I am closing in on the end of my first year as a staff trainer for Teachstone. Going into this new and exciting role I thought, “I have done trainings before, how hard can this be?” As I began shadowing an expert trainer, she told me this is the hardest training I will deliver.
Well, she was right! It took a few months to get into the rhythm of what the heck I was doing. As you are getting ready to fly into the world themselves and train on different age levels, I hope my experience can guide you in your adventure as a trainer. I am passionate about CLASS because it makes being in the classroom fun and meaningful, for both the children and teachers—something that can be easily lost when there are so many regulations to follow.
Here is my advice on how to become an effective CLASS trainer:
Know the material you are training on and live by what you are teaching. Model CLASS interactions everywhere you go—during training, in the classroom, and when you are working with teachers. At Teachstone, we refer to this as the parallel process. Also get out there and conduct CLASS observations—even if no one ever knows the results. Doing observations gets you into your manual. And believe me, the more you know the manual, the more you can knowledgeably talk about the CLASS measure. Live observations also give you examples you can use to relate to your participants.
Another crucial piece advice I have learned is you have to practice the training material many, many times. So tell your dog, your stuffed animals, and your significant other to get ready—because they are going to learn about the CLASS tool! When you practice, you find ways to train that are comfortable to you, the words you stumble over, and the things that work.
Once you have practiced, practiced, and practiced some more you will see the difference in how well you are able to go through the slides and you’ll find your natural flow of presenting. A word of advice: memorization did not work for me because I was so nervous I would forget something and my presentation wasn’t natural. I also wasn’t comfortable answering questions because they weren’t part of the script. Don’t fall into this trap—be yourself, not a memorizer!
When you become a CLASS trainer, you are taking on the responsibility of teaching others that interactions in the classroom matter, and in doing do, you may inspire them to bring a new and enlightened approach to their role in education. Training others on the CLASS should never be looked at as just training on another tool, because it is so much more than that!
P.S. One more bit of advice: If you’re a new CLASS trainer, or just want to brush up on your skills, consider perusing this video collection—after all, one thing CLASS teaches us is that you can always learn by watching others!
