Can we talk about structure? When CLASS® entered my life, I was 20 years into my career in the field of early childhood education. What I remember most about that initial training, besides the nervousness about an impending reliability test, was a sense of relief. Structure, including state and program standards, curriculum, materials in the classroom, and approaches to childcare and pedagogy, had dominated my working hours. CLASS was a lot to learn, but for me, it was a breath of fresh air. Observing with CLASS meant I could set aside my obsession with all things structural, which encompassed my thoughts every time I walked into an early childhood classroom.
It’s not in question that educational efforts need more funding; the question is what to do with that
funding when it’s received. In today’s episode, Marnetta talks to one returning guest, Sarintha Stricklin,
director of the
Jefferson Early Childhood Network
in Louisiana, and Jen Roberts, CEO of
Agenda for Children. They’re going to talk about using funding, both how they’ve done it previously and what their
vision is for the future.
Listen to the episode to hear what Sarintha and Jen have to say about wh
at leaders should do when
they’re receiving education
-
specific funds, the successful investments they’ve seen and been part of,
and their ideas for issues like retention and compensating educators.
The CLASS® tool’s Instructional Learning Format (ILF) dimension refers to the ways educators enhance engagement. We all know students who are engaged in school regardless of who their teacher is just simply because that is who they are. But, this dimension examines the ways in which educators expand involvement by using a variety of modalities, strategies, and providing hands-on opportunities. This dimension is not about the actual learning that may or may not take place, but rather the “hooks” and methods an educator uses to “set the stage” for learning.
The frameworks that power great interactions with children can be applied to relationships with our coworkers. In our webinar Staying In-Sync: Creating Positive Interactions Between Teachers, panelists Kate Cline, Professional Services Manager at Teachstone, and Deidre Harris, Educational Consultant at Team Agreements, led a lively discussion about how to foster healthy relationships among your staff. They identified a few key areas that make up the foundation of this work. Let’s get into it!
The time that you spend with all your staff together is limited, so how can you make the most of it? It’s crucial to ensure that you’re building strong relationships with staff and creating a structure that best works for your team. After all, you want your team to leave your in-service trainings feeling safe to grow, proud of their collective success, and supported with the tools they need to make an impact.
The idea of being observed while performing a job can make anyone feel a little nervous. But understanding what CLASS observations are really about can help teachers relax and approach their classrooms with the same skill and attention they normally do.
Marnetta Larrimer, host of Impacting the Classroom, is today’s guest. She’s an early education professional and trainer who is currently a Professional Services Manager for Teachstone. In her conversation with Kate, she’s going to talk about what a CLASS observation is all about. Listen to the episode to hear what she has to say about what she would be doing while observing a classroom, who she’s paying attention to, and what happens after an observation. The answers you hear will help you feel more confident the next time you’re being observed.
When was the last time you experienced strong feelings in your classroom? Probably every day. Working with children is demanding and can bring up a lot of strong feelings.
Are you considering your own self-regulation needs as well as those of the children you’re working with? How can we process all of what we're feeling so we can move through challenging moments and make a difference for each child in our classrooms?
In today’s episode of Impacting the Classroom, you’ll hear about exciting news coming to the world of quality assessment and improvement. Earlier this year, Teachstone announced an enhancement to its tool, the CLASS® assessment tool— CLASS 2nd Edition, which will be available starting this next school year.
Today’s guests are two members of the team that helped bring the vision of CLASS 2nd Edition come to life, Grace Funk, Teachstone’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, and Katie Twilley, Director of Product Management: Assessment and CQI. Listen to the episode to learn about CLASS 2nd edition and how it will make a difference for children and educators.
Our hosts shared how Teachstone’s CLASS Environment™ can be used as a means of supporting meaningful teacher-child interactions, which are strong predictors of future learning and development.
Teachstone recently hosted the What Is “Quality” Teaching Anyway? webinar with Laura Iannazzo, Professional Services Manager at Teachstone, and Gena Puckett, Education and Training Specialist from the University of Mississippi School of Education. Together, they talked about the significance of quality interactions between early childhood educators and infants or toddlers in their care.
