I found the color coding on each student extremely helpful. Assessing their tone meant I could immediately see the type of day each student was having.
Kim Sharp | Kleb Intermediate School, Klein ISD
USE CASE
Build reflective skills and improve writing outcomes
Kim Sharp
Instructional Specialist in Digital Learning
School/District:
Kleb Intermediate School, Klein ISD
Grade: middle school
As an innovative Instructional Specialist in Digital Learning for Kleb Intermediate School, Kim Sharp wanted to find new ways to gain insights into her students’ learning and growth. She decided to explore tech solutions that qualified for Title 1 funding. Her research led to Swivl’s new interactive reflection station, Mirror.
After receiving Mirror, Kim put the device to the test. Kim had her humanities co-teaching partner, Christy Stewart, create custom reflections in Mirror for each of her students to reflect on their writing processes. Their goal was to determine whether offering an option for students to record verbal reflections would help the students improve their written outcomes.
When setting up custom reflections for students to complete with Mirror, teachers have the choice to type out the “goal” of a reflection or to record themselves as they say the goal out loud. Kim and Christy decided to record the goal so the students would hear their teacher’s voice.
Students were initially hesitant about recording verbal reflections with Mirror, but after demoing how to use it, and hearing their teachers’ voices stating the goal, they quickly warmed up. The students even named their Mirror, Siggy after Sigmund Freud.
Improving students’ reflective skills
The more Kim and Christy used Mirror with their students the more they realized that their students don’t know how to reflect on their own. This made them realize that Mirror needed a dedicated place in their classroom. This newly minted reflection station helps students easily build their reflective skills.
After a student records a reflection with Mirror, Mirror’s AI generates immediate feedback based on the student’s response. Each piece of feedback includes something a student did well, and offers an unbiased insight into how students can improve.
Data grounded in education research and theory
As part of the feedback Mirror offers, teachers can access a dashboard containing individualized reflection cards for each student reflection. To generate the data on each card Mirror’s AI measures the student’s reflection against education research and theories from Piaget, Kegan, Erikson, Vygotsky, CASEL, and more.
Minutes after a student completes a reflection, teachers are able to dive into the data. Mirror presents an overall reflection score comprising sentiment, tone, and mindset scoring. It clearly lays out how a student understood the objective of the reflection, to name a few of the data points.
“I found the teacher dashboard extremely helpful! The color coding on each student’s reflection that assessed their tone meant I could easily see the students that were having a really good day. On the students where the analysis was red, I immediately knew where I needed to focus more one-on-one time.”
Helping students demonstrate how they are thinking
Mirror is helping Christy and Kim better understand the thinking patterns of each of their students. Mirror isn’t a linear assessment. Mirror is enabling Kim and Christy to see a better representation of their students’ thinking processes – in their words, “We’re able to see the students who always think outside of the box, and the students who need more support to think outside of the box.” For Kleb Intermediate School they have found a solution that provides better opportunities for students to process concepts and themes while expressing the depth of their thinking.
Read more about how Klein ISD educators are using Mirror
- Klein ISD – Monica Shallenberger, the Director of Professional Learning for the Klein Independent School District, uses Mirror to support her teachers amidst stringent state budgets.
- Hildebrandt Intermediate School – Sarah Marin uses Mirror in her 7th-grade English classroom for project-based learning assessments.
Experience the premium version of Mirror, free for 60 days
Ready to transform your reflective practice? The Mirror trial program offers educators a guided experience of the premium version of Mirror for 60 days, absolutely free. Sign up and get started today!