Rocking the Class Features of Flocab

Recently I was at a conference talking none other than Flocab with a number of other teachers.  Many had heard of it or had played with some of full class features, but I discovered something that shocked me: the number of teachers who had the full school subscription but had never tried any of the class features.

So that leads me to today: How can you rock the class features of Flocab in your classroom?  Because, well frankly, you should.

With just a couple extra clicks and about 10 minutes, you can better engage students and get instant feedback that you can you use modify your instruction on the fly.  I don't know about you, but those exact words are listed on our teacher evaluation rubric.  The steps are simple, so here we go.

Click on My Classes and select 'Create New Class.'  You will get a class code.

If your students haven't made an account yet, have students 'Join a Class.' They will enter in the code, click that they are new to Flocab, and create their account.  If you use Google or Microsoft sign ins, use them! We found our students LOVED to forget their usernames and password; the easy log in makes it way easier! (Don't worry if you don't.  You can reset passwords for students in your class!) If students have already created their accounts, just click 'Already Have a Flocabulary Account' and log on in.

Now, let's make your first assignment. Super easy! Find the video you want and click 'Create Assignment' and select the class you want to assign.

Now select the parts of the assignment you want to assign and select a due date.

This is where the advantages really start.  Not only can you assign and get individual student feedback on the quiz, but your options really open up.  I've done the front of the classroom quizzes before and we all know there are students that never answer or pretend that was going to be their answer, too.

So, first you can just assign the video so the students know they need to watch the video.  You can also assign the quiz, the same one you used to do at the front of the classroom, but now you are going to get back individual student data. You know which questions need to be reinforced as a class and which students need further reinforcement themselves.

Keep in mind that if your students don't explore the Interactive Lyric Notes, the questions will be super tough.  The bulk of the content, including diagrams will appear inside the Lyric Notes. This is what my middle and high school teachers love about Flocab.  It doesn't just stop with the basic concept but provides further details to get to the heart of the content and the standards.

If you are not happy with how your students performed, you can always reteach and then reassign.  Our teachers like to add another round of the quiz for students who need to be retaught and reassessed; they simply call is Round 2.  You can even select only the students who need to be reassessed when making the assignment.

Read and Respond is another new feature that is available for assignment on some of the videos.  Read and Respond reminds me of almost reading comprehension test prep style questions.  Not only do your students have to understand the content, they also need to be able to apply a literacy skill in order to be able to answer the question.  We know that state tests don't ask students 'how did Bobby feel?'. Instead, these tests ask what details from the passage support the inference of how Bobby feels.  Best part, you get the same data feedback as the quiz.

 
Last but certainly not least is Lyric Lab.  Tons of people have posted about using Lyric Lab with their kids, so I'm not going to spend a ton of how time, but let your kids create their own! We have had primary grades through high schoolers create their own hip hop lyrics to demonstrate their understanding.  I remember at ISTE one of Flocab's artists said that he learns so much about the topics because he has to fully understand it in order to write the lyrics and complete rewrites.  That's so true and it turns technology from a culture of consumption to creation and I love this!

We love to have our students record their creations and share them with each other and the world around them.  It's not uncommon to see QR codes posted next to student pictures in the hallways as they share their creations!  The best is the process is easy.  With preset content vocabulary for students to utilize in their lyrics and a built in rhyming program, everyone can write hip hop!

Bottom line: if you haven't set up your classes and checked out the class features, it is a must! It's easy and totally worth it!