Saturday, November 2, 2019

#MysteryFlip in the Global Classroom




The Mystery Skype concept has been around for awhile, but what about those time zones? My students will be participating in a Global Literature Unit with schools in five different time zones. We can meet face to face with only one of the countries during school hours. How do we connect with the others for this fun activity that will get students thinking about different areas around the world, while also taking a closer look at their own unique surroundings? We use the magic of FlipGrid in what I call a #MysteryFlip! This year is the first time that I used a #MysteryFlip in my classroom and I must say it was more a flop than a flip for my first go-around, but I know what needs to be changed for the upcoming one.

In my first MysteryFlip attempt, I paired an entire class period with a small group in our partner classroom. This was too much. My twenty five students couldn't agree on the question. It was hard to hear the videos when I played it to the group. The class asking/answering questions format was disorganized. To remedy, the key to success is small groups, pre-pairing and a graphic organizer for the students to follow.

For our global unit, students are grouped into four different reading groups, meaning a group reading When Broken Glass Floats in Japan will be partnered with students reading the same book in another country. They will be given their own grid to interact with their partners. The groups will have creativity in their exchanges, but there will have to be structure. These groups will remain partners throughout the unit, commenting on each other's videos and blog posts so this is a great way for the students to start interacting.

Time frame: classes can't spend forever guessing the location because we have to start forming group bonds which will require the students to be able to share about their environment. Once the groups are formed, the classes should start the #MysteryFlip. At this point, the classrooms are just getting started with the project, so there should be time within the pre-reading activities to allow 15 minutes for Flipgrid listens, reflection, and guessing.

Groups should come up with cryptic clues to get their partner classroom curious. Ensure the clues aren't too obvious. For example, my students should not say that Japanese is the official language of our country. The groups should keep a record of the questions and answers and also record reflections. Here is a draft for the upcoming #MysteryFlip.

Some things to note: Remind students to not wear school gear or record under posters/banners that display the school name. My students do look up clothing brands when guessing their groups - that's fine. Just not a blatant display of the school or location name. Teachers: don't pull up the #MysteryFlips on your teacher account to display. It will show the email and my students figured out the last global flip via the email address alone.

Encourage students to show higher level thinking in the questions that they ask. For example, one of my students asked the question, "Was your nation involved in the G20 summit?" When the answer was "yes," my students looked up a list of the G20 summit attendees and started to narrow down the list. You'll also see your students learning about their own area. My students were asked if we live on an island. You should have seen us all pondering this and then one student announced, "I just looked it up. Japan is considered an island nation." So that is how they responded. I think you will be surprised to see the learning from this engaging activity.

I'm looking forward to trying this modified #MysteryFlip with my upcoming unit and will edit this post as needed.





2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your trials, triumphs and the Google Doc. Don't suppose you've any more space in your circle for 2020?

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    1. So sorry - just saw this! We have room for one more class in 2021. It’s a weird year for sure - but we are hoping to make it work digitally.

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