Then I remembered Sled which I blogged about here. The aim of sled is to get learners to discuss their approaches to answering questions. Not AO1 style questions, the complex AO3 style about tiling a room or deciding if they have enough paint to paint a pattern on the playground. Those hard ones where students often dive in and are on the wrong track, before they know it they've filled a page with working out but none of it worthy of any marks. Sled is a nice way to ask them to pause before they dive in. Flipgrid can help with this. I have recently revised sled, renamed it to shed here.
The student is set an AO3 style question for independent study. They sketch, highlight, estimate an answer and then record their plan on a Flipgrid. I like that we can then all see everyone's responses at once. I like that we can learn why and where misconceptions arise. I ran this with my group in lockdown. It was fascinating hearing the wild theories of how to approach a ratio cement mixing question. So many answers from my learners. So few that would attract marks! We played some of the videos in Flipgrid on a Google Meet and after 1 or 2 whenever we selected the next video that student, who made that video, would say 'we don't need to see anymore I see what I did wrong' boom! That's it right there!
We know and have known for years that verbal or video feedback connects with a deeper level of learning than written feedback. Using Flipgrid like this allows the learners to see themselves and recognise their own mistakes. If they can develop that skill of self correction and reflection they will be very well equipped for the new wide world. Initially I thought they were asking me to stop playing videos out of embarrassment so I asked one student why. She said, 'I saw the question again and instantly thought of another way to answer it, I knew I had rushed it, you do though, you're glad you think you have an answer and you go for it but you should think about it'. So much power in her comments, re reading the question made her approach it differently. Confidence and lack of in the exam and the burning desire to get something down, anything down! The power of checking your answers before you submit.
Rewind many years to my NQT or even PGCE years, when I had time to write and reflect more! What skills did I most struggle to teach learners? Check their work! Ask me in bottom set year 10 GCSE modular days, what skill did I struggle to teach? Checking answers before finishing within 3 minutes!!! (if you've ever had bottom set year 10, theyre very keen to finish exam papers and move on!) ask me when I started in FE with adults about where their mistakes were and what skills I wanted to teach them? Yep it's checking work again. It's a battle I've always had, it's kind of why I became fascinated with sled and now shed. It's one of the only mechanisms that has helped me make a breakthrough in helping students realise the importance of checking their work. Flipgrid has taken this to the next level. They are hearing their own thought process and correcting in their minds as they hear it. So for those big heavy makr questions, why not ask them to Flipgrid their response before they write it down?
