When administrators in Dodge City, KS, reviewed their student data in 2019, it was clear that literacy, specifically for their English Language Learners (ELLs), needed to be a top priority.

With 80% of the district’s 7,000 students identifying as Hispanic/Latino, this was already an area of focus. After receiving funding from a state grant, though, the district was ready to take a new approach.

Instead of focusing on top-down PD, Dodge City leaders invested in teacher coaching and self-reflection as a path to student literacy growth. 

To better support ELLs, Dodge City needed to remake their tools and systems for coaching

According to Kelley Clark, Literacy Project Manager and Professional Development Coordinator, this was a research-informed decision.

“We had seen a body of evidence saying that PD sessions alone won’t give us the return we wanted,” Kelley said. “We needed to support what we were doing with instructional coaching.”

In the past, Dodge City had had versions of instructional coaching, and even used classroom video in support of it. But they had identified several challenges to address.

“Coaching looked different across buildings and between individuals. Coaches often did ‘other duties as assigned’ instead of true coaching,” Kelley said.

Their old method of capturing classroom video was also a challenge to address.

“Lots of teachers found coaches visiting classrooms and using iPads to record them intimidating. The teachers had questions: What’s going on with the video? Whose video is it?” Kelley said.

With a clear goal and challenges to address, Dodge City was ready to get to work.

Leaders replaced classroom visits with Swivl Robots to create a more teacher-centered coaching program

Dodge City systematized and focused their coaching efforts by adopting Jim Knight’s Impact Cycle. While coaches used to visit classrooms to record lessons with an iPad, teachers now recorded their own lessons with Swivl Robots. 

Kelley was unsure how teachers would feel about recording themselves with Swivl Robots.

“The teachers actually preferred using the Robots to record themselves over having their coach record them with an iPad,” Kelley said.

At the same time, administrators and coaches audited coaches’ time. This clarified the job’s responsibilities and opened new ways for coaches to offer teacher support.

“Coaches began to leverage video captured by Swivl Robots at multiple points of the coaching cycle,” Kelley said. 

This included:

• Capturing video before coaching to capture the current reality
• Coaches sharing model lessons for teachers to refer to during the coaching cycle
• Recording lessons during the cycle for reflection and richer coaching conversations

Additionally, Dodge City started using Swivl Robots to empower curriculum implementations. When ELA and Math teachers wanted to see a new curriculum taught in a lesson, coaches recorded and shared model lessons. These acted as concrete examples of instructional expectations teachers could revisit and share with others.

“We invested in teachers, focusing on collective efficacy,” Kelley said of the changes Dodge City made to support ELL achievement.

Teachers are empowered to reflect with classroom video, and ELLs show growth in crucial skills

“Change takes time. But we are seeing teacher practice shift,” Kelley said. 

This shift in practice has led to concrete results related to Dodge City’s goal to support ELLs. Recently, the Dodge City ESOL and Diversity Director shared assessment data showing growth in speaking, listening, and reading skills for ELL students.

“It’s steady, incremental growth, which is what we want to see,” Kelley said.

Kelley believes that giving teachers tools to engage in meaningful self-reflection and coaching is a key piece of that growth.

“When the Swivl Robot is in the classroom, it’s an objective observer,” Kelley said. “Teachers look at what they’re doing, and how their kids are responding. That’s more powerful than anyone coming in and saying ‘you should be doing this or that.’”

Kelley looks forward to expanded use of Teams by Swivl (now Reflectivity) for asynchronous discussion through time-stamped commenting, as a way to enrich face to face conversations with teachers.

During a recent coaching session, Kelley observed the power of giving teachers tools to reflect on classroom video.  While watching a video, the teacher saw how often she laughed with students and had fun moments with them during class. 

“She was laughing and having a good time, but she wasn’t conscious of it,” Kelley said. “It’s not always about identifying negative things. There are so many positives to discover.”

The post How Dodge City Schools Transformed Their Coaching Program to Support ELL Achievement 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.

Littleton Elementary is a small but fast-growing rural district in Maricopa County, Arizona. It operates seven physical schools plus one virtual academy. The district is known for its high-quality education, which attracts students of many income levels and backgrounds from around the area.

Facing a teacher shortage, the district has hired many new teachers from out of state. This means there is a high ratio of mentor teachers to early-career and new teachers.

How can a district maintain its high levels of instruction in these circumstances?  Littleton, like other districts nationwide, knows that the best teacher support is often in-house.  

The foundation of their support system is the use of reflection and video capture tools that offer an objective look at the classroom, so teachers can identify challenges away from the emotionally-charged day-to-day teaching.

In 2022, teacher support doesn’t mean sharing another slide deck about self-care.

Leaders can give teachers the support they deserve by helping them build a regular routine of reflection, and use video to go deeper when needed. 

Thousands spent on PD per teacher, but impact on day-to-day is unclear

A study by the New Teacher Project found that teachers spend 10% of their time on professional development activities, and districts spend about $18,000 per year per teacher on PD. Despite these large PD investments, teachers often lack adequate support in fundamentals like classroom management, which are more important than ever.

Consider these responses shared by a few of the 300K+ educators subscribed to our newsletter when we asked about how their training addressed classroom management:

“I don’t encounter classroom management issues that I can’t handle or address, but that’s not because of formal training I’ve had. That kind of training is not offered in teacher prep in college/university or professional learning once employed.”

“Nothing prepares you for classroom management. There was not even a course.”

“I have never received training on how to handle a student who refuses to sit down, take off their backpack, or complete any assignments.”

“I have taught for 23 years. There have only been three instances where I had no training to deal with student disruptions and behavior. Note: these have been in the last year.”

There were many comments echoing similar sentiments. A simple response to these circumstances might be, well, then train them! 

However, typical professional learning, theory-heavy and application-light, is the wrong response. Classroom management issues are highly context-specific to the personality of the teacher and students, the class size, the subject, and even the time of day of the class. 

Faced with urgent, unique challenges, teachers don’t need more nondescript, one size-fits-all style workshops. They don’t need more consultants or more observers in their classroom. 

Teachers need the tools and space to identify their specific issues. With an understanding of their challenges, they can start to address them objectively, and seek help they need from others. 

Helping teachers build a regular routine of reflection is the best way to do this at scale.

Reflection is more effective and convenient with Sessions

With Sessions by Swivl, administrators can give every teacher in a school or district the tools they need to begin a regular reflection routine.

Sessions guides teachers to reflect through several clearly-defined steps

1. Set a Goal. Goals are the backbone of the reflection process. We recommend starting each week with a small goal, and as you gain more confidence and time, increase the rigor.
2. (Optional) Incorporate Video Evidence. Remember this is optional! When you are ready to incorporate video evidence, you will always have the opportunity to do so after setting your goal. 
3. Reflect. Explain what went well and what you’ll need to work on in the future to realize your goal or embark on a new one.
4. (Optional) Ask for feedback. Reflection alone can only go so far in determining your next steps. Involving a partner will help you accelerate your thinking.

Even with teachers’ busy schedules, Sessions helps teachers reflect in a time-efficient way. Sessions helps teachers focus on specific aspects of their instruction as they reflect. 

Teacher preparation programs, the National Board certification process, and many state licensure programs all prioritize reflection as a tool for teacher growth. Why? Because it works.

Now, it’s time for all teachers to get the tools they need (and the time to use them), so they can realize the sustaining benefits of regular reflection.

Administrators: help your teachers build a regular routine of reflection

Remember Littleton School District in Arizona? 

Their Director of Instructional Technology Jim Verrill shared a recent story with us of a principal who was tasked with helping one of their teachers work through an instructional challenge. With all the professional learning options available, this principal encouraged the teacher to begin working through the challenges by recording their teaching and using Sessions to self-reflect. 

Then, through their robust system of teacher support, there are other actions teachers, coaches, or administrators can take to make sure the teachers get the help they need.

As Jim said, “Now, because principals have Swivl tools, they can help a teacher who needs support and have them work on reflection.”

The post Regular reflection is the PD teachers deserve. Here’s why. appeared first on Swivl.

We love seeing how our Swivl Community keeps connections and relationships at the forefront of all they’re doing this school year, while still offering robust teacher support. A great example of these efforts is Littleton Elementary School District #65 (LESD) in Arizona.

Teachers at LESD are incorporating the Swivl Robot+Teams (Teams is now Reflectivity) into their classrooms. By live streaming with Swivl Robot+Teams, teachers are able to broadcast their lessons to remote learners. Using these tools gives remote students a view of everything going on within the classroom, which helps them feel more connected.

In this video, Jim Verrill (Director of Instruction Technology/Integration) and Rio Stinger (Tres Rios Elementary Teacher) talk about their experience using Swivl Robot+Teams in their classrooms.

Littleton Elementary School District at a glance:

• Location: Avondale, Arizona
• # of teachers: 334 teachers
• Grade level: K-8
• Swivl products used: Teams+Robot
• Started using Swivl Teams+Robot in 2021 

For more information about how educators around the world are using Swivl tools to build relationships with students, follow Swivl on social media.

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The post How an Elementary School District Uses Swivl Robot+Teams to Keep Students Connected and Engaged appeared first on Swivl.

Fairmont School leaders knew their teachers would be feeling the strain of this situation as they split up the student body into two groups, in-person and at-home, for hybrid learning. Classes were happening synchronously, on a regular school schedule, with teachers instructing both groups at once through interactive instruction.

After exploring a few options for engaging students at home and in-person, Fairmont leaders realized that most options would limit teacher mobility.

When teaching in person, teachers need the freedom to move around the room instead of sitting in front of a computer to address students in the classroom and at home.

Teachers are up and moving instead of “teaching at little squares”

Thanks to the school’s robust hardware set-up based on a daily use of Swivl, teachers are empowered to do more of what they love, even during this time of increased stress and responsibilities.

“No one got into teaching so they could teach at little squares on a screen for eight hours a day,” Fairmont Schools Director DJ Clovis said.

The teachers who have had the most success have committed to using Swivl every day as a way to “get their teacher legs back” as DJ described it.

Parents of Fairmont students who are engaged in remote learning this fall have shared positive feedback with DJ about the school’s use of Swivl to make class interactive for students in the classroom and at home.

“The parents say that the kids at home really feel like they’re part of the class for the whole school day,” DJ said. “They’re getting more of a real classroom experience.”

Importantly, DJ explained that by using Swivl to give students at home a portal into the in-person classroom, it encourages everyone in the Fairmont community to honestly address their health needs.

Because they know they can experience a live interactive class from home, students who don’t feel well can stay home without fear of missing something important. The same goes for teachers, who can broadcast classes from home, too.

DJ believes teachers are essential workers, and he is inspired by the way that Fairmont’s current Swivl set-ups empower them to meet their goal of giving all kids the best access to education that they possibly can.

“We respect our teachers so much, and they’re the real heroes for us,” DJ said.

Entire school community takes ownership of the system

Fairmont uses a solution in over 100 classrooms based on the use of Swivl robots and markers, an iPad, desktop computer, television and projector.

DJ notes that students have quickly adapted to their new environment, and teachers have empowered students to take part in running their hybrid classrooms.

DJ recalled a story of one teacher who was recently absent. Throughout the year, she had marked and labeled all of the devices and had walked students through the routine of setting up for the day. With a teaching assistant, students set-up all of the audio/video needed for the class to continue in-person and for remote learning students, even with a substitute present.

“This is a teacher who invested in our system, and because of that, she has the kids invested in the system, too,” DJ said.

Not only does Swivl free up Fairmont teachers to engage students in a hybrid classroom in a way that feels natural to them, but it also affords them the opportunity to increase student agency and leadership at the same time.

Explore hybrid learning resources.

The post How Fairmont’s Swivl Setup Gives Teachers and Students More Freedom in Hybrid Classrooms appeared first on Swivl.

A Mobile App for Any Use Case

Traditionally, the Swivl app was primarily used for recording video, even though we have supported live streaming for some time now. Hybrid learning has taught us that recording needs to share its spotlight with live streaming, and so we are redesigning our app to make it faster and easier to access the tools you need, whether you are live streaming synchronously or recording asynchronously.

For starters, we’ll be implementing a new and improved Home Menu with a split screen to choose your desired pathway for using Swivl: Live Streaming or Recording. It's also on the Home screen where we will provide you expanded information about your robot and marker battery life (so you never start either session on too little juice), as well as the connected external equipment you might be using for live streaming in the classroom: speakers, headset, USB-cable, or Swivl Link.

Next, we’re adding more tips and hints right in the app so it’s not only easier to get started, but easier to remain focused even if you forget a step in your setup. For example, did you know that you can’t connect speakers and a headset to the marker at the same time? If you didn’t, no need to remember this now; we’ll let you know if the configuration you’re about to use isn’t compatible so you can make the right decision and get started quickly.

Secondly, did you know that you can swap out any primary marker with a secondary marker in case you forgot to charge your primary marker the night before? Our app will begin to intelligently recognize when your battery life is too low for a typical streaming or recording session and show you know which markers can be used in the place of the primary. 

Finally - are you brand new to Swivl, live streaming, or recording? We’ve added our Customer Success and Training Teams' best practices right inside the app so you can quickly adopt some of the tips that will ensure you’re about to have the best video experience in the classroom ever - period.

Live Streaming Analytics and Device Management for Team Admins

Swivl Teams was built 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. Now we’re expanding the Team Admin dashboard to include new metrics on live streaming. 

Team Owners and Admins will now be able to track how often live streaming is utilized and which live streaming apps were launched by the user (such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams). Ensure your organization is making the most of Swivl and your preferred live streaming application with this improvement.

And this is only the beginning. Also coming soon to the Team Administrator dashboard is the ability to view aggregate battery level analysis for robots and markers, as well as user session logs, so you’re never in the dark about the status of devices across your network. Check out a sneak peek below:

The post We’re Updating App and Web Features this Fall appeared first on Swivl.

Marker LED Improvements

CX-Series markers also feature multicolor LEDs in place of marker stickers to easily adapt markers from unit to unit without needing to assign a new color sticker every time. The robot will automatically assign an LED color to markers each time they are paired with a new device, saving time and the hassle of assigning a new color sticker. 

Additionally, the Primary marker - arguably the most important marker in a session, as this is the one tracked by default - will always appear with a white LED (no color) to help keep it distinguishable from other markers. And any time you need to re-assign a Secondary marker and make it Primary, we automatically remove any other associated color so it’s always obvious which marker is being tracked. 

It's worth noting that markers will be compatible across both generations, C-Series and CX-Series, so you’re able to put your existing markers to  use even with the newer robots. The robot will intelligently assign colors to avoid duplication when combining C-Series and CX-Series markers.

The post Charge Mobile Devices with Swivl Updates appeared first on Swivl.

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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

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