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Let Flexibility Lead To Alignment

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  In my previous school district, I was the only teacher teaching a physics course with set, district-wide learning outcomes. These same outcomes were also taught in physics classrooms at the other high school in our district. But at our school, I was one of the 2 physics teachers. The other teacher taught the AP-level physics courses. So, in many ways, I had opportunities to incorporate strategies I believed were best for learners and that I found worked best for them without being seen as out of alignment with anyone in our building. My amazing friend and one of my teaching philosophy goddesses, Katie Novak, stated the following misconception about alignment: All teachers must deliver instruction in the exact same way. True alignment, she says, is about shared goals, rigor, and outcomes. Thank you, Katie! Katie has taught me to truly believe that learner variability is the rule, not the exception. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to Katie Novak explain it in the ...
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Applications for Flipgrid Camera in the Classroom.

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The new Flipgrid Camera has many incredible features that can be utilized in the classroom. If you are unaware of these features, read about them here on the Ditch that Textbook blog post. In this brief post, I will touch on some possible applications in the classroom.

Student Generated Keys

By using the whiteboard background, students can work through the problem solving process. Not only can they show their work visually, students can talk through the problem solving process. The key here is making use of the pause feature in the recording for simple breaks. If students don’t have touchscreens and drawing is too difficult with a trackpad, encourage them to use text boxes. Check out this amazing video by Jen Saarinen!




Student Introductions

At the beginning of the school year, many students are asked to complete worksheets explaining who they are in terms of who they are as a learner and person. Many teachers have innovated this process by having students introduce themselves on Flipgrid. Scott Titmas had the great idea of having students create “About Me” videos recording themselves and uploading images to help add some personality to these videos. 

Having students search for transparent images will help the images look clean on top of the camera image.

Text Analysis

Many times in class students analyze a text to summarize or present arguments. This could be fiction or nonfiction sources. There are couple of features used in this process. Textboxes are used to present specific text from a source on the screen while the creator elaborates on the text. Using stickers from the gallery or uploading images to provide multiple representations of ideas.

Lab Summaries

A lab report is much like presenting an argument from evidence. Students can present brief summaries of the data they found and the conclusions from this data by simply uploading images of tables and graphs. Using the drawing tool or text boxes, they can then annotate to provide analysis and present conclusions.

Student Reflections

Flipgrid has long been used for student reflections. Adding text, images, and drawing can help add a greater visual element to these reflections. This would be a great tool if students had their own Grid to record their reflections on their work in class.

Rubric Walkthroughs

The new camera can also be utilized by teachers in the Shorts app. When providing instructions, using Shorts is a great way for teachers to walk though instructions or grading criteria. This video was created by uploading a screenshot of the rubric. Then while using audio to walk through the rubric, teachers can annotate with the drawing tool. Attaching these videos to assignments allows students to continue to go back and view these on demand.

These are just a couple of ideas for creating with the new Camera. Please be sure to share out what things you and your students create using #FlipgridFever! 

 If you are looking for the complete Flipgrid Camera Guide check it out here http://bit.ly/flipgridcamera. 
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