5 Simple Ways to Flip Your Classroom

A flipped classroom is a great way to create dynamic lessons that students can work on independently and allow them to incorporate technology. Whether you're fully flipped, or you're just trying to tech-up your classroom a bit, with a some simple practice - you can create highly effective digital activities and assessments in a few moments.

1. Google Forms

Google Forms is my bread-n-butter for creating dynamic activities and lessons online. They're easy to make, easy to enhance, and FREE (what-what!) And with most Google Apps, anybody can learn how to use it after a little bit of time fiddling around and trying different set ups. Kids answers are automatically sent to an organized spreadsheet for easy grading. Add longer passages and make quick and easy reading assessments with pictures, diagrams, and many types of questions!

Pro -Tips for Google Forms

• Include a section for kids to write their names (or some way to quickly identify them). That way, when you review their questions you immediately know who is who. 
• Try using different types of questions - kids will benefit from thinking critically about different question types!
• Include pictures of diagrams and charts to enhance your question types.
• Post a short link to your class webpage so kids can just click and get started right away!
• Don't underestimate the power of the theme! It's so simple, but kids find the cool design more enjoyable (listen to me, THEY FIND TESTING enjoyable). 

2. Blendspace 

Blendspace allows you to create an instant blended lesson. Organize your digital resources, create quizzes that go along with your digital lecture, and immediately assess student data. A great app for someone going the full-flip in their classroom or looking for some great ways to differentiate instruction on the computer. 

3. Google Classroom

Oh, Google. If Google hadn't already won your heart, Google Classroom will sure do it. Google Classroom allows for teachers to manage their students' work and their Google Apps for Education suites with ease.

Google Classroom is like Blackboard or Moodle, but much simpler. Google Classroom's focus is creating assignments, hosting class discussions, and managing homework/resources for your students. It allows you to manage assignments and student work via Google Docs and Google Apps for Education and can instantly link all of those things together. It's easy to assemble, design, and most importantly, user friendly for your students. It definitely takes a little bit more Google Apps for Education know-how, but it's very easy to get started! (You do need to get approved via your Google Apps for Education account, but it's free!)

4. HapYak

HapYak is definitely the most streamlined form of creating quizzes directly in videos that I've seen. Upload a YouTube video (or other video) of your choice and the video will play automatically. Throughout the quiz, the videos will pause and ask students various questions that you create. They're easy to make, and can be embedded into different classroom sites. Kids can pause and replay videos, and submit their answers instantly, which are collected into a report for you. HapYak creates videos and assessments that are very user friendly for kids - it works just like a regular YouTube video does and doesn't require much practice before the kids start their first quiz. Enjoy!

5. Class Dojo

Every teacher I've talked to that uses Class Dojo on a regular basis swears by it. It puts a bit of ownership on kids to manage their behavior and gives kids, parents, and teachers a way to instantly share behavior stats in real time. A parent can log in and see how their child's behavior is shaping up from day to day. Kids can go online and check out how they're doing, customize an avatar for themselves, and track their own progress and goals. Teachers can add or deduct points for many different behaviors, and get differentiated reports for all kinds of things. A word of caution: not every school district allows the use of Class Dojo so check with your tech specialists before starting it. Class Dojo has been a hot topic in the education sphere, so definitely do some investigation before you decide if it would be a positive experience for your kiddos. If you think that Class Dojo would have positive benefits for your kids and parents, then definitely consider it. 

There's TONS more apps out there. Submit your own ideas in the comments below!