This blog post is from a series of ideas where we take normal, everyday tasks and make them interACTIVE! For more tips and tricks, be sure to search “From Desk to Digital” on our blog!
A key foundational piece in building comprehension in early years is for students to be able to successfully compare the similarities and differences between characters. Often times, students are led to a writing prompt that asks them to decipher the characteristics. But, there’s a more engaging way that will capture your students attention and lead to a higher level of critical thinking. Here’s how you can take this lesson to the next level!
Flipgrid
Flipgrid is a free video based social learning platform. Educators pose a question, then students respond in the form of a video. Classmates are able to view each other’s responses and can leave comments back and forth to one another, creating a web of discussion and ultimately elevating the academic level of the classroom discussion.
Get Started
After reading the story, share the Flipgrid Topic code with your students. Explain that they are going to explain the similarities and differences between the different characters, but to do so….they must BECOME the characters. They can do this by adding emojis to their video. Flipgrid has things like wigs, beards, glasses, etc. These act as stickers and will float on top of the video. So, now your students have to actually think and speak like the character!
Once your students are ready to record, they can access emoji stickers through the Emoji feature right within the Flipgrid Shorts Camera. It helps to teach them to take advantage of the Pause feature, too. In other words, students start off by taking the role of one character, then press pause and become the next character before clicking record again. This process can be easily done back and forth, and now your students are completely emerged in their learning. Not to mention the fact that other students will want to watch and learn from their classmates because the videos are so engaging!
See It In Action
Check out our tweet below to see this in action!
-- Stay tuned for more on how you transform your classroom into a more interACTIVE experience! 👓👗
For more tips, tricks and lesson ideas for making learning more interACTIVE, check out our books The InterACTIVE Class and Flipgrid in the InterACTIVE Class on Amazon!
