The kids were in awe of the AI capabilities and surprised how in tune and accurate the feedback was on their reflections.

Monica Shallenberger | Klein Independent School District, Klein ISD

USE CASE

Providing teacher support with grant-funded tools

Monica Shallenberger

Director of Professional Learning

School/District:

Klein Independent School District, Klein ISD

Grade Level district-wide

As the Director of Professional Learning at Klein Independent School District, Monica Shallenberger needs to keep a global administrative perspective. She has the difficult role of analyzing funding across her district. Monica lamented that with state legislation, “Inflation gaps were not filled this year and have not been filled for six years.”  Although she doesn’t have to cut any of her teachers this year, she is unable to bring on additional support in the form of salaried staff. Tech solutions stood out as the obvious answer to get teachers the classroom support, with Title 1 funding. 

Monica is focused on anything she can do to support her teachers. In Texas, the workforce is drastically changing. Teachers are being thrown into the profession sooner, for hands-on certification, rather than attending student-teaching programs. “We have a lot of uncertified teachers in our district who are working on their certification while on the job. And that’s a very different type of classroom. They’re coming from these different experiences, but without the amount of training that you’d receive in that we all got in college education programs.”

Monica is excited about the possibilities MirrorTalk offers for enhancing reflection and learning for both students and staff. Her teachers are using Mirror hardware (V1) to support small group learning. “Teachers are so excited because it’s helping kids build their comprehension. They’re exercising their verbal skills, talking through their processes of learning, and then get actual helpful feedback. Our teachers are blown-away!”

Monica hopes to make Klein ISD a “heavily MirrorTalk integrated district” while navigating budget constraints. She sees opportunities to fund MirrorTalk through grants and Title funds, especially as principals around the district begin to see how it is positively impacting teachers and students.

Read more about how Klein ISD educators are using MirrorTalk

• Kleb Intermediate School –  Instructional Specialist in Digital Learning, Kim Sharp, introduces MirrorTalk with her co-teaching partner, Christy Stewart, to their Advanced Humanities class.
• Hildebrandt Intermediate School – Sarah Marin uses MirrorTalk in her 7th-grade English classroom for project-based learning assessments.

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