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Please introduce yourself with name, title, organization, your role within the Phrazer program and tell me what you are passionate about.
Stephanie Garbisch, EL Teacher, Neveln Elementary School. Phrazers are employed in my System 44 Reading class to all students. I am passionate about my students and taking care of the whole child. I want them to know they are smart and capable of anything they set their mind to.
How does Phrazer support your passion?
Phrazer helps me build that much needed relationship. My entire teaching philosophy is based on creating high quality teacher-student relationships. Phrazer supports this by allowing me to engage with parents without having language, literacy, or income be a barrier. Students who take the Phrazers home feel successful. They feel pride in what they did when often times they receive homework that is not at their level. Phrazer is set up specifically for each student to support individual learning needs.
How is Phrazer currently used and how does is help your students, parents, staff and system?
Phrazer is used in our school district to enroll students and in my System 44 reading classroom. Phrazers are sent home weekly with each student. The students have about 20 minute interactions set up. Students are able to practice their sight words with a parent and also show their parents their weekly progress in the reading program. The specific data that student share via Phrazer with their parents is detailed but explained in a way that’s easy to understand. Parents have the opportunity to interact with the devices to stay updated on the students learning progress and it helps me to be connected with the parents on a regular basis.
If you think about Phrazer’s capabilities and the future within your system - what are you most excited about?
It excites me when my EL parents actually get to participate in their children’s learning development using Phrazer. Our immediate focus has been on English speaking students in System 44, but in the future, I cannot wait to employ it utilizing across all languages. Without Phrazer, parents feel less engaged in their child’s learning journey because they are intimidated often due to difficult to overcome communication barriers.
If you would describe your experience working GeaCom in three words - which ones would that be? Please explain.
Collaboration, Exploration, and Appreciation. Geacom has made it very clear that they want to partner with us to help students and parents, but that I am the “expert” in the field of education and they respect my background of working with students for many years. We are able to bounce innovative ideas off of each other, think outside-the-box, be creative, and collaborate to meet mutual goals.
