From M2’s feedback, our teachers select two instructional goals for their next observation and then the cycle repeats. It’s so streamlined!

Dr. Pallavi Aggarwal | University of Missouri, St. Louis

USE CASE

AI-powered coaching

Dr. Pallavi Aggarwal / Laura Myers

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow / Principal

School/District:

University of Missouri, St. Louis / Biome Charter School

Grade Level: Elementary School

Dr. Pallavi Aggarwal was partnered with The Biome School in 2023 as part of a University of Missouri-St. Louis postdoctoral fellows program where she was introduced to the then–instructional coach–now Principal, Laura Myers. From their earliest observations, they realized that many teachers were struggling with basic Tier 1 instruction. Laura knew it wasn’t apathy that the teachers were experiencing; there were simply no systems in place to drive the kind of standardization around excellence they knew every teacher was capable of. 

As Laura recalls it, “The teachers who were well-prepared and had sharpened their lesson plans: they sparkled. It was the teachers who did not prepare, who would just fly by the seat of their pants – that’s where we noticed behavioral problems, teaching performance issues, and a correlation in lower scores out of those students.”

Pallavi also remembers those days. According to her, “Teachers weren’t required to review their teaching manuals, there were no PLCs for collaborative planning, and there was not a consistent instructional coaching model to guide growth.” 

99 observations, 44 videos, and one unsustainable path

Determined to shift the school’s trajectory, Pallavi and Laura threw themselves into data collection. In their first semester, they conducted 99 observations, meticulously documenting which instructional practices correlated with higher levels of student engagement. They presented their findings to leadership, making the first real case for systemic change.

In the second semester, they introduced GoReact’s video review platform to help teachers reflect on their practice and give leadership visibility into classroom instruction. But this tool came with baggage. After manually viewing and meticulously annotating video observations, Laura and Pallavi were craving some efficiency. Pallavi put it plainly,

In the same year, they piloted Swivl robots, which leveraged multiple microphones to capture classroom audio and provided speech analysis. The data was eye-opening: in most classrooms, teachers talked 98% of the time while students had opportunities to engage only 2% of the time. It was another data point confirming what they already knew – instruction needed to evolve.

The work paid off initially. By the end of that first year, they had developed three critical tools: a lesson template outlining how instruction should flow, two rubrics to assess instructional practices and student engagement, and a shared understanding that teacher capacity-building needed to be the school’s priority. 

Time to scale…and soar

Armed with their custom rubrics and building a culture of trust and partnership, Pallavi and Laura entered their second year ready to implement a more formal coaching model. But even with plans in place, the thought of manually observing, recording, annotating, analyzing, and providing personalized feedback to every single teacher each week loomed over them again like a dark cloud. They’d need to clone themselves just to maintain what they’d started.

That’s when Pallavi heard about M2 in a meeting with other mentors in her post-doctoral program at UMSL.

She was excited by the possibilities immediately: “M2 was a perfect fit in our trajectory because we were already conducting observations regularly, and fortunately, our teachers were amenable to trying new things.” And M2 reinforced a very crucial principle for the teachers at Biome Charter: 

M2 observations are never meant to be punitive. They are designed to support growth. So the teachers approached M2 with curiosity, rather than resistance.

Using AI to bring out the humanness in their coaching

What immediately appealed to Pallavi and Laura was that M2 didn’t compete with their roles as coaches and mentors for their teachers. If anything, it became their trusted sidekick for every observation and helped them establish a baseline of feedback for teachers in minutes, not hours.

Here’s how their hybrid model works: M2 is set up in a classroom at the beginning of each lesson, collecting real-time data on the teachers’ skills: engagement, questioning strategies, and pacing. M2 is guided by the custom rubrics Pallavi developed to assess instructional practices so it knows what to look for and how to support each teacher during their class. After each lesson, M2 provides automatic scores, summaries, and actionable tips for improvement, while a human observer (usually Pallavi) adds context from their perspective of the class.

Teachers then review both sets of feedback and select their own instructional goals. “It’s not just us providing feedback. Teachers are also taking ownership when they view M2’s recommendations,” Pallavi explains. “From M2’s feedback, our teachers select two instructional goals for their next observation and then the cycle repeats. It’s so streamlined!”

The two leaders shared an anecdote that literally had them high-fiving as we spoke about it. One of their teachers, Dr. Washington, has become a model for how powerful this approach can be. Pallavi shared, “She’s actually using the tool in the best capacity possible. She carefully and thoughtfully reads through all of M2’s feedback and it helps her see the bigger picture.” 

Successful experiences like Dr. Washington’s are what make Pallavi and Laura’s partnership so strong and in sync: when they see a teacher take ownership of their own growth and development, it makes coaching and supporting that teacher even more rewarding.

Other teachers are becoming more vocal about their observation protocol too.

The next frontier: co-teaching with M2

Pallavi and Laura’s vision for M2 extends beyond observation and feedback. In Spring 2026, they plan to utilize M2’s Group Guide. With this feature, students can interact directly with M2 to ask questions, engage in small group discussions and receive feedback, and practice their skills, all while M2 provides instructional support and narrated directions.

They’re also exploring using M2’s customized assignment feature, which lets students verbally share their learning based on prompts that M2 designed from the lesson. “It will be really interesting to assess students’ depth of knowledge,” Pallavi muses, thinking about the various ways M2’s software [MirrorTalk.ai] will be able to analyze student reflections.

What M2 was designed for

When asked what guidance they’d give to other schools, researchers, or coaches considering M2, both Pallavi and Laura immediately emphasized the importance of relationships, which is also fundamental to the M2 experience. 

The cultural groundwork matters. Trust matters. And when those foundations are solid, technology like M2 can transform what’s possible–not by replacing teachers or coaches, but by giving them the time, data, and support to do their most important work: helping every teacher grow.

The post How M2 freed coaches to scale instructional excellence appeared first on Swivl.

Now when I ask them a question, they go deeper asking ‘who, what, when, where, how’? So it’s definitely driving deeper inquiry.

Kandice McGlaun | Chattahoochee County School District, GA

USE CASE

Driving student inquiry, redefining classroom engagement with AI

Molly Allen and Kandice McGlaun

Instructional Technology Specialists

School/District:

Chattahoochee County School District, GA

Grade Level

Elementary, Middle, and High School

Tech that missed the mark

We’ve all seen it happen too many times. A student raises their hand with a question that sparked genuine curiosity—the kind of question that could unlock deeper understanding. But in a classroom of 25 or more students, with limited time and an ambitious curriculum to cover, Molly Allen found herself conflicted on whether to slow the roll or keep the class on track. She’d try to be encouraging and tell that student: “That’s a great question! But we’ve got to keep moving today. Why don’t you look it up for homework and bring it back tomorrow?”

The problem? Tomorrow often never came for that moment of curiosity.

“When they have a question and they don’t have the answer right away, you tend to lose them,” Molly explains.

As instructional technology specialists for Chattahoochie School District, Molly Allen and Kandice McGlaun have been trying to bridge the engagement gap with all sorts of AI tools. Last year, they piloted Magic School with their fourth graders. They felt the platform was well-designed and, when effective, elicited thoughtful responses from students, but they found a critical flaw with the structure: everything was text-based.

“It was great,” Molly recalls, “but it pumps out written responses, and I noticed, especially with our younger kids, that they just weren’t reading or able to follow along all of the time.”

Kandice faced a different version of the same challenge. Teachers throughout her middle and high schools wanted the equivalent of Alexa in their classrooms—a voice-activated assistant that could provide instant answers and keep students engaged. But commercial smart devices aren’t allowed under school policy, and for good reason. Students need something to inspire creativity, encourage collaboration, and not just something for rote information retrieval.

“I feel like students today always expect an instant answer, because the internet is always at their fingertips,” Kandice explains.

They needed something in between—not a 1:1 device that isolated students behind individual screens, but a collaborative classroom tool that could engage students together through conversations.

While M2 worked for everyone

When Molly and Kandice discovered M2, they immediately recognized its potential. Here was an AI co-teacher that could interact with students, facilitate discussions, provide real-time feedback on instruction, and support both academic and social-emotional learning—all while bringing students together rather than isolating them behind individual screens.

They started with a small pilot, rotating a couple of devices among their elementary, middle, and high schools. What they didn’t anticipate was just how quickly it would become the most in-demand tool in the district.

I can’t keep M2 in my room! My high school and middle school teachers keep fighting over it.

Kandice McGlaun

From Jeopardy to the American Revolution

The academic applications emerged organically as teachers experimented with M2’s capabilities. In a sixth-grade social studies classroom, a teacher wanted to review latitude and longitude concepts but knew that traditional worksheets wouldn’t engage her students. She decided to try something different.

So Kandice suggested that M2 set up a Jeopardy game. What happened next surprised everyone. M2 created a full Jeopardy-style game, complete with point values and encouraging feedback. With a map displayed on the classroom’s main display, M2 would ask questions like: “For 100 points, this is the latitude, this is the longitude—what country am I?”

Students worked in small teams and when they answered correctly, M2 awarded them points. When they were close but not quite right, M2 encouraged them: “You’re really close, can you guess again for 50 points?”

“I loved that it was positive and never took all the points away,” Kandice notes. The students were so engaged that they’ve been asking to use M2 again ever since.

But perhaps the most powerful example of M2’s impact came during an American Revolution unit with Molly’s fourth graders. After a VR exploration, students gathered around M2 with its remotes in hand, ready to ask their questions. They had written their questions on mini whiteboards beforehand, ensuring they weren’t all asking the same thing.

“They thought they were movie stars talking into the microphone,” Molly smiles.

One student became fascinated with a particular historical figure. “Did he sign the Declaration of Independence?” the student asked.

M2 explained that no, he hadn’t signed it because he was fighting in the war at the time.

“Why didn’t he sign it?” the student pressed.

What followed was a deep dive into Revolutionary War history—the kind of extended, student-driven discussion that rarely happens when questions get deferred to homework. The student kept asking follow-up questions, and M2 kept providing context, always following up with its own questions to push the student’s thinking deeper.

“We wouldn’t have gotten as far if M2 had just given a direct answer and left it at that,” Molly reflects. “It just kept going and going and going, and we really deepened our class discussion.”

More than just a robot – a safe space

While the academic applications were impressive, Kandice saw potential for M2 to address an even more critical challenge: creating safe spaces for students to discuss sensitive topics. “So many times, students do not want to talk to a person,” Kandice notes. “They’re confiding in AI, and unfortunately, that’s not always safe. But with M2, we tried it ourselves—it worked beautifully.”

Working with her school’s social worker, Kandice planned a “positive affirmation station” for suicide prevention week. They tested the concept, with Kandice role-playing a student who is being bullied.

“I told M2 that I’m a sixth grader and I’m being picked on,” Kandice shared in an example. M2 responded with empathy and practical advice, asking if she wanted to role-play ways to respond to the bully.

Throughout the conversation, M2 consistently reminded her to talk to a trusted adult while also providing the immediate support she needed in the moment.

It reinforced positive affirmations about my situation while also reiterating the goal: ensure you confide in an adult who can further support you.

Kandice McGlaun

“Students need to hear affirmations several times, because the more they hear something, the more it becomes prevalent, and they start to internalize it.”

The approach will give students three options during designated weeks: they can speak with one of two adults present, or they can have a private conversation with M2. Students who aren’t ready to talk to an adult yet can work through their feelings with M2 first, building the confidence and clarity they need to eventually seek help from school counselors.

The trickle that turns into a flood

The impact on student engagement has been undeniable. Students have become so attached to M2 that middle schoolers have been naming it, personalizing their relationship with their classroom co-teacher.

But most importantly, it’s advancing inquiry and developing higher-order thinking. Students who interact with M2 are approaching questions differently than ever before. Kandice noticed the change with her own daughters who are in fourth-grade and have also interacted with M2.

Now when I ask them a question, they go deeper asking ‘who, what, when, where, how’? So it’s definitely driving deeper inquiry.

Kandice McGlaun

This transformation in how students think about learning has created what Kandice calls a “trickle effect.” Students who experience M2 in one class go back and tell other teachers about it. Those teachers, intrigued by their students’ enthusiasm, check out the device themselves. And the cycle continues.

Teachers throughout both schools have started saying they want “an M2 in every classroom.”

Cultivating the future with M2

As Molly and Kandice look to the future, they see M2 playing an even more central role in transforming their schools from teacher-centered environments to truly student-led learning spaces.

Molly is developing a “Lunch with M2” incentive program, where students who achieve certain goals—whether academic, attendance-based, or behavioral—can bring their lunch to the STEAM room for a tabletop discussion with M2 on a topic of their choice.

“It’s about cultivating curiosity,” Molly explains. “Letting them explore what they’re genuinely interested in, with immediate support for going deeper.”

Both specialists are working to expand M2 access across all grade levels and subject areas, ensuring that every student has opportunities to experience this new paradigm of learning—where questions don’t go unanswered, where curiosity drives discovery, and where collaboration happens around a shared “bigger brain” rather than through isolated screens.

“That’s where the real growth happens,” Molly says. “In that space between the question and the next question, and the one after that.”

The post Stand aside, Alexa. M2 is the classroom assistant that drives inquiry appeared first on Swivl.

An experiment becomes an intentional practice

Meagan Macdonald is an instructional coach at Barrington School District 220’s middle school. With a staff of 90 teachers, managing effective coaching cycles while offering meaningful reflection time seemed impossible to balance.

For Meagan, their reflection goals were centered around student outcomes. She experimented with the tool after the school’s initial success using MirrorTalk’s voice-guided reflections for students. After completing several “test” reflections, she immediately realized that MirrorTalk could bolster adult learning outcomes as it had done for students.

This breakthrough came when she reflected on a challenging coaching cycle she experienced earlier in the week. “The feedback MirrorTalk gave me was awesome! It was so intuitive and uncovered a lot of assumptions I was making about the situation,” she recalls. “The advice it gave me targeted a specific strategy I could try, helping me quickly turn things around with this teacher.”

Realizing the immense impact it could have on her teachers’ reflective practice, she invited all the teachers she works with to use MirrorTalk. Soon, coaches all over Barrington adopted it for their coaching cycles, too.

MirrorTalk made the impossible, possible

The transition from student tool to coaching asset was natural. One of the biggest challenges in Meagan’s role before had been scheduling meaningful reflection time for teachers within the constraints of everyone’s busy school day. Effective coaching cycles require precise timing for post-observation feedback, which often proved impossible to coordinate.

MirrorTalk helped Meagan and other coaches in her district navigate these complexities by enabling teachers to capture their thoughts immediately after classes when coaches can’t typically be present. Teachers reflect while teaching is fresh and they’re still in their element and MirrorTalk gives them practical advice they can apply in their lessons immediately. 

For Meagan, this was a huge turning point: “Every time a teacher gets MirrorTalk feedback with different strategies, instantly they say to themselves ‘hmm, I could try that.

It’s made them so much more receptive to new ideas and strategies when we meet for 1:1 conversations.

Meagan MacDonald | Barrington Middle School, Barrington School District 220

MirrorTalk drastically improved coaching conversations

As Meagan observed, teachers had already started gathering data for themselves with MirrorTalk, which formed the foundation for deeper, more focused coaching conversations when they met with their coaches. Instead of starting from scratch during each meeting, coaches and teachers build on captured data from reflections, leading to more strategic and focused improvement plans.

As Meagan explains, “MirrorTalk instructs teachers to build reflective habits and learn from their own experiences.  It helps us move everyone along in the right direction, and make better decisions, faster. When you only have 44 minutes with each teacher, MirrorTalk helps us immediately dive into executing a strategy, rather than ruminating on it.”

MirrorTalk elevated teacher collaboration

As capacity improved, Meagan and her coaches expanded MirrorTalk usage to their PLCs. As each group of teachers completes reflections with MirrorTalk, MirrorTalk automatically generates Group Lessons which provide the coaches general insights on how the group perceives the sessions and considerations for coaches when planning next steps.

These Group Lessons not only impacted 1:1 time with teachers but increased buy-in for their coaching program throughout the district.

Now every time we meet for PLCs, teachers are genuinely excited about the improvements they’re making and come to the table with curiosity about what others are trying. The feedback we get when teachers reflect on their PLCs helps us make this time together more engaging and useful for everyone. It’s a huge win for everyone!

Meagan MacDonald | Barrington Middle School, Barrington School District 220

The changes don’t stop here

By making reflection more accessible and insights more rapid and actionable, MirrorTalk has helped create a healthier professional environment throughout Barrington that bridges crucial gaps in teacher development and coaching capacity. 

Best of all, their investment in a student support tool has paid off in unexpected ways: it created a culture where teachers constantly improve, which ultimately benefits the same students who inspired them to adopt the tool in the first place.

The next frontier in coaching has arrived

Meet M2 – every teachers’ intelligent co-teacher and every coach’s new best friend. MirrorTalk powers it and it helps you take your coaching to catastrophic heights. Learn more.

The post Changing the coaching game, one reflection at a time appeared first on Swivl.

AVID classrooms pulse with energy—students engage in collaborative projects, tackle challenging inquiries, and dive deep into dynamic learning experiences. But when the buzz of activity subsides, educators face a crucial question: How do we effectively measure what each student has truly learned?

Elevating collaborative learning with stations

AVID’s emphasis on collaborative work finds a perfect partner in M2’s physical learning stations. Equipped with built-in tools like Whiteboard, Timer, and Polls, M2 serves as an intelligent group facilitator that keeps students focused and engaged. Teachers can set up M2 stations with customized activities from the Library or create their own based on specific lesson objectives.

Brittany Carpenter, a Technology Instructor and RESA Coordinator at Lamar Consolidated Independent School District, speaks to M2’s versatility: “M2+MirrorTalk is the ultimate blended learning tool. In the pre-reflection workspace, we can set up a variety of tools to assess the students’ actual math skills and their post-workspace reflection deepens our understanding of how their experience went and what challenges they faced.”

Capturing individual voices in collaborative learning

MirrorTalk transforms post-activity assessment by allowing students to verbalize their understanding through structured spoken reflections. As Gabe Nemiroff, a teacher at Albuquerque Public Schools notes, “Students are immediately curious about their understanding and mindset scores in MirrorTalk which immediately opens the door to conversations about growth.” This approach ensures that even in AVID’s collaborative environment, individual student voices and needs aren’t overlooked.

Immediate feedback drives continuous growth

In AVID’s fast-paced learning environment, waiting days for feedback can break the momentum of student progress. MirrorTalk eliminates this delay by providing instant, AI-powered feedback that helps students understand their progress and areas for improvement in real-time. Annette Lang, a Technology Teacher and Instructional Coach at Bio-Med Science Academy, has experienced this transformation firsthand: “I am able to invite all 104 of my students to talk through their learning experiences regularly and bring feedback to them instantly.”

Empowering data-driven instruction

MirrorTalk’s AI analysis goes beyond surface-level assessment, uncovering nuances in student understanding that traditional methods might miss. This deeper insight enables AVID educators to:

• Identify patterns in student learning, mindset, and challenge levels
• Adapt teaching strategies based on concrete data
• Target support where it’s needed most
• Track individual and class-wide progress over time

Freeing educators to focus on what matters

AVID educators wear many hats—facilitator, mentor, and coach. MirrorTalk automates the time-consuming aspects of assessment, allowing teachers to focus on these crucial roles. Instead of spending hours grading, educators can dedicate more time to supporting and challenging their students, leading to richer, more impactful interactions.

Angela Foley, a Teacher and Principal in Training at Elmore County Public Schools, describes the impact on her workflow: “MirrorTalk offers something more personal than traditional edtech tools. Instead of spending hours reviewing student videos and providing feedback, the AI analyzes their responses and helps me quickly identify what needs reteaching. It’s made my workflow so much more sustainable.”

The path forward

By seamlessly integrating with AVID’s interactive approach, MirrorTalk creates a feedback loop that benefits both students and educators. Its physical stations facilitate engaged group work, while its assessment capabilities ensure every voice is heard. Students gain immediate insights into their learning journey, while educators receive the data they need to make informed decisions about instruction and support. This powerful combination ensures that every student’s voice is heard, every learning opportunity is maximized, and every educator can focus on what truly matters—helping students succeed.

Curious to see how MirrorTalk can collect crucial data for your AVID classroom?

Try M2+MirrorTalk

MirrorTalk + M2 is the unique classroom assistant that captures the best data for observation and daily feedback for teachers, turns small group station dreams into a reality, and prioritizes reflection for everyone in class.

The post Enhancing AVID classrooms with MirrorTalk: Where student voice meets data-driven insight appeared first on Swivl.

In today’s AI-driven world, it’s easy to fall into the trap of letting technology do our thinking for us. But at MirrorTalk, we believe in a different approach: using technology to help you think better, not to think for you.

The challenge of reflection

Reflection is hard. It requires us to pause, look inward, and critically examine our thoughts and actions. For many students, this process can feel daunting or even frustrating. But here’s the truth: if reflection feels challenging, you’re doing it right.

Scaffolding the journey

MirrorTalk is designed to scaffold the reflection process, making it more approachable and rewarding for students. We’ve created a three-stage approach to help educators guide their students through the productive struggle of self-reflection:

1 – Encouragement first:

Begin with a Session group, where students receive immediate feedback focused on praise and small prompts to improve their thinking.

2 – Share the Lesson:

Progress to a Limited Dashboard group, introducing students to their personalized “Lesson” – a key insight they might be overlooking – along with their Understanding score.

3 – Dig into all insights:

Finally, expand to the Full Dashboard, where students gain access to a wealth of insights to help them manage mindsets, refine communication, and more.

Embracing the struggle

Remember, the goal isn’t to make reflection effortless – it’s to make it meaningful. When students grapple with their thoughts and ideas, they’re exercising the most powerful tool they have: their own minds.

By using MirrorTalk’s scaffolded approach, you’re not just helping students reflect; you’re teaching them to embrace the productive struggle that leads to genuine growth and learning. We’re empowering you to take your role as a reflective educator and help your students cultivate this essential lifelong skill for themselves.

Here’s how you can maximize its impact:

• Use the scaffolded approach to gradually deepen students’ reflective abilities.
• Incorporate MirrorTalk insights into your feedback and assessment processes.
• Encourage peer discussions about reflection strategies and insights gained.

A tool for thinking, not a replacement for thought

Unlike AI systems offering instant answers, MirrorTalk is a personalized thinking tool that creates conditions for effective self-reflection. As educators, your role is to help students value this approach. By guiding them through reflection, you’re cultivating a mindset that extends beyond the classroom. In a world where technology will never stop evolving, MirrorTalk helps students develop their most timeless asset: the capacity for thoughtful reflection and critical thinking.

Take scaffolding to the next level with MirrorTalk + M2

MirrorTalk + M2 is the unique classroom assistant that captures the best data for observation and daily feedback for teachers, turns small group station dreams into a reality, and prioritizes reflection for everyone in class.

Schedule a live demo to learn more!

The post Product highlight: Embrace productive struggle – how MirrorTalk helps students grow appeared first on Swivl.

This article pertains to the M2 device (hardware). Looking for an easy way to get started with MirrorTalk reflection activities that work on any device? Check out this article.

Get ready to meet your new classroom guide! M2 is an AI-powered device to revolutionize small-group learning. This clever all-in-one platform not only offers daily feedback and actionable advice for teachers, it is powered by MirrorTalk, software that automates the entire process with customized prompts and instant feedback for students and teachers. Packed with pre-built thinking activities, MirrorTalk unlocks peer-to-peer chatter, creativity, and teamwork while keeping classroom chaos at bay.

The data you’ll gather from MirrorTalk is a goldmine for student growth, providing educators with automatic insights into understanding, mindset, zones, and more. Say farewell to hours of planning and hello to effortless collaborative experiences from day one – MirrorTalk + M2 is about to become your go-to tool for small-group magic!

Here are 10 fun out-of-the-box activities to get your small group stations rolling! 

Get them talking

Activity: Presentation/Speech Practice

Students need strong presentation skills to thrive in today’s communication-driven world. Whether pitching ideas, defending their work, or simply expressing themselves clearly, the ability to present confidently and effectively opens doors in students’ futures.

Activity: Collaborative Storytelling

Students who become skilled storytellers develop a powerful tool for engaging audiences and conveying complex ideas in memorable ways. The art of storytelling not only enhances communication, but also fosters creativity, empathy, and the ability to connect with others on an emotional level – all valuable assets in school and throughout life.

Activity: Discussion Warm Up/Calentamiento de la discusión*

Increasing opportunities for communication between non-English speaking students and their native English-speaking peers promotes cultural exchange and mutual understanding. These interactions not only accelerate language acquisition for non-native speakers but broaden the worldview of native speakers, preparing both for success in our interconnected global society.

*available in Multiple Languages

Get them doing

Activity: Prototyping

Learning to prototype empowers students to transform abstract ideas into tangible solutions. Prototyping helps students develop critical thinking abilities, learn to iterate on their designs and gain valuable hands-on experience that bridges the gap between concept and reality.

Activity: Tallest Paper Tower

Learning to build things with their hands gives students a unique sense of accomplishment and helps develop practical problem-solving skills that can’t be gained from textbooks or personal devices. Hands-on experiences not only enhance spatial awareness and fine motor skills but also boost confidence, creativity, and the ability to think in three dimensions – all valuable assets for students to possess if they ever want to become engineers, architects, or designers.

Get them in the zone

Activity: Stress Transformer

Learning effective stress-coping techniques improves students’ mental health and enhances their academic performance and social relationships which helps them navigate life’s challenges even beyond the classroom. 

Activity: Brain Break

Brain breaks are essential for students to recharge and refocus, preventing mental fatigue and improving overall learning. These short, intentional pauses during the lesson allow the brain to process information, boost creativity, and enhance attention span, ultimately leading to better retention of material and more productive learning.

Let them have fun

Activity: Pictionary

Pictionary is a fun and engaging way for students to reinforce vocabulary while honing their artistic abilities. As students strive to convey words through quick sketches, they not only practice using and recognizing key terms but also develop their visual communication skills, creativity, and ability to express concepts through art – all while enjoying an interactive game with their classmates.

Activity: Number Hop

Getting kids on their feet to practice math skills transforms abstract concepts into physical, interactive experiences, making learning more engaging and memorable. This approach not only caters to kinesthetic learners but also increases overall student participation, boosts energy levels in the classroom, and helps children associate math with fun and movement – potentially reducing math anxiety and improving retention of mathematical concepts.

Activity: What is your favorite food/¿Cuál es tu comida favorita?*

Discussing favorite foods provides a relatable and enjoyable topic for non-English speaking students and their native English-speaking peers to connect, bridging cultural gaps and fostering genuine friendships. This culinary presentation not only enhances language skills for non-native speakers but also expands the cultural awareness of all students, creating a more inclusive classroom environment. 

*available in English and Spanish

The now for the best part

With MirrorTalk + M2, you’ve got a clever all-in-one platform that offers ready-made activities that foster lively student interaction, imaginative thinking, and collaborative efforts, while maintaining a structured learning environment. You can even copy our pre-made templates to get some inspiration for your own activities.

And perhaps the best part? While M2 keeps your small groups humming along, you’re free to move around the class, giving extra attention to students who need it most. When students are finished, you’ll get actionable insights on their work from their reflection and – perhaps most importantly – get to watch all of the fun they had!

See it in action!

Ready to turn your classroom into a collaborative maker-space?

Schedule a live demo with the Swivl team to learn more.

The post 10 small group activities that M2 offers, right out of the box appeared first on Swivl.

I learned this student actually likes school from his reflection – he’s just having a really tough time right now.

Rachel Tyson-Wiley | City Of Chicago School District 299

USE CASE

Conflict resolution, SEL, and Peer reflection

Rachel Tyson-Wiley

Instructional Coach

School/District:

City Of Chicago School District 299

Grade Level 6-8

Ineffective interventions

In Rachel Wiley’s STEM lab at an urban middle school in City of Chicago School District 299, getting students to articulate their thoughts about school or experience outside the classroom has always been a struggle. “In the past – especially in my Google Forms – we would get one-word answers,” Rachel recalls. “Student answers would be, ‘It’s good. It’s nice. It works.’” This reticence wasn’t just happening in the classroom; it permeated throughout the school, creating a constant communication barrier between students and staff.

Before students were introduced to MirrorTalk by Swivl, students who found themselves in caught in a cycle of disciplinary action often received ineffective interventions. As Rachel observed, students would fight for no reason, and when they met with a Counselor or Administrator, these students who are already on the defensive, would clam up or respond with minimal information. 

“These students have hardened exteriors,” Rachel notes, “So traditional face-to-face conversations were rarely productive.” Students felt judged or misunderstood and Administrators didn’t have a clear picture of what happened, leaving both students and staff frustrated and without resolution.

Radically more self-expression

Enter MirrorTalk: a verbal reflection tool that uses AI to revolutionize student engagement. This technology encouraged students in City of Chicago School District 299 to open up in ways they never had before, transforming brief, reluctant responses into thoughtful reflections. Rachel witnessed a remarkable change: “Now when students are reflecting out loud with MirrorTalk, they’re not intimated by the timer on the screen. Defying their one-word answers of the past, they now challenge themselves to fill in the space with more words.” This newfound expressiveness provided Rachel with invaluable insights into her students’ thoughts and experiences.

Students were now engaging in 1-2 minute reflections, a significant increase in communication. Even known gang members, typically the most resistant to opening up, revealed unexpected insights through MirrorTalk’s Dashboard. “These are hard boys talking about their feelings,” Rachel marveled. 

MirrorTalk offers unbiased, on-the-spot feedback, allowing students to express themselves freely, without fear of immediate consequences or judgment. This has led to surprising revelations like a tough student expressing gratitude for his mom and pride in his math achievements. “I learned this student actually likes school from his reflection, he’s just having a really tough time right now,” Rachel comments, highlighting the unexpected insights gained.

A school-wide approach to conflict resolution

Rachel’s creative setup, placing two students at a time in front of MirrorTalk, has also fostered peer-to-peer dialogue, an area students previously struggled. Rachel notes, “I started doing a collaboration where two students could sit down and talk at the same time, and they loved it.” This approach aligned with the school’s goal of improving student discourse and conflict resolution skills. Students who were once at odds found themselves engaging in constructive conversations, guided by MirrorTalk’s AI-generated prompts.

In just one month, some students’ Understanding Scores doubled, a testament to the tool’s effectiveness. 

The benefits extend beyond the classroom. Rachel shares, “I had MirrorTalk’s AI automatically personalize the reflection questions to the topic of conflict resolution because it’s an ongoing problem in the school.” She also gave students the freedom to do as many Recharge activities after reflecting as they desired (the built-in mental and physical exercises that help students eliminate stress). By addressing these issues through MirrorTalk, students began to develop better self-regulation and communication skills outside her class, too.

By providing a safe space for reflection, MirrorTalk has become an invaluable tool in Rachel’s classroom and throughout the school. It’s helping students develop self-expression, emotional intelligence, and conflict resolution skills – essential abilities for success both in and out of school. The technology has bridged the communication gap between students and staff, offering a new way to understand and support students who often struggle to express themselves in traditional settings.

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