As we reach the peak of summer here in Charlottesville, Virginia, thunderstorms break up the heat and provide water to gardens across the city. Just look how beautiful this elementary school garden has become!
In my previous blog post, I stressed that, like a garden, teachers must receive quality care and attention in order to grow stronger in their roles. CLASS observations only go so far if professional development opportunities do not follow. In order to see continuous growth and success amongst your teachers, observations and professional development must go hand-in-hand.
As an account manager here at Teachstone, I help facilitate the implementation of CLASS at a variety of levels and scales for different clients throughout the central United States and internationally. While all my clients strive to make the most of sometimes scarce resources like funding, staff, and time, I find that those who place equal emphasis on both observations and professional development see more positive results amongst their teachers in the long run.
One of my current clients has worked with Teachstone for 5+ years and is a great example of this. Year after year, they intentionally distribute their resources to meet both their CLASS observation and professional development needs. As their organization and CLASS efforts have grown, they've hosted CLASS Observation trainings to build their observer capacity, carved out time for their observers to calibrate on a regular basis, encouraged their coaches and teachers to participate in both the Toddler and Pre-K MyTeachingPartner coaching program, and hosted the Making the Most of CLASSroom Interactions 10-session training to teachers. This client utilizes almost every professional development program Teachstone offers and assigns different programs to coaches and teachers based on the program’s intensity and individual needs surrounding CLASS.
I know what you’re thinking—identifying and catering to individual CLASS needs would be very time intensive, especially on a large scale! Though it’s true this client is always busy, the strong intention to provide professional development options that make sense has resulted in exactly what we are all striving for: stronger, more effective teachers and higher outcomes for children.
