to start taking notice of how things work. Observation is a foundational science skill that leads to communication, classification, measurement, inferencing, and predictions.

In Flip, create a grid for observations. Each topic in this grid will show a photo or video that the student is to observe and describe. Depending on the level of skill, you can require students to use previously learned vocabulary in their responses. If you want students to use words from a given word bank that you have developed for them, create the document and add it as a topic attachment to the topic. You can reference this word bank in multiple topics by adding the link to each topic. If you have a rubric to guide the students in their work, add the rubric as another topic attachment; for younger students, you may need to record a video showing the rubric while you are reading it aloud.

Go to https://flip.com/investigativescience to see an example of a grid in which each topic – click on the drop down of the topic title (e.g.: #1 Description, #2 Description, etc.) – has a photo or video that the student is expected to describe. Examples I have provided are intended to be general in nature so they can fit a variety of grade levels. The topics you create for your students should be specific to the grade level standards they are expected to master. To streamline the production of the topics, consider using a standardized set of directions (such as “Assuming the role of a scientist, describe the object/material using at least three descriptive terms. Be sure to use complete sentences.”). If you do this, you will be able to duplicate the topic and change out the focus (photo or video) that the students will work with.
NOTE: You will need to log in to this grid using your Microsoft or Google account if you want to record an answer to one of the topics. You can, however, see all the topics without logging in.

Reinforcing Inferencing Skills

Inferencing is a skill that students typically have trouble with regardless of their grade level. This skill requires them to pay close attention to details and then draw conclusions based on what they see. Students may be noticing several characteristics of the object in the photo/video and then piecing those bits of information to infer what the item is. Though this is a critical reading skill, it is also a skill that is foundational to being a good scientist.

Begin by creating a grid to hold your inferencing topics. As done above, create a standard set of instructions for your students. You can go to ,https://flip.com/whatcoulditbe to participate in an example that I created for you. The samples that I gave are meant more for you than for students. Topic number 5 is a video while all the others are photos for you to observe closely.
NOTE: You will need to log in to this grid using your Microsoft or Google account if you want to record an answer to one of the topics. You can, however, see all the topics without logging in.

Finding Photos and Videos

Pixabay -(https://pixabay.com) This site hosts copyright free photos, illustrations, and videos. Under the Pixabay license, you are able to use at your discretion without asking permission or giving credit (thought giving credit to the creator is appreciated). If you are using Pixabay images in an online format, you do need to download them to your server as hotlinking (linking to the images directly on Pixabay’s servers) is allowed. If you would like share to photos and/or videos that you have created on Pixabay’s platform, visit their Image Quality Guidelines page for details.

Pexels (https://www.pexels.com) Another great site that provides photos and videos that are free to use, attribution is not required (but appreciated), and you can modify them as desired. Similar to Pixabay, you can become a contributor to submit photos and videos that you create to Pexels – just go to their License page and scroll down to the bottom to get started.

Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) – This is another good site for free photos.

USB Microscope – Consider purchasing a USB microscope that you can connect to your device in order to take photos and videos of actual materials in your classroom…or on fieldtrips! Read the details carefully as some microscopes will work with some devices but not all…such as Android phones/tables, PC computers, and Mac computers but not iPhones or iPads. If you need a microscope that connects with your iPhone or iPad, be sure that it explicitly states that it connects. Likewise if you are wanting to connect the microscope to a Chromebook. If it is not clearly stated, look for a link in which you can ask the seller or locate that microscope on another seller’s website to see what information they provide.

For the https://flip.com/whatcoulditbe topics, we used a digital USB microscope purchased from Amaazon for $19.98. It didn’t have the best directions on connecting with a laptop, but I was able to get it to work with a little bit of effort. You will probably [hopefully] find that more expensive USB microscopes will have better directions…though I’m sure this is not always the case. This one was purchased because it was cheap and could be used with teachers in training. This microscope could be used with lower elementary, but the focusing may take a bit to get exact; older kids will have no problems. This microscope will take photos and videos. Though this isn’t an endorsement for this microscope, I would advise you to explore and decide on which microscope might be the best for your needs and purchase one to test out; if it works as intended and with ease, you can then confidently purchase additional ones if you need a set for your classroom/lab.

How Do You Use Flip in Science?

How do you use Flip in your science teaching? Share with us as we would love to hear about it. Here are the answers to the inferencing Flip referenced above (1. rose petal; 2. beard hair; 3. a Puffs Plus Lotion tissue; 4. stamens and pistils of a rose; 5. scroll wheel of a mouse; 6. college ruled notebook paper; and, 7. the end of a USB cable).

November 14, 2019 0 comments

Content Areas Educational Trends ESL/ELL Good Teaching

Adding Adventure to Instruction by Using a Fliphunt

by Dr. Bruce Ellis October 7, 2019

written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Regardless of what you teach, your students will most likely respond well to an adventure of some kind as opposed to worksheets or traditional whole-group learning. So a fliphunt is perfect for your classroom. But, you might be asking yourself, “What is a fliphunt?” Designed by Kathi Kersznowski (@kerszi), a fliphunt is a scavenger hunt using Flipgrid. It is a fun way of having your students get out of their seats, participate in the learning, and demonstrate their understanding and application.

Organizing Your Fliphunts

Start by creating a grid in Flipgrid to contain all your fliphunts. This will help keep them organized and in one place, a folder to contain them all. Next, create a new topic and give it the name of your fliphunt. Each fliphunt will be a new topic within this grid.

Creating Your First Fliphunt

Begin with your content standards or knowledge and skills you are wanting your students to learn. Identify multiple concepts they will need to demonstrate understanding of. Think of fun ways for them to demonstrate the concept or skill. For the sake of an example, I’ll pull from fourth grade math standards:

(6) Geometry and measurement. The student applies mathematical process standards to analyze geometric attributes in order to develop generalizations about their properties. The student is expected to:

(A)  identify points, lines, line segments, rays, angles, and perpendicular and parallel lines;
(B)  identify and draw one or more lines of symmetry, if they exist, for a two-dimensional figure;
(C)  apply knowledge of right angles to identify acute, right, and obtuse triangles;…

In Google Docs or Microsoft Word, create a list of tasks (or even a choice board). I created a Google Doc (http://bit.ly/fliphunt4geo) with tasks for the fourth grade geometry lesson. It is up to you whether students complete them in order. In my example, students can go in any order. But, to get credit for each submission, they must name their entry using the task title. This will help students as they review other student work (and as I grade!). If you are creating a fliphunt for someone that is not in your district domain, be sure to edit the topic, select Add Topic Guests, and give them the permission to record videos to the topic; you’ll also need to share the topic guest address/code with them, which is different than the one used by your students or people within your district domain.

Fliphunt Template

Here is a template to guide you through the steps. Once you complete your fliphunt, be sure to share it with other educators by tweeting a link to it using #fliphunt and #flipgridfever. Before you know it, you’ll be making fliphunts for all your classes…and even start creating ones that are just for fun and for icebreakers. When coming up with the tasks, consider having your students submit ideas to be used!

Sample Fliphunt Docs

Getting to Know You Fliphunt

Earth Systems Fliphunt

Parts of a Non-Fiction Book

Skeletal System Fliphunt

Indian Hill Staff Fliphunt

Geometry FlipHunt

To Kill a Mockingbird Fliphunt

Meet and Greet Fliphunt

What Will You Create?

What content will you use to create your fliphunt? If you still need more ideas and details, check out #fliphunt on Twitter for lots of sharing. Also, be sure to add your ideas to the comments section. Don’t just make it an adventure; make it a fliphunt!

October 7, 2019 8 comments

Good Teaching

Take the Ed Tech Leap and Make It Count!

by Guest Blogger December 21, 2018

written by Guest Blogger

“The day is almost done. Don’t cry until they leave.” Those words echoed in my mind as I stood there watching my class. I stopped talking. I stopped teaching. It was my first year of teaching and I was exhausted, drained, and burned out. I realized I was the Charlie Brown teacher. I was playing “sage on the stage” but all my students were hearing was, “wah wah wah wah.” I questioned my ability. I questioned my future as an educator. I had to choose: quit or change.

Well, six years later, I’m still teaching. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “I never lose. I either win, or I learn.” Challenges are opportunities to learn something new about ourselves. That first year was insanely challenging. But it started me on an incredible journey of discovery. The challenges I faced pushed me out of my comfort zone and into the realm of ed tech and innovation. These challenges ignited my teacher soul in ways I didn’t know I needed!

If it had been easy, technology integration might never have crossed my mind. However, I quickly learned that traditional teaching wasn’t working for me or my students. Something had to change, and ed tech was the avenue that revolutionized my classroom. It wasn’t an overnight success. There were plenty of bumps and a whole lot of crazy adventures (and there still are). But the payoff is worth it. If you’re standing at the edge intimidated by the leap, that means it’s time to do it. Effective technology integration is a game changer. Don’t wait any longer!

Increase Student Engagement

I needed to get away from the front of the room and put the learning and ownership in my students’ hands. Nearpod was the first tool I encountered that facilitated this shift. Its many different interactive features make formative assessment instantaneous, which makes it easy to adapt lessons to meet student needs. Sharing student work allows my students to analyze and discuss what they have done well and what they could do better. They identify and learn from mistakes from themselves and their peers. Leading the lesson from my iPad, I am no longer a prisoner of the front board. Finally, I can move around the room, helping students on the spot, checking in as we discuss and work. It has changed the dynamics of my classroom!

Nearpod was only the beginning for me. A plethora of options exist to increase engagement. Tools such as Kahoot! and Quizizz bring an element of competition and fun. These tools are used to assess prior knowledge or review concepts, either whole group or independently. They excite students about winning with knowledge while giving you feedback to adjust instruction. Put the learning in your students’ hands and empower their voice with tools like FlipGrid. Give them the opportunity to explain, make connections, discover, and teach each other. Putting a worksheet on a device isn’t revolutionary, but switching up the way students interact with the information can be. Using ed tech isn’t about what you use, it’s about how you use it.

Don’t Get Overwhelmed

There’s an abundance of tools available, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed and paralyzed. Don’t. Choose one tool and try it out. Don’t give up when it glitches or the internet goes down or any of the other million things that could happen, happen. Be patient…with the tech, with your students, and with yourself. And always ask for help…from anyone, including your students. Support equals survival!

Share Your Experiences

The first time I used Nearpod effectively (there were some definite misses along the way), I was bursting to tell anyone and everyone. It was an exciting shift. You’ll have those moments, too, so be sure to share your experiences. You might be the spark for a colleague who has been standing at the edge intimidated by the same leap. As you get your ed tech footing and begin experimenting with different tools, you’ll also realize it’s just as important to share the missteps as it is to share your successes. Use your voice and experience to empower others!

Embrace the Journey

I had no idea how much technology would change my professional journey. This adventure has connected me with people from all over the world. It has opened opportunities that I might never have considered before, like pursuing a degree in educational technology leadership. To be completely honest, there are ups and downs. Sometimes you’ll feel like a rock star and other times you’ll feel full of self-doubt. You may question what you have to contribute because others are doing incredible things. Embrace the words of Simon Sinek: “Innovation is not born from the dream, innovation is born from the struggle.” It’s your journey, own it!

Ed tech changed me and reignited my passion for teaching. How will it change you?

This is a guest blog by Karen Vallente. Karen is a middle school Algebra teacher in San Antonio, Texas who constantly pushes herself outside her comfort zone and loves learning new ways to engage students in authentic, meaningful learning experiences!

December 21, 2018 0 comments

Digital Literacy

Celebrate Digital Citizenship Week

by Diana Benner October 16, 2017

written by Diana Benner

Digital Citizenship Week, every third week in October, is the perfect time for you and your students to reflect on the role technology plays in your lives. It’s an opportunity to stress the importance of positive online habits, to learn about digital safety and responsibility, and to encourage acts of kindness.

During a recent Lunch and Learn webinar, we shared some tremendous resources to help you celebrate Digital Citizenship Week. Whether you’re looking to celebrate just this week or throughout the year, we have activities and resources that are sure to help you.

Activities

Three Kind Things

The latest social media app that all the kids are crazy about is the New Nice App. The app comes with a twist—it’s nice. The tbh app, short for “to be honest,” works by letting users send anonymous compliments to their friends and contacts. That being said, I created an activity that focuses on being kind. With this Google Slide activity, students write three kind things they will do. Next, they design their friendly ghost. The ghost doesn’t even have to look like Casper! Try it here by choosing an empty slide and listing three nice things you will do today. Get a copy of this Three Kind Things Ghost Activity here.

Positive Digital Footprint

A digital footprint is a trail of data you create while using the Internet. It includes the websites you visit, emails you send, and information you submit to online services. Have students think about what their digital footprint will look like 10 to 15 years from now. Allow them to illustrate their footprint with words, images, or videos. Try it here by choosing an empty slide. Get a copy of this Positive Digital Footprint Activity here.

A Good Digital Citizen Grid

Being a good digital citizen is more than being a safe Internet user. It’s about being responsible and smart and having respect for yourself and others. Have your students engage in conversation about the importance of being a good digital citizen through Flip. Check out this example from Berkeley County School District, where elementary students responded with their thoughts.

More Activities

Don’t forget to visit the blog Google-ize Your Digital Citizenship that I wrote last year. It contains more activities, such as a Digital Citizenship Pledge, a Responsible Use Policy Scavenger Hunt, and more.

Resources

Below are more awesome resources to take advantage of.

Be Internet Awesome – Google, in collaboration with online safety experts, developed the Be Internet Awesome program. The program teaches the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety. In addition to a curriculum for teachers, the program includes Interland, an online game that puts these critical lessons into hands-on practice for students.

BrainPOP’s Free Digital Citizenship Resources – BrainPOP’s free digital citizenship resources offer schools ready-made learning pathways. These pathways explore topics such as Information Privacy, Media Literacy, and Digital Etiquette. Be sure to check out the Teaching Resources, too. They include a guide, video overviews, rubrics, and lesson plans. More information can be found at Making the Online World a Better Place Starts With You. Get registered here.

Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship Week Activities – Common Sense Media lists activities you can do to celebrate kids using technology safely, responsibly, and respectfully. Below are a few resources from Common Sense Media.

Microsoft Educator Community Digital Citizenship Resources – The Microsoft Educator Community offers a digital citizenship course for educators. Educators can earn a “Microsoft Digital Citizenship Champion” badge that can proudly be displayed on their profile once they complete the course. Furthermore, educators get access to a OneNote Notebook full of resources and lesson plans.

PBS Webonauts Academy – Webonauts Internet Academy is a web game for 8-10 year olds. It gives them an opportunity to have some fun while exploring what it means to be a good digital citizen. It is quite engaging. In addition, it becomes all the more powerful when parents and teachers use the game to spark more conversations about digital citizenship.

Don’t Forget

Remember, the second standard of the ISTE Standards for Students is called Digital Citizen. As you build digital citizenship lessons, look at the indicators for this standard. These will help you in creating clear targets that students will understand and can achieve.

Let us know how you are celebrating Digital Citizenship Week in the comments below.

October 16, 2017 0 comments

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