Walking into your first live CLASS observation can be scary. It’s different from coding in a training session or on your own during the reliability test.
Empowering and equipping coaches with the information and resources they need to mentor also empowers the teachers they're coaching. Check out these coaching resources that discuss how to provide feedback based on CLASS data, how to prepare teachers for a CLASS observation, and much more.
Recently, I wrote about research showing us just how few children experience even “good enough” teaching from kindergarten to third grade. Only 4% of children in rural areas of North Carolina and Pennsylvania had access to good enough teaching during these critical early years and over 50% only experienced good enough teaching for 1 year or less.
We're excited to share a sneak peek of just a few things you'll see at the 2019 InterAct CLASS Summit coming to Nashville April 15-16. In addition to everything you've come to expect (engaging sessions, interactive learning opportunities, delicious food, opportunities to network with other educators and thought leaders, and more), this year we're hosting a special free, pre-summit event! We're screening the film No Small Matter, the first feature documentary to explore the most overlooked, underestimated, and powerful force for good in America today: early childhood education.
When I first heard that I was going to have to be observed and coached for my job, I was not thrilled by any means. I immediately thought, Great, someone is going to watch me and tell me how terrible I am. I sincerely thought it was going to be nothing but a negative experience.
We’ve been talking about the achievement gap for an awfully long time. We’re all familiar with the term; it’s the disparity in academic achievement between different groups of students. We tend to hear about in relation to white students and students of color, but it can also be used to describe the difference between low-income students and their more advantaged peers.
We recently talked about why annual recertification is important (bottom line: it’s your yearly chance to test yourself against master-coded videos). But what about between recertifications? How do your observers ensure that they stay reliable throughout the year?
Since I joined Teachstone as Chief Impact Officer a few months ago, I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about opportunity gaps in education. In a great op-ed from 2013, Prudence Carter and Kevin Welner, co-editors of Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance, wrote:
Back in July, Mary-Margaret Gardiner and Sarah Hadden presented a webinar with Kaplan about how teachers can use classroom setups to create teachable moments. If you missed it the first time around, I'd recommend giving the webinar a watch. It provides classroom organization tips that are helpful all year round.
