This month’s spotlight is: Buffy Edelstein, an Elementary Digital Learning Coach in Frisco ISD!
🤿✨Surfacing Stories: The Snorkl community is full of educators doing incredible work- and we want to celebrate them! Each month, we’re surfacing the stories of teachers and coaches who are transforming learning in their community.
A little background -
Buffy is an absolute powerhouse who has been supporting elementary teachers as a digital coach for the last 18 years. She works across three campuses in Texas, coaching K-5 teachers and co-teaching in classrooms with incredibly diverse student populations. With all of these intersecting needs, differentiation isn't just nice to have, it's essential.
Buffy says Snorkl has been her biggest tool in this role (we're honored!). From instant translation that meets students where they are, to real-time data that helps teachers pull targeted small groups immediately, Snorkl is helping Buffy support the whole child across every campus she serves.
We're so excited to share how she's been Snorkl'ing! 💜
Tell us about your learners.
We have such a beautifully diverse population across three campuses. We're talking high numbers of emergent bilingual students - up to 300 per school speaking about 35 different languages like Telugu, Chinese, Spanish, and so many more. We also have high gifted and talented numbers, newcomers who are brand new to the country, and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The range of needs in one classroom is highly varied, which means differentiation has to be at the heart of everything we do.
How do you Snorkl? Walk us through a typical Snorkl session when you’re coaching and co-teaching.
I literally bring my snorkel mask into the classroom! It's become this fun signal to the students that we're about to dive in together. I co-teach with the classroom teacher, and I always start by modeling (and not perfect modeling!). I'll intentionally give a poor performance first to show students why we need a coach and how to receive feedback from the AI. Then I model how to look at that feedback, set a goal, and try again.
While I'm working with students on their language settings, to make sure everyone can access Snorkl in their home language, I'm simultaneously showing the teacher real-time data on my laptop. They can see immediately which students missed a step versus made a computation error, and we can pull small groups right then and there for reteaching. It's this beautiful moment where I'm coaching the students AND the teacher at the same time.
What was your breakthrough moment?
Hands down, it was watching a newcomer student speak for the first time in six weeks. This student had been silent - not a word - since arriving at school. We set up their Snorkl language settings to Chinese, and when they responded and got feedback in their own language, something shifted. They spoke. And their classmates? They went wild. They were cheering, celebrating this huge moment. That was when I knew - this isn't just about academics. This is about self-efficacy. This is about belonging.
What are some teacher moves & instructional routines you’ve incorporated?
The snorkel mask is my signature move: it's visual, it's fun, and students know what's coming (🤿). But my go-to instructional routine is modeling the full feedback cycle: how to receive it, how to set a goal from it, and how to show resilience when you don't nail it the first time. I also build sentence stems for emergent bilingual students so they have language scaffolds as they're developing both their content knowledge and their English.
As a coach, I sit in on teacher planning meetings where we're reviewing data, looking at TEKS, CFAs, all of it. And I create Snorkl activities right there in the moment, tailored to what we're seeing. Then, we roll it out together. Some teacher teams are even starting to create their own activities and share them across campuses, which is incredible.
What have you seen as a result of some of the work you’re doing?
Teachers are using Snorkl for real-time small group data, which has been a massive time-saver. Instead of manually grading exit tickets at the end of the day, they're getting instant insights that break down what went wrong - Did they miss a step? Was it a computation error? With that, they can pull kids immediately for targeted reteaching.
For our gifted learners, Snorkl has been a safe place to practice explaining their thinking. These are kids who are used to getting answers instantly, so they don't always know how to justify their reasoning. Snorkl gives them that space.
And the language support? Game changer. It doesn't just translate, it helps students feel successful, confident, and willing to take risks. Our counseling and special education directors were blown away by the "whole child" impact: teaching kids that it's okay to make mistakes, that feedback helps you grow, and that you can always try again. That's grit. That's resilience. That's everything.
What’s some advice you might give first-time teachers or coaches that you would’ve wanted to tell past you?
Just try it! Find one willing "pioneer" teacher at your school who's open to experimenting with you, and be honest: "Hey, we're trying this together. I don't have all the answers."
The beauty of Snorkl is that it does most of the work for you. You don't have to be an expert from day one. Model it, get in there with the kids, and let the tool show you what it can do. The impact is instant, and once teachers see that real-time data and those student breakthroughs, they're hooked.
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We're so grateful for this window into your practice. Your students, teachers, and the entire Snorkl community are better for it!
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