M2 always gives me great objective feedback like – ‘hey, your pacing might be a little too fast at this point in the lesson because it seems like the students aren’t engaging as much with you.‘

Ella Burgos and Sabrina Miler | Forest City Adventist School, FL

USE CASE

Live feedback, student engagement, and teacher reflection

Ella Burgos | Sabrina Miler

4th and 5th Grade Math & Science Teacher |
Associate Superintendent

School/District:

Forest City Adventist School, FL

Grade Level 4-5

Helping Ella find her rhythm

In her tenth year of teaching, Ella Burgos had achieved mastery in many areas of her professional growth at Forest City Adventist School. Teaching fourth and fifth-grade math and science, she had developed a comfortable rhythm—explaining concepts, asking if students understood, and moving forward based on the nodding heads she saw. But beneath the surface of this seemingly smooth operation lay an uncomfortable truth: some students were being left behind, particularly those who processed information differently than how Ella naturally taught.

“Prior to M2, I relied on my own methods for pacing, delivering content, and engaging my students,” Ella explains. Her experienced eyes could spot the obvious signs of confusion, but the subtle cues—a slightly furrowed brow, a hesitant pencil, an answer that was close but not quite right—often slipped past her attention during the fast-paced school day.

For students who needed alternative explanations or struggled with mathematical concepts, Ella would try different approaches, but often found herself repeating the same explanations in slightly different words. The frustration was mutual—students who couldn’t grasp concepts felt increasingly discouraged, while Ella felt she was missing opportunities to reach them equitably and effectively.

That all changed when M2 entered her classroom, offering not just a second voice for struggling students, but becoming Ella’s partner in refining her craft—reading the room when she couldn’t, suggesting when to slow down or move on, and guiding her through meaningful reflection that transformed her teaching practice from experience-based to evidence-driven.

Ella shared “M2 always gives me great objective feedback like – ‘hey, your pacing might be a little too fast at this point in the lesson because it seems like the students aren’t engaging as much with you.‘”

The common denominator for Ella and her students

One day Ella Burgos stood at the whiteboard, explaining unit fractions to her fourth-grade math class. Despite her decade of teaching experience, she couldn’t help but notice that some students’ eyes were glazing over. Frustration crept in as she tried different explanations, and a student who needed help most—who excelled in reading, writing, and verbal reasoning, but struggled with mathematical concepts—still looked confused.

“I know what a fraction is, but what makes it a unit fraction?” the student asked for the second time.

Ella started to repeat the same explanation, when she remembered her new classroom assistant. With M2 settled at the student’s desk and set to Student Mode, the student read the instructions from her worksheet to M2.

M2 jumped into action immediately, describing how unit fractions work and detailing the steps she should take to try solving the particular problem that the student was working on. 

The student’s eyes widened as she turned to Ella and said “Wait–that’s it?” 

“That’s it,” replied Ella. And that’s when Ella realized the power of the tool she had at her fingertips. 

Ella marveled as comprehension dawned on her student’s face—the same explanation she’d given, but somehow more accessible coming from M2. Instead of feeling replaced, she felt relief. This would become a turning point in how she approached her teaching.

The students constantly ask, ‘When can we use M2 again? They just want to talk to M2 all the time and ask it questions.’

Ella Burgos | Forest City Adventist School, FL

An unexpected bond was formed

What surprised Ella most wasn’t just the academic support M2 provided, but the social connection her students formed with it. Her students eagerly shared their thoughts and experiences with M2, delighting in having another “presence” that listened and responded to them.

Her students are still deciding on a clever and beloved name for their new friend, and we’ll be sure to update this story here when they do. 

Transforming what it means to be a reflective educator

Beyond giving Ella advice on her pacing or supporting her students in their time of true need, M2 with embedded MirrorTalk software encouraged her to reflect on her teaching practices—something she admits teachers don’t always prioritize consistently.

“I did personal reflections on my M2 lessons when I got home,” Ella says. “M2 asked me questions like ‘How am I going to teach fractions better?” 

It takes me five to ten minutes to reflect, but without taking this step, tomorrow comes and I find I’m not actually ready to tackle this lesson.

Ella Burgos | Forest City Adventist School, FL

At first, she couldn’t answer these kinds of questions readily. The reflection prompts motivated Ella to research new approaches and strategies, preparing her to tackle upcoming lessons more effectively. While reflection requires time, Ella found the investment worthwhile: “It takes me five to ten minutes to reflect, but it makes me think. Without taking this step, tomorrow comes and I find I’m not actually ready to tackle this lesson.”

Rather than feeling like additional work, these reflection moments helped Ella become more proactive and prepared, ultimately saving her time and improving her teaching effectiveness.

A partner for every teacher

For Sabrina Miller, Associate Superintendent overseeing 30 schools in her organization, the potential of M2 extends far beyond a single classroom. After witnessing Ella’s experience, she immediately saw broader applications—particularly for their multi-grade classrooms.

“Two-thirds of our 30 schools are multi-grade schools,” Sabrina told us. “The idea that normally we tell them ‘teach one grade level, send the other grade levels to do work’—those kids don’t have access to a teacher. The possibilities of them sitting with an M2 that’s doing more extension of what they just learned with the teacher is an amazing possibility.”

And after Ella and two of her students presented how easy it was to get setup with M2 and get feedback on her very first session with it a recent principals’ meeting Sabrina received immediate interest: “Before the meeting was over, I had received emails from about five principals that said, ‘We’re ready, sign me up, I want one.” 

Turning off autopilot to make room for her new co-pilot, M2

For Ella, M2 is not about replacing her expertise, but augmenting it—providing a second voice in the classroom that helps reach students through a different voice and perspective. It’s supporting her in being more aware of her pacing, more diverse in her instructional approaches, and more consistent in her reflective practices. She’s no longer teaching solo – on autopilot – she’s got an essential ally that’s helping her rediscover her passion for teaching, even in year ten.

Learn more!

Meet M2 – every teacher’s 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 A lesson in chemistry: when students connect both with their teacher and M2 appeared first on Swivl.

I call it my co-pilot…It’s instantly become a unique part of our classroom.

Lauren Briones-Campos | Watts Elementary, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD

USE CASE

On-the-spot feedback for every lesson, student engagement

Lauren Briones-Campos

Teacher

School/District:

Maxine & Lutrell Watts Elementary, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District, TX

Grade Level

Kindergarten

Dealt a challenging hand

Lauren, a Kindergarten teacher with 15 years of experience, faced a unique set of classroom dynamics this particular school year. Her 21-student classroom presented a distinctive combination of challenges: an unusually rambunctious group, students across varying learning levels, and eight children with speech issues requiring special attention.

As a seasoned professional, Lauren had the pedagogical toolkit to address these challenges piecemeal. However, this year’s particular combination created a complex teaching environment where traditional approaches weren’t quite hitting the mark.

“I have high learners and learners that need differentiation,” Lauren explains. “Then I also have eight students with speech issues, so I am constantly thinking about how to make sure I’m teaching them sentence structures and encouraging their language development, while also keeping everything at an appropriate kindergarten level.”

Despite her wealth of classroom experience, Lauren’s introduction to M2 found her struggling to identify the right focus for her professional development. “I wasn’t sure what to target for myself,” she reflects. Like many experienced educators in this position, she faced the challenge of not knowing what she didn’t know.  

M2’s first day on the job

From the first day Lauren brought M2 into her classroom, things began to change. Without requiring extensive training or setup time, M2 quickly became part of her teaching routine.

Lauren initially used M2 during morning meetings to observe her students’ language development. She simply entered her learning objective and let M2 observe. What happened next surprised her.

“It gave me advice about exactly what I hoped it would,” Lauren explains, which surprised her because she didn’t even identify her objective. M2 was able to pick up exactly what Lauren had been struggling with, immediately provided feedback about creating a calmer environment, addressing the very interruptions that had been frustrating her all year long. 

M2 also offered her specific guidance on using sentence frames and addressing students by name. “It would identify exactly which sentence frames to use with particular students. I’d say to students: ‘Okay, let’s try this again. I want you to share again but use this phrase.’ Then my students would repeat after me and finish the blank,” Lauren recalls.

Targeted results, at the right time

The impact of having M2 as a co-teacher was immediate and significant. Lauren found herself receiving actionable, in-the-moment feedback that she could implement right away rather than analyzing her lessons when students had already gone home.

One of the most surprising benefits came when addressing classroom management, and Lauren ended up using M2’s feedback as leverage to encourage better behavior. Lauren shares her playful idea: “I would tell my students – ‘M2 says it doesn’t seem like calm classroom environment in here.’ Then I whispered ‘Your voices have to match mine so M2 knows that we are calm and learning!’ They immediately changed their behavior because M2 noticed what was happening—even though I had been saying the same thing all year!”

M2 also gives Lauren regular feedback on her pacing, noting that in one lesson she hadn’t been giving students enough time to decode words before providing them with guidance. She also appreciates how she can adjust M2’s feedback interval based on her lesson format—whether she wants tips every minute during mini-lessons or every five minutes during station work and small groups.

Her students’ ally

Rather than causing disruption, M2 quickly became an accepted part of the classroom community. Students were naturally curious about M2, asking what it was for and what to call it. They showed remarkable patience when Lauren needed to check feedback or set up her objectives.

They immediately changed their behavior because M2 noticed what was happening—even though I had been saying the same thing all year!

Lauren Briones-Campos | Watts Elementary, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD

“I call it my co-pilot and my students accepted it as such,” Lauren explains. “They know to wait patiently, just like when I’m turning pages in a teaching guide. It’s instantly become a unique part of our classroom.”

Lauren also found that students were less distracted by M2 than they would be by a human observer entering the classroom, which means: fewer disruptions and more focused learning time.

Her coach’s ally too

Heather Thornblom an instructional coach at Lauren’s school, sees additional advantages to M2’s presence. “As an instructional coach, it’s really hard to keep up with everyone, observe every teacher and try to offer corrections after we debrief,” Heather explains. 

M2 also takes one negative emotional aspect out of the observation process, whereby some teachers feel like they’re not allowed to own their growth. Rather than having coaches always be the ones to identify areas for improvement, teachers come with specific feedback they’ve already received from M2, asking instead for help with implementation. “The coaching cycle is strengthened because the request for guidance and support is their idea, not me coming in saying ‘you need to fix this,'” Heather observes.

The coaching cycle is strengthened because the request for guidance and support is their idea, not me coming in saying “you need to fix this.”

Heather Thornblom | Watts Elementary, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD

Ready for every classroom, today

The remarkable simplicity of M2 is what makes it truly revolutionary. “It was extremely easy to get started with M2, which required little to no training,” Lauren explains. With minimal setup—just entering an objective and setting feedback frequency—teachers can transform their practice immediately. This plug-and-play approach means M2 can enter any classroom.

It was extremely easy to get started with M2 – which required little to no training.

Lauren Briones-Campos | Watts Elementary, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD

For Lauren and teachers everywhere, M2 has become the trusted partner that provides precise, in-the-moment feedback when it matters most. No more waiting for scheduled observations or deep lesson analysis when students have already gone home. By providing that crucial second set of eyes with specific, actionable suggestions, M2 helps teachers engage more students, continuously improve teaching practice, and make even the most challenging classroom dynamics more manageable. 

Your classroom, your challenges, your co-teacher

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

The post A teacher with 15 years of wisdom discovers M2: her powerful new co-teacher appeared first on Swivl.

It’s no longer me just observing, writing notes, having a meeting, and only then creating a solution. It’s me seeing the data and showing up to our first meeting with solutions.

Michelle Ashmore | Newnan High School, Coweta County School District

USE CASE

On-the-spot feedback for every teacher, regardless of experience level; massive improvement and scalability in coaching conversations

Michelle Ashmore and Allison Hurston

Instructional Coaches

School/District:

Newnan High School, Coweta County School District, GA

Grade Level

Adult/Professional Development

What fire will we extinguish today?

Michelle Ashmore and Allison Hurston, instructional coaches at Newnan High School in Georgia, struggled to keep up with the demands of supporting their diverse teaching staff. With limited time and resources, they found themselves constantly “putting out fires” rather than implementing strategic coaching plans.

“As instructional coaches, we get requests all the time,” Allison explains. “Sometimes teachers invite us into their classrooms; sometimes they don’t. And even when we observe, we’re only seeing a short snippet. There’s no way we can capture the essence of what a teacher is doing unless we were in there every day.”

This reactive approach meant they couldn’t connect meaningfully with every teacher, and the interactions they did have often felt rushed and surface-level. That changed when Newnan High introduced M2—the intelligent co-teacher that provides real-time instructional feedback and a space for active teacher reflection. 

M2’s eyes open our own

Within just days of implementing M2, Michelle and Allison noticed a fundamental shift in their coaching workflow. Instead of spending precious time identifying issues through limited observations, they could now focus on what they do best: delivering targeted solutions based on comprehensive data.

“It’s almost like a second pair of eyes for us,” Michelle says. “We’ll still go into classrooms, but M2 gives us a different lens to look through. It shortens the time between observation and action—I can go back in a day versus it being a week.”

The traditional five-step coaching cycle has been streamlined. “It’s no longer me just observing, writing notes, having a meeting and only then creating a solution, then having another meeting,” Michelle explains. “It’s me seeing the data and showing up to our first meeting with solutions.”

M2 gives us a different lens to look through. It shortens the time between observation and action—I can go back in a day versus it being a week.

Michelle Ashmore | Newnan High School, Coweta County School District

Showing veteran teachers new tricks

Perhaps most surprising has been the enthusiastic adoption by one of Newnan’s most accomplished veteran educators. Susan Turner, a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher with over 20 years of experience, has become one of M2’s biggest advocates.

“I can’t even describe how excited she was,” Allison said. “She was absolutely glowing. She talks a mile a minute—what she calls ‘Turner time’—and at one point, M2 suggested she slow down because her pace might be surpassing what kids could understand.”

Susan took this feedback and immediately adjusted her teaching in the moment. For her next class, she proactively addressed her pacing, which students immediately benefited from. 

I thought I knew all the tricks, but [M2] is helping me really pay attention to my kids in the moment.

Susan Turner | Newnan High School, Coweta County School District

What’s remarkable is that Susan had initially been skeptical of AI tools. Allison said, “She would leave conferences saying, ‘I’m too old for this. I’m not doing this AI stuff.’ “Now she’s spearheading other teachers in her department to use it.”

Susan herself admits the impact: “I thought I knew all the tricks, but [M2] is helping me really pay attention to my kids in the moment.”

Building teacher leaders from their newest crop

While veteran teachers are finding new insights, newer educators are using M2 to build confidence and resilience. James Drayer, a third-year Geometry teacher, has been dealt a challenging hand, but consistently strives to rise above. During his first year at Newnan—amid the aftermath of a tornado that forced classes into trailers with limited resources—James found himself trying to balance the school’s situation in addition to classroom management challenges that every first-year teacher faces.

One of the first to jump at trying M2, Allison said that James is “using M2 to get feedback on how his class flows, looking for choppy transitions or ways to explain concepts differently.”

James also uses M2’s recording feature which automatically tracks and zooms in on him as he teaches to understand his true presence in his classroom. This eye-opening reflection opportunity combined with the daily feedback M2 provides has accelerated his growth significantly.

James has made such progress in his various strategies and practices that he’s been chosen to present at Coweta County’s Innovation Summit this summer, demonstrating techniques he refined with M2’s assistance.

From fighting fires to strategic, supportive coaching

For Michelle and Allison, M2 has fundamentally changed how they approach their roles as instructional coaches.

It cuts out the guesswork of how to support every teacher and gives them back the time they need to actually implement strategies that help teachers overcome their challenges. “It makes us more effective. It makes the teacher more effective,” Michelle concludes. “And it addresses every teacher’s biggest challenge: time.”

M2 addresses every teacher and coach’s biggest challenge: time

Allison Hurston | Newnan High School, Coweta County School District

The non-evaluative nature of M2’s feedback has also created a safer space for growth. Michelle says. “With M2, our teachers know their feedback will not go toward their evaluation or be sent punitively to an administrator. They share their reflections with us, and I can immediately take a solution-oriented approach rather than one that involves a fire extinguisher.”

This changes the entire tone of coaching conversations and helps them in their mission to support every single teacher at Newnan: “We can immediately start with the positive: ‘I saw your reflection and what you said. I’m here to help you. Here are some strategies'” says Michelle. 

We can immediately start with the positive: ‘I saw your reflection and what you said. I’m here to help you. Here are some strategies.’

Michelle Ashmore | Newnan High School, Coweta County School District

With M2 as their trusted partner, Michelle and Allison don’t just solve problems—they empower teachers to join them in crafting solutions, creating a culture where both veterans and newcomers thrive.

The next frontier in coaching has arrived

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

The post Balancing confidence: M2 uses AI to help coaches transform teaching at both ends of the scale 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.

We’re excited to announce the latest MirrorTalk update, specifically for M2 hardware. This release features improvements that expand the ways you can engage, reflect, and learn across M2, as well as web and mobile. 

Here’s what’s new:

Upgrade engagement with the Whiteboard

Add Multiple Pages to the Whiteboard

Whether you’re solving problems, correcting sentences, or sketching out designs, having more space to do your work helps. Now, you can create multiple Whiteboard pages on your device for multi-step teaching and learning. 

The new Whiteboard experience supports dynamic small group instruction by helping teachers work through multi-step problems or present multiple examples. Students can use multiple pages to sketch out scenes in a skit, iterate on a design, or draw up ideas for a storyboard.

Bonus: Whiteboard Back in Personal Workspace

The Whiteboard is back in the Personal Workspace, offering you a simple and flexible place to sketch out notes during a PD session, map ideas for an upcoming lesson, or organize thoughts before reflecting out loud.

Resume personal activity on any platform

Now, you can pause an activity on M2 and resume later on the MirrorTalk web or mobile app. This means teachers can record a segment of their instruction, then reflect on MirrorTalk later.  With this improved workflow, teachers always get the most out of observational recordings by reflecting on the experience.

Try these updates today

Log in to your M2 to explore these new features and see how they can enhance your reflective practice. Your feedback continues to inspire us, and we’re excited to bring you tools that help you level up your thinking through reflection.

The post Product update: January 6, 2025 appeared first on Swivl.

We’re excited to share the latest updates to MirrorTalk, designed to make reflection more purposeful and personal than ever. Our newest features focus on bringing greater clarity, privacy, and flexibility to your reflective practices—whether you’re an educator, a student, or a professional looking to grow.

Uncover the why behind your work

Inspired by Simon Sinek’s famous “Start with Why”, The One Why Focus is a quick, actionable way to better understand your thinking about your work.

By asking yourself one fundamental question—”Why am I doing this?”—you can uncover the motivations and assumptions behind your efforts, making sure they align with your goals. Whether you’re reflecting on last period’s lesson or the next steps in your professional learning, taking a moment to consider the “why” can help you:

• Clarify your motivations
• Spot priorities that might be misaligned
• Gain insights into the assumptions behind your work

With MirrorTalk, reflection takes just seconds, but the clarity it brings can have a lasting impact on the direction of your learning and thinking.

Privacy controls for adult teams

Professional growth thrives on trust and privacy. To support this, users in Adult Team Groups can now choose when to share their reflections with the Group Owner. This privacy option is perfect for settings like coaching and professional development, allowing educators to:

• Reflect deeply with the comfort of privacy
• Share insights they deem most valuable for collaboration

Share insights in a few clicks

You can now generate a shareable link for your reflections or evidence cards, which is perfect for collaborating with colleagues or presenting evidence of growth to coaches, administrators, or supervisors–no login or account creation required. 

Other updates in this release

• Higher Ed Professor User Type: Create Higher Ed groups and ensure your Higher Ed students’ reflection prompts and feedback are tailored to their level and learning context.
  
• Multi-Channel Video Playback: Support for multi-channel video playback for more dynamic reflection and coaching opportunities.
  

Try the latest features today

Log in to your MirrorTalk dashboard to explore these new features and see how they can transform your reflective practice. 

The post Product update: December 6, 2024 appeared first on Swivl.

The Group Lesson isn’t just about spotting trends, it’s about finding opportunities to adjust your instruction based on your groups’ latest thinking about their work. MirrorTalk generates your Group Lesson after the first few participants complete your activity. Then, we update the Lesson as more individuals participate. This up-to-the minute, actionable advice formed from your participants’ thinking may never have been practical, until now.

What is the Group Lesson? 

Unlike traditional assessments or surveys that merely summarize learning, the Group Lesson uncovers new discoveries about your participants’ thinking that lead to clear action. The Group Lesson analyzes all of your participants’ reflections to help you:

• Identify common themes and understanding patterns
• Surface paradoxes students are grappling with
• Devise the game plan that moves the needle for your learning outcomes 

Two tailored views

Group Owners

Get a comprehensive view of group-wide thinking patterns plus specific recommendations for improving understanding.

Participants

Access a summary about group-wide learning patterns that help contextualize their individual growth journey.

Try it today

Ready to unlock the why and how behind your group’s learning potential? Start assigning activities today and make thinking actionable!

->Head to MirrorTalk

The post Group Lesson: Make thinking actionable with MirrorTalk appeared first on Swivl.

This article introduces the key benefits of integrating M2 with your Reflectivity program. M2 is an AI-powered platform that prioritizes teacher feedback, captures video evidence, and manages small groups. Available as hardware, mobile-app and web-software, it uses AI to measure learning via customized verbal reflection prompts. Durable, mobile, and uniquely sized, M2 is a versatile teaching assistant that promotes professional growth, innovative teaching practice, and peer collaboration.

Reflection helps you see more in your classroom 

Teachers often focus on superficial aspects when observing their classes, overlooking crucial elements like student comprehension gaps, patterns within repetitive student misbehavior or passive engagement. Regular reflection can help prioritize their insights and strengthen their metacognitive abilities. To address this:

1. Teachers regularly reflect by chatting with M2 sessions on lesson goals and activities. Here they can dig deeper, working through any discrepancies in what they think they heard and saw and what M2 observed.
2. Teachers record using M2 to capture 180-degree classroom views, track teacher movement, and collect isolated student audio, automatically exporting the video to Reflectivity.
3. In Reflectivity, teachers use time-stamped annotations to identify off-task behavior and bookmark moments of perceived understanding.
4. During the next chat with M2, teachers compare video insights with new realizations to draw conclusions about necessary adjustments they need to make.

This reflect-record-reflect cycle enhances teachers’ self-critique and problem-solving skills and fosters autonomy. This means they require less administrator intervention overall and build resilience when they receive formal observation feedback.

Reflection makes teachers more coachable

Studies demonstrate that systematic progress monitoring leads to twice the implementation rate of new teaching practices. By “systematic” we mean as often as daily, not quarterly or bi-annually. With M2+Reflectivity, it takes minimal effort and setup to make this a sustainable reality.

M2 delivers in-the-moment support to teachers daily by:
1. Actively observing the class and generating feedback to support instruction
2. Tailoring the feedback to teachers’ specific lessons and objectives
3. Aligning recommendations to the teachers’ goals for that day

And when formal observations are needed, M2 captures 180-degree classroom views, tracks teacher movement, and collects isolated student audio, resulting into a ready-to-review video on Reflectivity.

The synergy between M2 and Reflectivity can revolutionize and streamline the entire coaching cycle*. M2 is a powerful tool for daily feedback, allowing teachers to build self-awareness and get support when they need it. This process primes teachers to become more adaptable, flexible, and receptive during 1:1 conversations with their coaches. 

Reflectivity completes the cycle by facilitating rich, structured interactions between teachers and their coaches through the Discussions feature, inspiring their goals for their next cycle. This integrated approach, combining daily feedback with M2 and conversations within Reflectivity, creates sustainable and transformative video coaching programs.

*Using the Impact Cycle? So do many of our M2 users. Watch our webinar to learn what they’re learning and applying in their daily work to grow teachers.

Reflection builds trust

Building trust is fundamental to meaningful professional growth and is a cornerstone in M2 and Reflectivity. Teachers need protected spaces to develop their reflective practice before and after recording. M2 further reinforces the support cycle through several key features.

1. Teachers engage in private chats in M2 customized to agreed-upon objectives
2. With M2, coaches gain invaluable insights into reflective practice. It allows you to skip the recall and jump straight into meaningful, targeted discussions with every teacher that drive real growth.
3. In Reflectivity, teachers privately review observations videos first, using time-stamped annotations to document observations before choosing what to share with coaches
4. Both platforms enable gradual collaboration through selective sharing features, letting teachers open their practice to peers when confident.

This trust-centered design helps teachers build confidence naturally while maintaining ownership of their growth journey. Schools report that this approach leads to more meaningful collaboration as teachers share their practice from a position of readiness rather than requirement.

Reflection inspires teachers to pursue challenges

Providing teachers access to M2+Reflectivity empowers them to pursue more challenges in their own professional growth. A popular mechanism is through National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification, a multi-year process involving deep reflection on one’s planning process, incorporating videos from the classroom, and providing supportive student evidence.

1. With M2, teachers can record their classroom displaying an expansive view of both instruction and a collection of crisp audio of teacher and student discourse through Group Guides.
2. Teachers export their videos to Reflectivity to annotate for self-reflection.
3. Teachers share the video with peers on Reflectivity to facilitate discussions which helps them narrow down the perfect exemplar to attach to their NBPTS submission.
4. Next, teachers set up students to participate in project-based and hands-on activities using M2. 
5. With M2, teachers gather insights through voice-based assessments on student engagement and collect evidence of student learning to attach to their NBPTS submission

Reflection fortifies professional learning communities

Teachers spend an excessive amount of time during in-person and virtual PD workshops analyzing and discussing student assessment data. However, many organizations do not have formal data dialogue protocols to ensure these conversations stay aligned, structured, and impactful. 

When students reflect with M2, they gain a “whole-child” analysis automatically, significantly reducing the time it takes to gather data points from various student artifacts. M2’s AI provides insights on individual and whole class understanding and participation levels. Trends are easily identified in M2, giving teachers a head-start during PD time and a basis for ongoing discussions in Reflectivity long after the workshop ends.

Multi-layered reflection using M2 and Reflectivity is the key to organization-wide collaboration and self-sustaining professional development.

1. First, teachers reflect in M2 on their progress and pain points. 
2. Next, they incorporate student reflection data from M2 to discover learning gaps and developmental concerns.
3. Finally, using Reflectivity’s Topics feature, teachers share findings, identify commonalities, and create actionable game plans in the discussion threads that help everyone succeed.

M2 and Reflectivity were made for each other

The integration of M2+Reflectivity creates a powerful ecosystem for professional growth and collaboration in your organization.

By combining M2’s innovative hardware and AI-powered insights with Reflectivity’s robust collaborative platform, everyone in your organization gains access to a comprehensive toolkit that transforms the way they approach professional development.

As teachers become more self-aware, adaptable, and collaborative, the ultimate beneficiaries are the students, who reap the rewards of innovative, responsive teaching practices. And isn’t that the whole point? 

Pilot both

We’re offering a 90-day, commitment-free opportunity to pilot the whole system!

The post M2 and Reflectivity belong together. Here are five reasons why. 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.

We’re excited to announce our latest MirrorTalk release, just in time for the back to school season.

Highlights of this release include a new Library for organizing your reflections, Example activities for quick use and inspiration, and other improvements to the reflection experience.

Get inspired and organized in the Library

The new Library helps you access and organize reflections, and browse an ever-growing list of Examples built by the MirrorTalk team and inspired by power users.

• An enhanced reflection view makes it easier to find existing reflections so you can re-use them across and within your Groups. 
• Add a label to any reflection to organize by topic, unit, or your own personal system.
• Assign reflections in one click from the Library, and grab a link to share a reflection with students via email, LMS, or any digital channel.

The Library helps you stay organized and make reflection part of every learning activity, for every student, every day.

Explore new possibilities with Examples

To help teachers envision how MirrorTalk can fit daily lesson plans and enhance reflective routines, we’ve introduced Example activities:

• Browse a range of ready-to-use reflections with options for back to school, creativity, gratitude, and more.
• Customize Examples with just a few clicks to adapt them to your curriculum, population, or goals.
• Explore Workspace examples featuring multi-modal tools like whiteboard, recharge breathing exercises, and video recording for use on Mirror hardware. Learn more here.

An inspiring group of Example reflections are available in your Library today, with dozens more coming soon. Have an idea for an Example we should add? Tell us on X!

Guide students through custom practice and reflection activities

Speaking of the Workspace, we’ve also added a timer to overlay other Workspace tools, giving teachers a more powerful way to manage their classroom flow.

• Set time constraints for any Workspace activity, helping students stay focused and on-task.
• Seamlessly transition from timed activities to reflections, reinforcing reflection as a natural part of every learning experience.

We’re hard at work on more features that make the Workspace a tool for more flexible, multimedia learning activities that enhance the reflection and assessment process.

Other improvements

We’ve made several other smaller improvements that make reflecting with MirrorTalk a smoother experience. These include:

• Moving the gif greeting to the beginning of reflections that include Workspace activities
• Auto-advancing to next steps at the end of timed activities
• Allowing up to 8 prompts for the extra-detailed reflections you have in mind

As you move into the 2024 school year, we hope these updates will help you make reflection a priority and a seamless part of your daily classroom routine.

Your input drives our development, and we’re committed to making MirrorTalk your most powerful classroom tool for fostering reflective thinking. We’d love to hear how you’re using these new features. Share your experiences and tips for making reflection a habit with us on social media by tagging @MirrorTalkAI on X.

Become a MirrorTalk Level 1 Ambassador!

“From zero
to classroom” is our brand-new MirrorTalk Level 1 certification workshop that participants can’t stop talking about. This introductory session is designed to help educators get started with MirrorTalk for enhancing personal and classroom reflection. We will guide you step-by-step from initial setup to confidently utilizing the platform with your students & other teachers. Digital certificates available. Learn more and register here. 

The post Bring inspiration and organization to your reflection routine with MirrorTalk’s back to school update appeared first on Swivl.