With MirrorTalk, students can talk about their successes, challenges, and plans for future work.
Traci Johnson | Rochester Schools
USE CASE
To increase authenticity and ownership
Traci Johnson
English Teacher & Instructional Coach
School/District
Rochester Schools
Grade Level: High School
“Many students seem to struggle with written reflection.” Dr. Traci Johnson is a big believer in the necessity of reflection, especially after a large project or assignment. However, the reflections teachers in her school were getting largely seemed inauthentic, like students were just checking the activity off the list to get it done.
Finding authentic student engagement
“Some reflection prompts worked better than others, but we felt students weren’t doing the work to understand how their successes and struggles helped them grow and how they can apply that to future learning. They were trying to say what they thought the teacher wanted to hear.”
Using MirrorTalk has allowed Traci’s students to engage in more authentic reflection. Students can talk about their successes, challenges, and plans for future work in a less formal manner. Not only are the reflections higher quality, but Traci and her colleagues have been able to share the AI-generated feedback with students so they can work to further improve their reflective skills.
Setting up designated reflection spaces with MirrorTalk and M2
Students and teachers can engage with MirrorTalk on any web-enabled device or on Swivl’s M2 hardware. Traci utilizes M2 to set up a dedicated, portable station that helps students get into their reflective zone.
Traci has been flexible in how she places M2 in her school and how it’s utilized daily, to see what works best. She’s also been observing how others use the device when they borrow it. “In an ideal world, we would have 5-6 M2 devices for teachers to check out to use in their classrooms. Currently, we have two.” Some teachers with large enough rooms have students go to a designated spot to record their reflections. Others have students take it to the hallway to reflect.
This week, Traci plans to use M2 in her classroom, and due to her proximity to the library, plans to have students use M2 there. They will be reflecting on the research process and how they can transfer the skills they are learning in English class to other courses that require research.
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