Flip + Poetry = Knowledge Constructors

When I teach poetry to students, many begin by saying, “I’m not a poet. That’s something other people do. I’m not good at that.” And they look at poetry as this kind of semi-mystical thing that “talented artists” do and that they don’t have access to,

In other words, with poetry, many students see themselves as “receivers” of knowledge, not knowledge constructors. A poem has a “secret answer” and they have to “guess what the poet meant.”

I wanted them to look at poetry as a “thing constructed” and view themselves as able to construct just as much as any published poet might.

Using Flip as a tool, I took Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “We Real Cool,” and asked students to design an intentional structure for the poem, explain that structure, and use it to guide performance. Later, we could look at how Brooks did it. But for today, I wanted students to own the design and structure of the poem.

Flipgrid does many things, but one thing it allows students to do is to create a quick video, post it, and give and receive feedback to one another’s videos.

In this activity, students worked in small groups to design a structure for “We Real Cool,” and then individually, they had to post a 60-second explanation of their structure via Flipgrid video, then perform the poem on video using their structure as a performance guide, and then time was given for students to view and respond to one another’s interpretations.

Here’s what the final product might look like. Feel free to check out some of the videos.

Here are the student instructions and slideshow that went with this lesson.

Here’s how you’d go about setting up a Flipgrid:

1. Go to Classlink.
2. Choose “Flipgrid Admin” and sign in.
3. Choose “Group” → “Create a Group” on the left.  I chose “Classroom” → “High School” for mine.
4. Give it a title and a picture and hit “Create.”
5. Copy the invite link to give to students.  There’s a pink / purple + button on the right to add topics to your group.
6. In the topic window that pops up, explain to students what you want them to do. You can add links, sample videos, attachments, etc. to other instructions and models that you have.
7. Be sure to check out the “settings” button (gearwheel in upper right) to see all the different options you can turn on or off for students to customize.
8. Give the invite link to students so they can access and begin posting to your Flipgrid.
9. You’ll be able to view results, as will they. They should also be able to view and comment on one another’s videos.

It doesn’t have to be poetry - any time you want students to model / perform / explain / give feedback to one another, Flip can be a useful tool to turn them into knowledge constructors. It is inherently open-ended so that students are making meaning, not necessarily looking to you as the source of meaning.

Got questions? Want help? You can find me in Room 2204 on the MSHS campus or via email at mancoffd@svsd410.org.

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