Ms. Shapiro, an English teacher, utilizes collaborative learning and small group work quite often in her classes at Beachwood High School. During almost every class I observed, Ms. Shapiro would only lecture for a short amount of time, if at all, leaving time for students to collaborate. The students worked well in groups, allowing other students’ voices to be heard while also contributing their own original ideas. As evidenced by this smooth operation, I inferred that small group work is a method that the students were used to and comfortable with.

Between her sophomore and senior classes, Ms. Shapiro facilitated small group work differently. She implemented more structure for her sophomore classes, whereas she gave the small groups in her senior classes more independence. For example, for her sophomores, Ms. Shapiro assigned groups each day to ensure that her students were working with a variety of other people, which has both academic and social benefits. However, she allowed her seniors to work with whomever they wanted; while the senior class became slightly rowdy as a result, they worked efficiently for the most part.

Ms. Shapiro also had checkpoints for her sophomore class, in which the small groups came together for brief large group discussions. Therefore, the sophomores worked in small groups for shorter intervals of time. In contrast, Ms. Shapiro allowed the seniors to use their small group time more freely without dividing it into distinct segments. Rather than implementing checkpoints, Ms. Shapiro made herself available to the senior students if they had any questions or concerns.

Digital technology is an integral part of daily classroom activities. Students bring their personal computers to class, and, if they don’t have one, the school provides a Google Chromebook. Google Classroom is used everyday, as a platform allowing for collaboration between students and the teacher. Ms. Shapiro also uses it to disseminate information and gather submissions, similar to Canvas at JCU. I would say that these forms of technology and similar platforms have become normalized in most classrooms at this point. Students need their Chromebooks and Google Classroom like they need a pen or pencil, and I have seen this dynamic in many classrooms that I have observed.

In addition to these more basic uses of technology, Ms. Shapiro explained that showing videos or digital stories is extremely effective in her classroom. For example, her senior students are currently writing research papers that must be centered around a social issue. To inspire her students and ignite brainstorming, Ms. Shapiro showed clips from episodes of 60 Minutes and shorter opinion documentaries (or op/docs) from The New York Times. The students were very engaged with these videos, as shown by the vivid discussions that often followed.

Many students commented how moved they were by the videos’ emotional weight, echoing one of Lambert’s (2012) seven steps of digital storytelling—owning your emotions. Drawing on this digital storytelling strategy, several students wanted to incorporate their emotions and personal connections about their topic into their research papers to appeal to the audience. These videos and digital stories provided students with a solid jumping off point, allowing them to develop their topics and writing.

Regarding students’ use of technology beyond the classroom, students discussed their use of social media platforms, specifically YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok. When I asked the students why they enjoy using these programs, many responded that they enjoy the collaborative aspect of being able to create and share content not only with their peers but with the global community. In addition, students explained that these social media platforms serve as the primary form of communication among teenagers, rather than texting.

Ms. Shapiro noticed and drew on this interest by incorporating an Instagram project in the curriculum during the last semester. She explained that the students created a digital personal narrative on Instagram by posting a series of pictures from their lives with captions to tell a story. Through this creative project, Ms. Shapiro used technology to draw on her students’ “out-of-school” identities, allowing her to “re-see” what is possible in the classroom (Miller et al, 2010). Similar to the case study in Miller et al (2010), Ms. Shapiro incorporated technology that the students were already familiar with (Instagram) through their lifeworld experiences, allowing them to connect what they knew to what they were learning about writing personal narratives.

Ms. Shapiro’s ability to draw on her students’ lifeworlds also speaks to the small group dynamics. As mentioned previously, she was still involved in her students’ small group experiences, although to different degrees in her sophomore and senior classes. Only by becoming an active group member could Ms. Shapiro get to know her students and their interests to make something like the Instagram project possible.

One pedagogical implication of Ms. Shapiro’s use of technology is her ability to be flexible with the scaffolding for her sophomores and seniors. Dalton (2012) explains that scaffolding is an integral part of multimodal compositions. One effective form of scaffolding is peer collaboration, as students can navigate new programs together or bounce ideas off each other in small groups, which is exactly what I saw in the classroom. However, Dalton warns that too much scaffolding can be detrimental, constraining and stifling the creative process. I thought that Ms. Shapiro found this happy medium. She supported the small groups in different ways (more structure for the sophomores, more independence for the seniors) while still allowing the students to take the reins and work with technology autonomously.

At the end of the last class I observed, Ms. Shapiro introduced a new project: The students have the option to create a live TED Talk, live podcast, or a digital story based on the information from their research papers. While Dalton (2012) cautions against relying on writing before multimodal compositions, I infer that the students’ research papers will provide them with a strong foundation for creating compelling digital stories and other presentations. I look forward to seeing what the students create in the coming weeks.