9 Ways for Educators to Use Synth with Students

Synth enables you to connect with intention. It’s the tool for you to carry out conversations with students on your time. Make conversations and connections intentional, either 1:1 or in small groups.

With intentional coaching, foster connections and esteem.

9 ways Synth helps you build stronger connections with and among students:

Audio Exit Tickets: Setup a Channel for your whole class. Record a question or prompt as a Synth based on that day’s lesson for students to respond to in threads. You can listen on your time and respond to students who need extra guidance or direction before tomorrow’s lesson.

Goal Setting and Reflection: Metacognition is essential to learning. Giving students the chance to synthesize (synth-esize) their thinking after every activity helps cement it. Setting a goal allows for students to work towards achieving that goal and teachers coach along the way. Synth makes this more convenient than ever. Teachers and students can make connections and challenge biases, expanding views and ideas.

Present Evidence of Thinking: Giving evidence of your thinking is as essential as getting the right answer. Have students use Synth to explain their work with links to external documents and other supporting materials to build this essential skill. Take it one step deeper, respond to students to pose a critical thinking question. Allow for teaching through a relationship.

Language Practice: The ability to hear proper demonstrations, repeat them, and hear yourself will rapidly develop new language skills. Teachers use Synth to model skills for students to playback repeatedly. Students respond back in easy-to-listen threads to demonstrate their mastery. With the structure of Synth, teachers coach students through feedback, all while building a rapport. Plus, with Channel privacy, students can practice free from judgment till they get it right.

#AppSmashing: Each individual synth can be linked to other materials, apps, and experiences. Up to 10 at a time! Introduce new units, describe and model exercises, and provide instructions for the use of other apps like Edpuzzle, Padlet, Quizlet, Seesaw, Nearpod, and Wakelet.

Interviews: Strengthen relationships in a class by having students interview each other or the teacher. Their stories, experiences, and questions will help foster connections and form a sense of belonging among students and with their teacher. Modeling openness and willingness to share will help build stronger relationships.

Book Talks: Engage readers to learn and listen in new ways. Foster active listening skills, allowing students to ask questions and reflect on a reading selection. With Book Talks, students can also be challenged to dive into new genres or investigate new topics they want to explore; this expands the students’ world view.

Feedback: Open up a feedback conversation with students. Allow students to give teachers feedback and vice versa. With specific and timely feedback, connections can be fostered and confidence boosted. These conversations also give opportunities for teachers to provide strategies needed to develop or advance new skills.

Audio Newsletters: Highlight successes of students and allow students to become the experts of an area and in turn become the coach. Students can create audio newsletter recordings and can share them with schoolmates, parents, and community members based on permissions.