We reflect as a piece of every single learning activity. MirrorTalk has significantly reduced my work in reviewing each reflection.
Chris Johnson | Rochester Schools
USE CASE
To streamline feedback and increase growth potential
Chris Johnson
Social Studies Teacher
School/District
Rochester Schools
Grade Level Middle School
“Three years ago I made the decision to intentionally include more student reflection into the curriculum.” Chris Johnson, a social studies teacher in Rochester, IL, had begun testing and using some great reflection tools to make his vision a reality. But he found very quickly that “if I didn’t assign grades for these reflections, students wouldn’t bother to do them.” The decision to include reflection as a regular and integral part of his curriculum has worked very well for Chris as far as his goals for class growth.
Integrating student reflection into the curriculum
When Chris made the decision to amp up the amount of reflection his students were doing, he was typing the prompt and having them record video responses on their own. The problem? All those videos were taking so much time to watch. Chris explains, “I am very happy with my students’ willingness and ability to reflect; however, it has created a massive amount of grading.” He was feeling the demands on his time, and deeply understood each reflection was imperative to learning.
Streamlining feedback
MirrorTalk has alleviated the demands on Chris’ time. Students now provide quick verbal feedback and reflection on the projects they are doing. Chris then skims through their responses and sees their reflections without having to watch each 2-minute video.
For the teacher, MirrorTalk makes it easy to understand feedback on student learning.
“Currently, I have 3 student reflection stations in my classroom. Two M2 devices – I borrowed one from another teacher – and 1 laptop. It’s clear that students prefer the M2 unit, so it looks like I’m going to need a third device!” In Chris’s stations model, being able to add an additional unit has significantly elevated the frequency they can reflect and process.
Maximizing MirrorTalk’s potential
When Chris thinks about his ultimate goals for what success looks like using Mirror, he wants to know how the students see their reflections being useful in the future. “I want them to be better at creating authentic reflections and processing authentic feedback, and I’m excited for the possibilities with MirrorTalk in helping them reach that.”
Looking forward to Chris’s own personal goals to expand how he uses MirrorTalk, Chris has his sights set beyond the school walls. “I also would like to use it with my athletes. They do a lot of goal-setting and I would like to see how they progress with MirrorTalk as a tool for a higher level of improvement.”
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