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Across El Campo Independent School District, educators are using video learning to drive student engagement, streamline instructional workflows, and support diverse learning needs. Supported by a Teacher Champion initiative developed by their Instructional Coach for Technology, teachers from elementary music to high school science are using Castify to build dynamic, accessible classrooms.
To ensure Castify is integrated with clear purpose across all grade levels, Instructional Coach for Technology Brittanie Payne has established dedicated Teacher Champion cohorts. Initially launched by selecting top-usage tech enthusiasts for targeted 9-week challenges, the initiative has expanded from 3 to 5 platform specific groups open to all district educators for the 2026–2027 school year.
"I provide a challenge for how to use Screencastify in their classrooms along with resources for getting started. We meet once per 9 weeks as a group to share, collaborate, and learn from one another."
“My Screencastify group the first year consisted of only secondary teachers and it was my largest group because historically it was the platform our teachers had used the least. As we went through the first year, I began asking the Teacher Champions and other top users to share with me what they loved most about the platform. Those became teacher spotlights that I featured in my monthly newsletters to the whole district.”
For the current school year, the challenge framework directly addresses growing concerns around classroom screen time by emphasizing intentional video integration. Rather than promoting passive viewing, the program trains educators to leverage video purposefully, freeing up live instructional time for targeted small groups and direct student interaction.
“Additionally, when I think about where I want this group to go in the future, I'm hoping that the teachers who choose to participate in this can become campus leaders. Some of our campuses do professional development rotations on our inservice days and I'd love for these Teacher Champions to present how they use the platform and what they've loved about it with their peers. I think that can be the most meaningful professional development of all.”
This peer-led model aligns with landmark findings from Joyce and Showers, as well as modern research by Desimone (2009) and Darling-Hammond et al. (2017). While traditional one-time workshops yield minimal implementation, sustained collaborative learning communities like El Campo’s 9-week Teacher Champion cohorts consistently drive long-term instructional change and higher student achievement.
For high school science educators Sarah Eder and Sheri Mollnar, Castify’s screen recording features have transformed daily lesson delivery, student practice, and mastery.
Sarah’s use of Castify’s core screen recording features has transformed daily lesson delivery and review. By recording her lessons, Sarah creates an accessible archive for students. Her workflow is simple and efficient. She screen records her daily lessons during class and then shares the link with her students. This way, students that miss class don’t miss the material. Castify’s AI enhancements ensure accessibility for all learners with captions, transcripts, and translations in 90 languages.
This simple workflow with Castify empowers Sarah’s students to pause, re-listen, and digest complex scientific topics at their own pace, encouraging ownership of their learning. As cognitive learning research confirms, specifically Richard Mayer’s Segmenting Principle and John Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory, giving students user-paced control over video allows them to process complex information far more effectively.
Chemistry Teacher and Science Teacher Leader Sheri uses Castify’s screen recording tools to flip her instructional model. By shifting direct lectures to short, pre-recorded videos, Sheri reclaims valuable class time to guide students through complex problem sets in person. This shift has led to both improved teacher efficiency and higher student assessment scores.
Jared Cook, a 6th-grade ELAR teacher, leverages Castify’s Premium Library and interactive quizzes to engage students and make abstract concepts stick.
“I have used Castify to teach and reinforce different concepts through media that the students are already familiar with. An example that really stood out from this past year was using the full YouTube integration to take an episode of Phineas and Ferb to review plot. The kids loved it!”
Jared utilizes our Premium Library to access YouTube Edu videos that support his class content. He embeds the videos with interactive questions to see where they are at in their learning with a concept. By connecting his curriculum standards to familiar media, he is demonstrating to students that learning applies beyond the classroom and perhaps even more impactful, that learning can be fun!
For 7/8 Grade Technology Teacher Kalynn Sanders, features like Interactive Quizzes and Live Learning create a frictionless, impactful instructional loop in the classroom.
Kalynn incorporates video checks for understanding directly into the middle of her lessons, keeping students actively engaged while testing their knowledge on the spot. Live Learning allows quiz questions to be posed to the entire class at once, offering opportunities for engagement, review, and discussion.
This approach provides varied, accessible pathways for students to process technology concepts, ultimately leading to heightened classroom participation and streamlined prep time.
For 4/5 Grade Music Teacher Brittany Rives, leveraging features such as screen recording, bringing existing videos into Castify, and AI Enhance transforms daily music instruction into an accessible, interactive experience.
By integrating multi-modal video tools into her curriculum, Brittany offers diverse learners new ways to connect with musical concepts and demonstrate their learning. This shift significantly improves teacher efficiency, saves valuable instructional time, and provides vital accessibility support for every student.
“I appreciate Castify for so many things, but one of the biggest helps is when I am getting ready for the music programs in November and December. I love having imported videos from Youtube Edu.... I also love that there's an option if I lose my voice from teaching twelve classes a day, where I can record for my students if I have to do vocal rest.”
El Campo Independent School District’s commitment to video-based learning isn’t just an idea, it’s a movement backed by extraordinary results. Driven by their innovative Teacher Champion initiative, educators have transformed everyday instruction, making interactive assessments the districts #1 feature with over 57,000 interactions. Add in more than 20,000 video views and 10,000+ Live Learning moments, and one thing becomes crystal clear: El Campo students aren’t just passively watching lessons, they are actively owning their learning.
As their educators continue to adopt tools like Premium Library, El Campo ISD is proving what’s possible when technology meets intentional learning. They are setting a powerful standard for maximizing efficiency, expanding accessibility, and sparking real student engagement across every grade level.
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