Reflectivity is the catalyst for dialogue that makes good teaching contagious. Teachers take what they learn from their peers and put it into practice. Teachers are who teachers best learn from.

Danieli Parker | Hallsville Independent School District, TX

USE CASE

To provide a district-wide professional development resource

Danieli Parker

Director of Innovation and Instructional Technology

School/District:

Hallsville Independent School District, TX

A powerful tool for our district

Danieli Parker is the Director of Innovation and Instructional Technology for her school district in East Texas. Her role allows her to utilize technology to support teachers in becoming the most powerful educators they can be in the classroom. With experience as a former elementary teacher, assistant principal, and principal, Danieli understands the demands of the classroom through many lenses. These prior roles largely influence which technologies her district decides to invest in. 

In her mission to provide district-wide support, Danieli found the perfect ally in Reflectivity. No other solution could match its versatility and impact on optimizing peer learning and collaboration.

“Makes good teaching contagious”

In 2015, Hallsville ISD was recognized as a model PLC. Even with this recognition, they were still struggling to coordinate live observations.

“We truly believe in learning from each other and using the strengths of each teacher to build peer learning. But, the biggest challenge in scheduling live observations was making them relevant and meaningful to each teacher. We needed a 4th-grade teacher to observe another 4th-grade teacher, even if they were in different schools, instead of having a 4th-grade teacher observe a 2nd-grade teacher because of availability.”

 Everything changed in 2018 when they were introduced to Reflectivity + Robot. Instead of needing to coordinate live schedules for observations, or travel to different schools to learn from each other, these Swivl solutions enabled each teacher to record high-quality video and audio to be watched asynchronously.

“We would record short lesson segments and then watch the videos together during PLC meetings. The recordings were a catalyst to drive conversations. Teachers would pick up on things happening in the video that I didn’t even notice! This allowed us to have deeper discussions about instructional practices.”

Danieli firmly believes that peer-learning lessons are the gems that stick. “Reflectivity is the catalyst for dialogue that makes good teaching contagious. Teachers learn best from other teachers. They take what they learn from their peers and put it into practice.” The videos she has her teachers record are leveraged to empower her teachers which sustains their professional development throughout the entire year.

Built-in adaptability

Reflectivity’s versatile features offered the teachers at Hallsville multiple ways to collaborate. In addition to the deeper instructional practice discussions, and watching relevant recordings asynchronously, teachers have the option to share written reflections. They can join communities around specific skills, and share links to resources, to build a collaborative mindset, outside of watching lesson recordings.

“Reflectivity has been a game-changer for our new teachers. The educators coming out of teacher prep programs are lacking in their conversation skills,” she said. “They’re more comfortable messaging back-and-forth, which they can do in Reflectivity. They don’t experience any barriers to asking for help or finding resources. Reflectivity provides a comfortable space for both newer and veteran teachers to  converse about instruction.”

Creating your Reflectivity plan

Want to see what Reflectivity can do for your institution’s Instructional Coaching? Schedule a consultation with the Swivl team to learn more.

The post Reflectivity makes good teaching contagious appeared first on Swivl.

I checked a 4th grade lesson board, entered that day’s objective into Mirror, and one minute later I had students reflecting and getting targeted feedback.

Jennifer Rodabaugh | Claxton Elementary

USE CASE

Reflection for students and teachers

Jennifer Rodabaugh

Instructional Coach

School/District:

Claxton Elementary/Anderson School District

Grade Level 4th

Before Claxton Elementary started using Mirror, teachers relied on writing assignments as the primary format for collecting student reflections. A few teachers were even bold enough to try video. But, with each of these methods, teachers struggled to identify students’ underlying needs and students experienced long delays between finishing the reflection and receiving feedback.

Claxton teachers needed a solution that helped them understand student learning gaps in more depth and helped cement authentic and timely feedback loops. After vetting several solutions, they chose Mirror.

AI that works for you

Jennifer Rodabaugh is an instructional coach at Claxton Elementary. She embraces her teachers using AI. One of her 4th grade teachers was using ChatGPT to develop written reflective prompts for students but it wasn’t the best fit. It was time-consuming and laborious to develop prompts that were grade-level appropriate and standards-based.While looking for other solutions, they signed up for Mirror’s demo program. Mirror demonstrated how AI would work for them to uncover gaps in student understanding with minimal lift or prep from teachers. With Mirror, Jennifer and the 4th grade teacher effectively generated reflective prompts in under 2 minutes, a task that previously took them 1.5 hours using ChatGPT. “One minute I entered a 4th grade class, I checked the board for that day’s objective, I entered that objective into Mirror and a minute later, I had students reflecting and getting feedback,” Jennifer recounted.

Faster feedback, never generic

The ability to generate reflective prompts quickly and easily was huge for Jennifer and her teachers, but that’s not all that Mirror’s AI can streamline.

Teachers lament grading written and video reflections. It is a time-consuming process, and teachers can’t immediately provide feedback and positive reinforcement to their students. It is in the moments right after an activity ends when students are most unsure of how they did or what they can do to improve in the future. 

Jennifer says, “With this technology, teachers can teach one group and have students reflect with Mirror in other small groups simultaneously, which enables students to get that immediate feedback that teachers typically don’t have time to give in the moment.” Mirror ensures that each feedback is personalized to each student, is relevant to the activity objective, and offers strategies to the student on how to improve their reflective skills.

Helping teachers uncover hidden learning gaps

But Mirror’s feedback loop doesn’t end when a student is finished reflecting at the device. Mirror’s AI technology works behind the scenes analyzing the responses and assessing various academic and social-emotional insights, such as mindset, sentiment, and understanding of the objective. Then Mirror’s analysis is posted directly to the teacher’s dashboard within 1 minute. Mirror uncovers hidden learning gaps which led Claxton teachers to realize that students were struggling with concepts they thought students understood. Jennifer says Mirror has been a “game-changer” for Claxton teachers and their students and they’ve only had it for one month. 

Try Mirror, commitment-free, with your students

Do you struggle to deliver timely feedback to students and feel like you’re always one step behind in understanding what they need to be successful? Spend more time building relationships with students and less time in red ink. Try Mirror with students in your class for free today!

The post Immediate feedback for every student, after every lesson appeared first on Swivl.

Students leave Mirror feeling empowered by its feedback because they pushed themselves beyond their comfort zone.

Julie Witczak | Deerfield Public Schools District 109

USE CASE

SEL, self-expression, self-improvement, confidence, motivation

Julie Witczak

Communication Media Arts Teacher (CMA)

School/District:

Deerfield Public Schools District 109, IL

Grade Level 7-8

At the end of a project, my students often turn in journals with reflections about their experiences. I have a hard time grading them because I know how hard they worked on these projects, but the journal entries just don’t represent their efforts. I wasn’t seeing the evidence of the work I knew they were capable of. They also often forget to journal daily or update their entries. They take their final work day to write the entire reflection and numerous things are missing or forgotten, so I end up with a lot of simple answers to complex questions.  

When I introduced Mirror for verbal reflection, students finally took the initiative to talk to it and they didn’t have to be reminded – they were excited to do it! Students also had a lot more to say when speaking rather than writing and Mirror’s personalized feedback makes them each feel individually heard. If I had conducted 1:1 verbal conversations with each student instead of Mirror, my entire class time would be spent listening and I wouldn’t have time to analyze their responses thoroughly or offer fair and accurate feedback.

Instead, through Mirror’s dashboard, I’m able to understand and address students’ immediate problems through their reflection scores. After each reflection they also get immediate feedback directly from Mirror, which they accept more readily because they don’t feel judged. Their reflections are now more detailed, exciting, and structured and the students actually apply the feedback in future assignments.

I’ve been inviting students to use Mirror as an option for every project. I had 5 students per class take me up on it during our first project and participation has tripled since then! Offering choice for using Mirror means students experience more enjoyment over their mandatory journal entries which were often hastily written and painful for them to finish. And as opposed to journaling which doesn’t give the students immediate feedback, Mirror engages them daily and they thrive on its feedback.

Some of my students have even begun to open up more. I’ve gotten to know them better by listening to their thoughts and expressions. Students leave Mirror feeling empowered by its feedback because they pushed themselves beyond their comfort zone.

I have one student in particular who asks me for her reflection score daily. For her, the score is a measure of her daily improvement. When she reflects with Mirror, the next day, her goal is to raise that number. It’s great to see she cares about working on these skills. 

I’m excited to take time over the summer to plan out my next steps with Mirror. I have a class I’ve looped with for two years. They will be 8th graders next year and they meet just once a week for only 27 minutes. I want to start the year with a set of SEL-focused questions and by the end of the year, I expect to have a full dashboard of responses about their experiences from the past three years they have been together. Then I’ll share their reflections with the incoming 6th graders who will start this class with me for the next three years. My current kids can share their struggles, challenges, and growth, and my future kids can hear words of wisdom from kids who have just graduated. I’m excited about this possibility!

I also advise the GSA (Gender Sexuality Alliance) at the middle school. I’m certain that Mirror will offer them a safe space to reflect on their identity journeys and how sharing their experiences may positively impact future students who join the organization.

I am so excited to see where Mirror will help me take my students next year and beyond!

Swivl Mirror demo

Want to experience the transformational effects of reflection with your students? Sign up to try Mirror for free for 30-days. During the demo your school will have dedicated support – from unboxing, personalizing Mirror for your goals, and anything else you may need to be successful with student reflections.

The post Helps students motivate themselves appeared first on Swivl.

Mirror makes it easy to give individualized feedback to every student.

Marcy Curr | Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25

USE CASE

Help students improve communication skills through reflection

Marcy Curr

Speech and Debate Teacher

School/District

Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25

Grade Level High School

Reflection challenges in speech and debate

Idaho-based speech and debate teacher Marcy Curr has always valued reflection for herself and her students – who are 2024 Debate State Champions. However she faced a few obstacles when she asked her students to reflect on their speaking skills and debate performance.

Marcy began to observe a disconnect between the types of reflection she asked her students to complete and the nature of the course. “I’ve always struggled with asking my students to complete written reflections because this is a verbal communication course.” She tried giving students rubrics for self-assessment but felt they did not foster an authentic reflection experience. Time constraints also limited the amount of personalized feedback she could give students. “There’s not enough time in a day to give feedback to each of our students.”

Providing immediate feedback holds extra value in Marcy’s classes – she seeks to help students improve speech and communication skills that can be challenging to self-correct. “If I wait for the end of the speech to give feedback, they don’t remember what they did,” she explains. Overall, Marcy needed a more engaging and efficient tool for reflection and feedback.

A smooth experience leads to real progress

Marcy sees a direct connection between introducing Mirror as a reflection tool and seeing an improvement in her students’ communication skills. “With Mirror their next speech is better because they’ve taken time to reflect in between speeches on what they could improve on.”

With students reflecting and receiving feedback with Mirror during class, she now has more time to review speech recordings with individual students and provide coaching to them. “Mirror lightens the burden for teachers,” Marcy explains. 

Mirror’s reflection feedback and scoring system also acts as a new source of motivation for her students, pushing them to meta-reflect on their own reflections and seek areas of improvement. “They’re watching their reflections to see where it’s says, ‘next time to improve your reflection work on this.’” This process of self-analysis, sparked by a desire to see their scores rise, has led to a deeper engagement with their reflection process.

Part of why Marcy and her students have adopted Mirror so quickly is its ease of use. “The guided process was super easy,” Marcy explained, describing the reflection workflow. Getting started was also a breeze for her. “I loved Mirror’s unboxing process. It made me feel like I could order a Mirror for anyone in my department.”

Daily reflection and more feedback

Day to day, Marcy’s students use Mirror to reflect on their speech and debate skills, identify areas of improvement, and refine their work. “I make them watch and evaluate videos of their speeches,” Marcy explains.

Mirror allows her to shorten the time frame between when students learn or practice a skill, and when they reflect on it. During debate practice, students will deliver speeches, and then immediately go to their Mirror and reflect. “We did a reflection after every single one of their speeches,” Marcy notes about a recent practice session.

When written notes from a teacher might be impractical, Mirror has opened up new opportunities for reflection and feedback. “My students frequently have to get up and give a one minute introduction speech. I can’t type meaningful feedback in that time frame. Instead, I’m going to record them. Then, they’re going to use Mirror to reflect.”

Marcy has already planned expanded use cases for Mirror into her upcoming courses. “In my syllabus for next trimester, I’ve built in reflections a couple of times a week using Mirror.”

Try Mirror free for 30 days

Curious how Mirror can automate reflection in your classroom? Signing up for the Mirror demo gives your school dedicated support and an opportunity to try Mirror for free. Throughout your demo, our team will walk you through unboxing, personalizing Mirror for your goals, and anything else you may need to be successful with reflection.

The post Elevating student speaking skills through reflection appeared first on Swivl.

Like most teachers, when I was in the classroom, I recognized the value of reflection and the impact it could have on student learning. Simultaneously, I struggled to find the time for my students to reflect regularly throughout the school day. When my students recorded reflections, it was overwhelming to try to watch 90+ recordings, provide tailored feedback to help them strengthen their reflective skills, and give each student the individual support they needed in person.

Can you truly automate reflection?

Swivl is a reflective tools company. We believe there is significant unrealized potential in reflecting, especially for students. When we set out to build a reflective solution for students, our first thought was to explore if we could truly automate the reflection process. Could we discover a way to make reflecting fun and engaging for students? At the same time, could we build a solution that provides teachers with robust and unbiased insights about each of their students? And, on top of it all, could this solution require minimal time and effort from teachers?

With the help of AI, we created a tool that met all of these requirements. We call it Mirror.

Mirror fully automates the reflection process for students. It takes less than 3 minutes to set up the device and record a reflection. Its unique design allows the device to be set up anywhere, so students can record reflections when they’re ready, or when they’re prompted by their teachers.

Here’s how it works:

After powering on the device, teachers scan a QR code to download the Mirror app on any mobile device, then log in.

Once logged in, teachers can create a group and then have students add themselves to the group as they use the device. We designed this experience in this way to resolve privacy concerns of students seeing each other’s reflections and scores and to save a teacher’s time. Groups can be organized for classes by subject and grade level, or by small groups of students based on reading level or interests. A Group can also be created from an existing class rostering service.

Personalize your AI-reflected self

Once a group is created, students can begin a reflection by either adding their name to the Group new or pick their name from the last time they reflected. This initiates a conversation with their AI-reflected self. An AI-reflected self is an avatar that guides students through the conversation, asking thoughtful questions throughout.

The reflected self will ask students questions like “What was the goal you were working on?” or “Were your actions aligned with your goal?” These questions are designed to automatically guide a student through an effective reflection, much like a teacher would. With the help of a student’s AI-reflected self, reflections become more effective and engaging, without adding more to a teacher’s plate. At the end of each reflection, students are offered a mindful exercise before transitioning to other activities.

Students can also personalize their AI-reflected self with colors, hairstyles, or stickers.

In addition to individual reflections, Mirror was built to work with small groups. Small groups can complete a group reflection in the same way they would complete an individual reflection. Each member of the group simply adds themselves to the reflective conversation.

Additional capabilities

As teachers begin to see the benefits of a regular reflective practice with their students, they can utilize the other functionalities of Mirror to bring more time-saving value to their classrooms.

One of the main ways teacher can utilize Mirror to bring more value to their practice is to build an outline of the goals they want students to work towards. Mirror then delivers prompts to students during their reflections to measure if they understood the goal, and if their actions were aligned with the goal.

Teachers can also create working spaces in Mirror for students to enter in. Within these spaces, there is a timer that guides you to work towards your goals, and students have access to tools like whiteboard for collaboration or recordings to develop presentation skills. Teachers can also use the recording functionality in Mirror to observe and develop their teaching skills.

Guided Activity Plans, constructed by the teacher, walk students step by step through the activity. Teachers can customize the activity plan by identifying which interactive tools can be access by the students during different parts of the activity. Reflections can also be added throughout the plan.

From recharge exercises for mindful breaks, whiteboard tools, live calls, and access to other AI tools, we are developing Mirror to be a robust tool that can be utilized in a variety of different scenarios.

Robust Insights

Mirror was designed to capture short reflections – only a few minutes in length. Instead of teachers spending hours reviewing each recording from their students, we created an AI-driven dashboard to bring insights to teachers instantly to help them understand what individualized support to their students need.

With the Mirror dashboard, teachers can dive into sentiment, reflection quality, evidence of thinking, and mindset of students’ reflections. All of this data culminates in a Reflection Quality Score. These insights surface applicable analytics for teachers to take action on.

In addition to AI-driven insights, Mirror provides teachers with AI-driven feedback. This feedback is based directly on how to improve students’ Reflection Quality Scores and gives strategies on how to do so. Teachers can elect to share this feedback with students directly when they are ready. Soon, students can login and get this feedback directly from the software and can track their own progress.

We are proud of what we’ve created with Mirror so far and believe that it will change reflective practices for students and teachers. Students can receive the tailored feedback they need to deepen and improve their reflective practices. Teachers can receive helpful insights on what steps they can take to better support their students directly.

Click here to learn more about Mirror, or to participate in a free Mirror demo.

The post What is Mirror by Swivl? appeared first on Swivl.

By June 2021, half of American schools were using a hybrid learning model. 

Since then, schools have invested in hardware and software. Teachers have expanded their tech skills.  It’s been a crash course in using tools and talents to stay connected and solve problems, even when apart.

Now, administrators are applying the same tools and talents to one of the most urgent issues in education: teacher support. 

Let’s look at how two innovative districts re-imagined teacher support using classroom video to build relationships and maximize educator growth.

But first, let’s review current teacher support practices, and why they’re inadequate for helping teachers with the challenges of a return to in-person instruction.

New tools can help improve old teacher support models

Student behavior issues and academic skills gaps make today’s classroom challenges uniquely acute.

Traditional teacher support practices, including new teacher mentoring, observations, one-size-fits-all PD, and walk-throughs, are inadequate to address current instructional challenges because feedback happens too slowly and too infrequently. For most teachers, support drops significantly after year one. 

Some districts have invested in instructional coaching, formal peer collaboration like professional learning communities (PLCs), and personalized professional learning paths. 

While these structures are an improvement, they also bring challenges. Substitute shortages and other stressors on personnel make it impractical to get coverage to observe a colleague’s class. Travel across district makes coaching time- and resource-intensive.

Without a common place for capturing instruction, reflecting, discussing, and planning next steps, support efforts can feel wasted or one-off. 

The perfect storm has emerged, where teachers need more support than ever, and districts need support to be more efficient than ever. The good news? Many districts have already discovered tools and systems that can help make it happen.

Here are two examples. 

How an Arizona district leverages classroom video to support early-career and “singleton” teachers

Littleton Elementary, a district of seven physical and one virtual schools in Avondale, Arizona, was first introduced to Swivl Robots to support remote instruction. 

“Then, we realized the power of video and streaming,” Director of Instructional Technology Jim Verrill said.

Jim and his team saw how Teams by Swivl paired with Robots would address the district’s challenges in supporting high-quality instruction for all students with many early-career teachers on staff.

Littleton has implemented a continuum of teacher support practices all based on classroom video:

• Self-reflection: Principals encourage teachers to identify instructional challenges through self-reflection
  
• Peer collaboration: Singleton teachers collaborate cross-district with colleagues teaching the same subject. Content or grade-level teams record, share and reflect on lessons to maintain curricular alignment.
  
• Coaching: Coaches have increased their frequency and depth of feedback by having teachers share and discuss classroom video through Teams.
  
• Admin support: Leaders assess school progress through remote walkthroughs, where they view and discuss short instructional videos around key themes. 

Through self-reflection, collaboration, coaching and admin support, Littleton has developed an efficient, effective way to build relationships and encourage educator growth.

These Florida coaches use video to expand teacher support and reduce distractions

While traditional coaching can be powerful for teacher support, it comes with the potential for distraction. 

“What we want teachers to do is maintain their power in the room,” St. Lucie Instructional Specialist Dana Miller said. “And we don’t want distraction for students.” St. Lucie Public Schools is a Florida district with 50 schools and over 40,000 students.

St. Lucie had a strong foundation of coaching pre-pandemic, and they used their Robots to help absent students stay up-to-speed with missed work.  They now leverage Swivl Robot + Teams with Jim Knight’s Coaching Framework to make their coaching more efficient and discreet. 

St. Lucie does not require teachers to record themselves, but offers Robots to teachers looking for support. After teachers self-reflect, coaches encourage teachers to identify where they may want to work with a coach. Because teachers have already captured video, teacher and coach can discuss without having to schedule a new observation. 

This year, St. Lucie coaches have pushed their work further using Robots for live-streamed lessons with in-ear coaching. 

“As a coach, we see a problem in the moment, and we can help the teacher make a fix right away,” Dana said. “We use as few words as possible so the feedback is quick, immediate, and not distracting to the teacher.”

In a time of uncertainty, the need for teacher support is clear

While much is uncertain for school and district leaders in the coming months, a few things are certain. 

Teachers will need support to overcome challenges and help students continue to make academic progress. These support interventions will need to be effective, but also time and resource efficient because of the circumstances districts face. 

As both Littleton and St. Lucie demonstrate, it’s time to repurpose the tools and talents adopted for hybrid and remote learning. It’s time to offer teachers a continuum of support options and pathways to get help. And it’s time to make classroom video the centerpiece of teacher growth.

The post From Florida to Arizona, Districts Have Reimagined Teacher Support appeared first on Swivl.

First came remote learning. 

Teachers adapted to a new mode of instruction in a matter of days.

But remote learning was followed by hybrid, and then a school year of quarantines, disrupted schedules, and stressful changes to normal life. 

Then came the after effects. 

From the pandemic and the public health response to it, students have experienced social isolation, too much screen time, and constant health scares for two years. Now, teachers are faced with the behavioral and mental health crises that come with it all. As they try to help students rebuild deteriorated essential competencies, they’re going to need help. 

As administrators look ahead, teacher support can’t be business as usual. Teacher self-reflection and video coaching, as part of a plan targeted at teachers and students most in need, is the essential act for post-pandemic recovery.

But it all starts with a deep understanding of how we got here.

Screen time and isolation harmed essential student competencies

Adolescents’ screen time doubled during the pandemic, and increases were even larger for students of color. Excessive screen time and the decrease in sleep it brings are linked to an increase in impulsive behavior for children. At-home learning meant many students were socially isolated, contributing to soaring mental health issues. The APA reported that 4 out 5 teens experienced more stress during the pandemic, and the CDC reported a 30% increase in mental health ER visits by children ages 12-17.

Social isolation and technology overstimulation led to a decrease in two essential competencies: persistence and curiosity. These are the SEL competencies that have been directly tied to students’ academic success. Additionally, the increase in behavior issues teachers now deal with make helping students recover these competencies and other academic skills increasingly difficult. 

The challenge teachers face in addressing students’ current needs is not more of what was already happening. It’s a new issue with a new cause, requiring a new response.

A scaffolded plan for robust teacher support

When teachers say “we are not trained for this,” they mean it literally. Current classroom challenges are issues of classroom management. While there is nothing new about classroom management, the causes and manifestations of the issues are new. 

The most powerful tool for making progress on classroom management is reflecting and coaching based on classroom video.

First, teachers need to view their challenges outside of the in-the-moment stress of class. In other words, teachers need to reflect on videos of their own instruction whenever issues arise.

Then, teachers need support from colleagues and a clear elevation path to coaches.  This empowers schools to solve problems and support teachers using the collective intelligence and resources they already have.

Lastly, administrators need to see what teachers are facing, give personalized feedback and (in rare cases) share evidence with experts. This involves some combination of virtual walkthroughs, remote observations, and sharing video clips with experts like school psychologists. 

With schedules full and personnel limited, how can administrators make a plan that seems to be asking everyone to do more? There’s good news: the tools exist for leaders ready to direct time and attention towards schools’ biggest challenges. 

Video coaching powered by Teams is the missing link

For a robust system of teacher support that includes but goes beyond the typical observations tied to evaluation models and job contracts, video coaching is the flexible, scalable solution.

Teams by Swivl is the tool that can make this happen. Teams is a video reflection and collaboration system that allows educators to record, host, and share videos, then dive deep into discussion with video analysis tools like time-stamped bookmarking and commenting with built-in rubric support.

For Instructional Coaches and Administrators, Teams by Swivl helps overcome the barriers of space and time by allowing coaching to happen either asynchronously with recording or live with streaming. For teachers, it’s a place to securely store your content with the tools to bring value to regular self-reflection.

With Teams + Robots, administrators can begin to use video coaching for teacher support with the classroom management challenges, new instructional environments, and other unique challenges they face right now. It starts with giving teachers time and space to think.

Part I: Teachers self-reflect with Teams and a phone

The issues teachers and students face are ones that are time-sensitive. Teachers and administrators need a way to identify those issues fast and create a plan to address them as soon as possible. One of the fastest ways to get objective evidence of what’s happening in the classroom and improve the situation is self-reflection on classroom video. Unlike other forms of professional development, reflection requires no additional personnel and can be done in a variety of locations and at different times.

This is the time to back off on asking teachers to work on new initiatives, and give them time and space to reflect on their current responsibilities.

Video self-reflections can help teachers identify how they’ve dealt with difficult situations, and how they may work through classroom management issues. Additionally, reviewing short moments of instruction in Teams can help teachers identify situations they haven’t been trained for, and can act as a catalyst to seek additional help or start conversations with colleagues or administrators.

Getting started with teacher video reflection can be simple: teachers can begin by propping up a cell phone, tablet or laptop near their desk, and then reviewing the video in Teams at a convenient time.

Right now, many school and district administrators recognize that accelerating academic initiatives is not the top priority. This is the time to back off on asking teachers to work on new initiatives, and give them time and space to reflect on their current responsibilities.

Part II & III: Teachers collaborate with peers and coaches

The best professional learning is often available from the teacher down the hall. During a time when schedules are tight and traveling classroom to classroom may be impractical, Teams can make peer collaboration feasible. 

Teachers can connect with each other and instructional coaches by recording key moments in class, then discussing them through Teams. Research shows that collaboration improves student achievement when the discussion is specifically focused on improving student outcomes.  

During a time when the learning environment is often in flux, it’s essential for teachers to have a way to quickly discover, share and implement best practices. Ongoing discussion with colleagues and coaches centered around high-quality audio and video from the classroom is the most efficient, effective way to do this. 

Part IV: Administrators offer support & feedback

Classroom video and asynchronous discussion can help administrators improve the quality and quantity of feedback to teachers, while also making compliance easier. Of the hundreds of administrators I’ve spoken to throughout my career, one common thread is the desire to give teachers more personalized support outside of mandated observations, but struggling to make time for it.

We work with districts using Teams + Robots for virtual walk-throughs, where teachers in a grade level, department or school all share short video clips with administrators through Teams, and then receive feedback and hold written discussion afterwards. Others support new teachers and maintain the fidelity of their curriculum by collecting and responding to videos from teachers who all teach different sections of the same course.

For those who have the flexibility and desire to do so, Teams + Robots can also empower administrators to conduct remote observations, either recorded or streamed. We’ve found remote observations to be most effective when teachers have buy-in selecting the lesson they stream or recording multiple videos and sharing one of their choice. Teams by Swivl turns a post-observation discussion into a personalized, interactive, multimedia resource for professional learning.

Teams by Swivl turns a post-observation discussion into a personalized, interactive, multimedia resource for professional learning.

In addition to support for teachers in need, video coaching helps directly address the moments that make teachers lament “we are not trained for this.” When students may need support from outside experts, Teams + Robot makes situations portable and consultable. 

In the most extreme cases, where a school psychologist or trauma-informed expert must be brought in, video coaching helps get students and teachers the help they need faster by bringing clarity to the situation.

It’s time for schools take important steps forward

Regular self-reflection and video coaching help schools begin to rebuild by giving teachers and students more support. 

Through self-reflection, peer collaboration and instructional coaching, teachers can improve classroom management and share best practices during a time of increased behavioral issues. Through virtual observations and walk-throughs, administrators can give personalized feedback at scale and better understand teachers’ challenges while saving time and ensuring compliance. For the rare cases, schools can bring in trauma-informed experts to consult and coach on challenging situations documented through objective, high-quality audio and video.

In each of these cases, both the written, time-stamped, professional conversation and the high-quality audio and video recording of the classroom are there for stakeholders to refer to. A one-time conversation becomes a chance for continuous growth.

While technology is often a contributor to modern problems, we must look for where it can provide solutions. Through frequent video coaching not tied to salary or evaluations, school leaders can ensure teachers improve classroom management, students rebuild their most essential competencies, and everyone begins to take important steps forward. 

The post “We are not trained for this”: Why administrators need a bold plan for teacher support in 2022 appeared first on Swivl.

The next four years really matter when it comes to addressing teacher retention.

In 2020, the National Education Association conducted a nationwide poll of educators. They found that 28% of educators are more likely to retire early or leave the profession due to the pandemic.¹ From brand new teachers to school leaders and mentors with over 30 years of experience, everyone is feeling the burnout of navigating uncertainty, hybrid learning, and working remotely (hello, Zoom fatigue).

At times, it can feel like teacher turnover is compounding. Pre-pandemic, 40 percent of teachers left the profession within five years of starting.² In addition to these statistics, the U.S. education system was already facing challenges with teacher shortages and a lack of diversity within the workforce. 

While some teachers have decided to head back into the classroom for the 21-22 school year, there is still great uncertainty around retention rates. Issues adding to the uncertainty include: 

• The Delta variant, 
• Government mandates, 
• Concerns from parents and guardians, and 
• Learning loss.

There are many conversations happening within the education community about how to address teacher retention. Trending solutions often feel complex, unachievable, and dismissive of the social and emotional health of teachers.This is why at Swivl we believe that if schools and districts do one thing this fall, it’s to have more conversations with their teachers. Here’s why.

Prioritizing Relationships Empowers Teachers

Most of the environments teachers operated in daily throughout the pandemic did not foster strong, trusting relationships. Students, parents, teachers, and administrators were operating in crisis mode. And, let’s not forget that the small, daily interactions with their administrators, peers, and students in school hallways, classrooms, cafeterias, and during after-school activities disappeared due to social distancing. Pre-pandemic, these were powerful times of impromptu relationship building, coaching, and modeling for teachers.

The environments administrators and teachers are returning to this year aren’t ripe for cultivating strong, trusting relationships either. Educators had a lot of hope at the end of the last school year — hope that the 2021-22 year would resemble some form of pre-pandemic life, especially as states lifted mask and travel restrictions. But, having to return to more uncertainty around what this school year will look like, compounded with the pressure to make up for lost time (e.g. learning loss), makes it easy to feel less hopeful, less optimistic, and less motivated to build relationships.

And while it is easy to reminisce about pre-pandemic school years, what was considered a normal school environment back then often was not encouraging of relationship development. Even though teachers worked in a building with dozens of other educators it was common for teachers to feel isolated and to only have one or two strong, trusting relationships with their peers.

When people are in a positive emotional space — in an environment that fosters closeness, consistency, and trust — this actually opens up the opportunity for connection and learning. Even in the midst of uncertainty and burnout teachers can become more willing to take risks and stay curious in these environments. Risk-taking and curiosity are two skills that are essential for fueling motivation, cultivating belonging, and increasing self-confidence. They are also the two skills that can have a positive impact on teacher retention.

How Trusting Relationships Impact Teacher Retention

Due to last year’s remote and hybrid learning, both first and second year teachers are experiencing what it’s like to be “new” to classroom teaching this year. And while teachers with more experience may have the skills and knowledge they need to feel successful, they might be feeling a bit rusty. 

Administrators can help teachers learn the ins and outs of classroom teaching, and brush up on their classroom management skills by cultivating strong, trusting relationships with them.

Trust is an important element of the administrator and teacher relationship. When administrators and teachers have trust in each other they feel like their voice matters, that they are valued for their perspective and contribution, and it creates a space where it is safe to show up as their authentic selves.

Brené Brown, a research professor who studies courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy, explains how people can build trust with each other, “Trust is earned in the smallest of moments. It is earned not through heroic deeds, or even highly visible actions, but through paying attention, listening, and gestures of genuine care and connection.”⁴

Imagine what it would look like if a teacher had strong trusting relationships with their administration. Would teachers be more willing to take risks in the classroom to increase student engagement? Would teachers be more bold when brainstorming solutions with their peers? Would teachers be more candid in conversations about the social and emotional support they’re in need of? Yes! Yes to all of these and more.

Strong, trusting relationships between teachers and administrators create opportunities for learning and development — in both directions. There is an openness from both parties to receive and give feedback, model skills and values, and meet each other where they’re at. It also helps teachers be more open to different coaching and mentoring methods, including the use of video.

The Role of Video in Coaching and Mentoring

In a federal study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, they examined the benefits of mentorship programs. They found that 92 percent of first-year teachers who had mentors returned to the classroom for a second year.⁵ 

When we’re talking about mentoring and coaching, we are not talking about traditional approaches. Traditionally, evaluation systems dictate that a teacher’s performance during observations has an impact on whether or not they are re-hired, especially for new teachers. The observer holds the power to end or continue the teacher’s job. There is often a heavy reliance on rubrics, checklists, and “look fors” to help guide the evaluation process.

The type of coaching and mentorship we’re referring to is helping teachers get as good as possible at teaching, building relationships with their students, and helping teachers feel supported throughout this process. This type of coaching and mentorship is much, much easier when an existing relationship is present. Why? It’s main purpose is to empower teachers to build strong, trusting relationships with their students. Teachers who have a strong, trusting relationship with their coach or mentor can use that relationship as a model of what to build with each student they teach.

Video is a powerful tool in this type of coaching and mentoring. Feedback shifts from performance-based to collecting and citing evidence. Being able to discuss what was observed makes it easier to set goals, track progress over time, and, when trusting relationships are present, creates the space for open dialogue.

When coaches and mentors are observing recordings to measure things like talk time and student questions, they can view these things through the lens of relationship building. Is what they are observing cultivating strong, trusting relationships between the teacher and students? Based on Swivl’s research and experience, we have found that the following five questions can help coaches, mentors, and teachers view recordings through a relationship building lens:

• Is the teacher asking a lot of questions to the students?
• How is the teacher prompting dialogue in their classroom?
• When students are responding to questions, is the teacher listening effectively to them?
• What methods is the teacher using to capture the students’ attention?
• Does the teacher know and use the students’ names?

Where to Begin with Video Coaching

It can be daunting to implement a video coaching program within a school. Educators often feel anxious about recording themselves, and without a process or plan in place it can be difficult to know what to do with the videos once they’re recorded.

Swivl has developed a strong relationship with Jim Knight, a video coaching expert. Jim has researched video coaching for over twenty and has experience working with over 100,000 coaches from around the world. His organization, the Instructional Coaching Group (ICG), is dedicated to helping educators develop the skills and tools they need to make a positive impact on students.

ICG has created hundreds of helpful resources to guide schools through the process of  implementing a video coaching program, and we have found that the two resources listed below are a great place to start:

1. A worksheet to create an observation plan. Video coaching sessions are most effective when a video observation plan is created before filming. Through completing this worksheet together, the coach and coachee create a shared understanding around the purpose and goals of the video observation.
2. An exercise to help educators become comfortable with video observations. For this simple exercise, educators are asked to identify two sections of a video recording that they like, and one or two sections of video that they would like to explore further with their coach. It also includes helpful tips for watching the video and completing the exercise (e.g. watch the entire recording in one sitting, uninterrupted)

While using video in coaching and mentoring works best if an existing relationship is already present, you can continue to build trust with teachers while using video.

Ways to Cultivate Trust with Teachers While Using Video

Visibly Better is a website created to share the transformative power of video within the classroom. Started in 2017 by the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University, Visibly Better, supported by Swivl’s research, compiled six practical ways to cultivate trust with teachers through video:⁶

1. Start small. Implement video gradually, as teachers feel ready. You might even consider starting with a pilot program for volunteers instead of making it mandatory for everyone.
2. Make it easy. Streamline the technology ahead of time. Make it as simple as possible in order to ease its adoption in the classroom.
3. Be clear. Tell teachers how the video will be used, how frequently it will be used, and what it will be used for. Explain how using video aligns with school and instructional priorities. The more information you can provide, the better.
4. Empower teachers. Give teachers the choice of which lessons they would like to be recorded. While you might have to prompt teachers to record imperfect lessons, giving them a choice helps teachers feel like they are part of the process.
5. Engage teachers early. Include teachers in the decision-making processes around the use of video as early as possible.
6. Recognize time constraints. It’s important to integrate video into existing responsibilities, processes, and time frames to avoid additional stress. It is appropriate to consider what tasks may have to be taken off their plates as you add video.

At Swivl we have spent the past decade helping schools around the world implement video coaching in their schools and districts. These experiences and findings help to shape the development of all of our products, especially Teams by Swivl. 

Five Ways To Use Teams by Swivl This Year

Teams by Swivl, is a web and app-based video collaboration system that allows educators to create videos for a variety of different uses, for example professional development, flipped classrooms, and teacher and student observations. Features like time-stamped commenting, video bookmarking, and video editing help to streamline video coaching processes and keep the conversation between coach and coachee going.

Below are five examples of ways administrators and teachers can use Teams by Swivl to cultivate strong, trusting relationships this year:

• Conducting a Peer-to-Peer visual visit that invites other teachers into their classroom during planning, PLN, or PLC time
• Providing in-ear coaching for new teachers using the live stream option
• Recording lessons for self-reflection to identify areas of growth in their instruction, content, and teaching style
• Creating training libraries so teachers can watch how classroom strategies can be applied within a classroom
• Posting recordings of PD sessions for teachers and administrators to refer back to

To recap, let’s start from the beginning. Teacher turnover will continue to be a pressing issue for the 2021-22 school year. To support new and experienced teachers transitioning back into the classroom, administrators can use video in their coaching and mentoring sessions. Video will be more widely accepted by teachers when an existing relationship is present. And, Teams by Swivl is a powerful video tool created to help teachers and administrators streamline video coaching processes, among other things.

Sources:

1. “Safety Concerns Over COVID-10 Driving Some Educators Out of the Profession,” National Education Association, August 2020.
2. “5 Things to Know About Today’s Teaching Force,” EdWeek, October 2018.
3. “How the Science of Learning and Development Can Transform Education,” Science of Learning & Development Alliance, May 2020.
4. “SuperSoul Sessions: The Anatomy of Trust,” Brené Brown, March 2018.
5. “Public School Teacher Attrition and Mobility in the First Five Years,” U.S. Department of Education, April 2015.
6. “Building Trust,” Visibly Better, The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, 2021.

The post Why Video Coaching is Important this Fall appeared first on Swivl.

Coming Soon!

Zoom and Swivl Recording Integration

This is a long-time request that we’re really excited to introduce. Our compatibility with Zoom for live streaming has been cemented for years. Zoom has been and remains to be the most seamless option for Swivl users and can be utilized in any of our three major set up modes (Integrated, Standalone, and Traditional). 

For many, one of the most generous benefits of having a Swivl account (at any level, free or paid) is the unlimited storage we offer. Zoom Pro, while providing many advanced capabilities, still has a cap on the amount of video storage offered. 

Until now, in order to get your video from Zoom Cloud to Swivl Teams, you would first need to download it from Zoom to your desktop and re-upload it to Swivl Teams. Hybrid instruction is demanding enough, so we are saying goodbye to the middle man! Now, if you are a Zoom Pro user and you use the same email address to login to Zoom as you do with Swivl Teams, your video will be automatically transferred to your Swivl Teams library. Available for Swivl Pro, Swivl Team Pro, and Swivl Team Standard accounts.

This integration does require an initial configuration in our platform, but set it up once and you’re good to go forever. Now all of your live streamed lessons will be stored safely on Swivl Teams for further editing, collaboration, and sharing.

Marker Muting

Swivl gives you a lot of audio options during live streaming. Currently, users can livestream with any live streaming application on the market in our Integrated Audio Setup mode. Not only can you see remote students through the smart board and hear them through your sound system or laptop/PC, but students at home can also see and hear you and everyone else in class (amplified by multiple markers deployed around the classroom). 

When remote students can see and hear everything going on in the classroom, classroom management can be tricky. That’s why we wanted to focus on muting the Primary and Secondary microphones to avoid any unnecessary disruptions heard by remote students.

The next time you need to have a private conversation with a student in class and are unable to physically get back to your computer to mute the live streaming session, simply double-click the ‘record’ button on your Primary marker. This will mute all of the microphones in the classroom and all markers will flash green during mute mode. Students at home won’t hear a peep! When you’re ready to get back to the lesson, simply double-click the ‘record’ button again. Instructions here. 

Rubric Scoring - Beta is now open!

PD is not dead, people! Swivl at its core has been used as a video collaboration platform and for good reasons. We have loads of essential collaboration features such as public and private time-stamped commenting with Rubrics, Bookmarking, and Group Sharing. Our latest feature is an enhancement requested by avid Rubric users on Swivl Teams and we could not be more excited that it’s finally here! 

Last year, we introduced the option for Swivl Teams users to create more than one Rubric for time-stamped commenting, giving you multiple opportunities to engage in video review for self-reflection, coaching, and peer observation. Now, add a score to any standards applied to the comments within the video.

Full stop while we address the elephant in the room: the “score” in Rubric Scoring. Scoring sounds scary because, well, it can be; however we also know scoring has many positive connotations in coaching and mentoring relationships. We’re confident the benefits of scoring far exceeds the apprehension we know sometimes comes along with the practice.

Feedback on video is helpful, but how do you track your personal and professional growth without some sort of scoring mechanism? Scoring doesn’t have to be numeric and it certainly should not be punitive. With our re-designed Rubric system, you will be able to create a custom scoring system (or borrow one of our snazzy new templates) that meets your needs and track growth in a positive and meaningful way. 

If you are interested in being a beta tester, please email: support@swivl.com and write “Rubrics Beta” in the subject line ASAP.

Coming Later this Fall

Web Recording with Front-Facing Camera

In the classroom, students get the full package: your content and all of the personal touches that make learning from you an awesome experience. And for many visual learners, your facial expressions and hand mannerisms help students more thoroughly grasp the material. With this feature improvement, we are putting the “you” back into ‘your’ lessons. 

We're improving our existing feature Web Recording to allow you to record your screen and your front-facing camera at the same time. Now you’ll always be in the frame with your content and you don't have to leave your computer to prop up a separate mobile device for a traditional Swivl Screencasting session. This enhancement gives you the flexibility to record from anywhere - your classroom, at home, or anywhere you can bring your laptop and connect to the internet.

Live Streaming Analytics for Swivl Teams

Swivl Teams is made for collaboration among teachers, coaches, admins, preservice teachers and their professors, researchers and their participants, the list goes on. It’s also a powerful platform for team management, organization, and accessing video analytics. Soon we’ll be expanding the Team Admin dashboard to include new metrics on live streaming. Team Owners and Admins will be able to see how often the robots are used, what types of projects are uploaded (when Swivl is in recording mode), how often live streaming is activated and which live streaming apps were launched by the user (such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams). Coming soon to a Team Administrator dashboard near you!

The post Do More than Just Live Stream with Swivl appeared first on Swivl.

Video trimming in Swivl Teams is fast and easy - trim on web or in the Swivl app

Rubrics can be customized specifically to your feedback framework

Swivl Teams Platform Administrator Dashboard

Download the companion flyer

The post Swivl for Teacher Prep Programs and edTPA Video Submissions appeared first on Swivl.