At Stratham Memorial School in Exeter, NH, second-grade students are improving their critical thinking skills by filming themselves discussing characters and concepts from their reading material.

These videos increase students’ understanding of the story’s characters and how they resolve problems. It helps add more detail about the reading passage and helps them reflect that in their writing. By watching other students’ videos they can further their understanding and discussion.

One app being used for these sorts of activities, Seesaw, allows students to upload the videos for viewing by their peers, teachers and parents. This gives students a medium to express themselves in a way they want to be seen.

Along with a greater focus on technical skills in STEM disciplines, schools and districts have faced more pressure from employers recently to ensure students develop more critical and creative thinking. This selfie activity falls under both categories. It encourages students to improve their verbal communication skills and hone their writing chops.

This practice also takes inspiration from reality TV. While the “confessionals” on those programs are hardly educational, it gives students familiarity with what they are doing and sparks their creativity.

There are decades of research showing that reading and writing scores go up when kids what meaningful, authentic things to read and write about, which this selfie revolution is all about.

(Story Via Education DIVE)