How to Use Flipgrid for Students in Stem Class

What is Flip Grid and Why Do Our Students Need It?

Flipgrid is a web or app-based educational tool for students to use. Elementary teachers can provide questions, and students must submit a video with their responses. Peers are able to leave video comments. You may use this edtech tool in person or while teaching remotely.  

Setting up Your First Flipgrid Topic

Step #1 Setup an Educator’s Signup

Click here for the educator signup. It’s easy to use and set up process. Put in your name, email, date of birth, and click login.

Step #2 Click “Create a Topic”

You will need to get the conversation going by clicking “create a topic.” in Flipgrid, the topics are the questions for the discussions.

Step #3 Set up Your Topic Questions

This is where you will add a title, your questions, and any sentence frames you want your students to use. It’s important to keep this description section simple. You have the option to add media to your topic. This is where you can create a Screencastify video of you explaining the questions, reading the questions, or anything else. To learn how to do that, you can click here.

I usually put a giffy, because I read the questions during live sessions. I like to keep the recordings short because I have about 700 students I see each week. If you are doing it as an elementary school teacher, I would recommend making it longer as students complete more and more of these topics.

Once, you have complete the settings to your liking, you will be provided with a link to share out to your students. Depending on the settings you have created, your students should be able to simply click the link and provide their video responses. 

Step #4 Record Your Response

Model leaving a response with your students. Click the “Record a Response” button and speak your mind. Once you are done with your video, take a selfie, and publish your post. I usually have my students comment on another student’s response, so I model that for them as well. To do that, you would need to click the red “Add a Comment” button under the response video. The comment is a video response that follows the same steps as the original recording.

The video settings have multiple filters, emojis, frames, boards, and so much more for your students to use and personalize their videos. 

For the students that do not wish to show their face, you can watch this IGTV video that I created on the topic.  

Tips For Success

When I just started on Flipgrid, I came across a few mistakes. I wanted to share those, so you’re first try is bump-free.

• Model the entire process of accessing the link, making a response, and commenting. During remote teaching, I would share my screen during a live session, and my students saw as I recorded an entire response. I also modeled commenting on my own response.

• Provide sentence prompts and frames for students to use during their responses and comments. You can put it in the topic that you create in Flipgrid or put it in your slides.

• Provide examples of feedback for students to give to their peers during commenting. I used “Hi (student name). I enjoyed your video because…” “Hi (student name), one thing I liked about your response is…” “Hi (student name), I loved your response a lot. I was wondering about…”

• For students who didn’t want to show their faces, I allowed them to cover their faces with an emoji or use a filter. I did explain that I would love to see their faces, but they can cover them until they feel comfortable with me.

Stem challenges have always been such fun for my class, but I always got a sense that some students were feeling left out. Their voices weren’t being heard, but Flipgrid gives them that voice. It has even been giving my English Learners the ability to practice speaking.

I encourage them to write out their thoughts either in sentence form or in a bulleted list. They don’t need anything fancy. They can simply write on a blank paper. Then I let them know that they should practice reading what they wrote and time themselves. If they feel confident with all of the words, they can record on Flipgrid.

Once students record their thoughts, they can listen to their recordings. If they don’t like it, then they can re-record. This extra practice is just what our ELL student population needs.