Hey there, Teachstone community! My name is Stephanie Lewandowski, and I am the Senior Product Manager for myTeachstone. Before joining Teachstone, I built digital products for education companies, financial institutions, and government agencies. I’m passionate about delivering impactful products, particularly the tools that make the everyday work of teaching and learning a little bit easier. As a parent, and as a product manager, I know how invaluable early childhood education is, and I’m inspired by the teachers in both my personal and professional life.
In today’s world, there isn’t much technology can’t do. It can help you stay connected to family and friends, keep you on track to achieving your fitness goals, and can even adjust your thermostat while you’re away from home.
And now, with myTeachstone, it can promote positive child-outcomes through facilitating on-going, meaningful, and continuous improvement efforts.
Teachstone has long been an advocate of using CLASS in a variety of educational settings. We're proud to have two case studies about family child care (FCC) settings!
I lived in rural Japan for three years. While there, I became very accustomed to ordering the same types of entrees at restaurants due to my limited ability to read menus and my unwillingness to eat foods outside my comfort zone. So imagine how overwhelmed I felt when I returned to the States and had to decide on one entree amid pages and pages and pages of delicious options. It took a few weeks to learn how to navigate my way through these endless options without wanting to close my eyes and blindly point while ordering my meals.
If you've ever been through a CLASS Observation training, you are probably familiar with the graphic below. Research tells us that improving teacher-child interactions is a process that includes many pieces.
The first step is to identify a teacher’s strengths and opportunities for growth, which can be done through a CLASS observation. Once you have this data, you can share it with teachers through a formal report, a face-to-face conference, or a feedback session. You’re off to a great start, but now what?
Are you looking to hone your myTeachstone skills? Are you new to myTeachstone and wish to learn more about how to use the system? Has it been a while since you had your introductory walk-through call and need a refresher on using the system?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then we have a solution! Starting in March 2017, we will be holding regular calls to help you understand, or re-learn, how to use myTeachstone. These webinars will give you the foundational skills you need to become a myTeachstone pro.
The first three calls of each month will be role-specific. Starting in April, we will also offer special topic webinars with deeper dives into specific features like Teacher Groups, Teacher Surveys, or Reporting.
Okay, it’s a little late for a new year’s resolution. But, let’s face it, we’re all just finally back to full speed after the holiday break. Let’s make a resolution to actually use the data we are spending all this time and energy collecting!
You’ve trained observers who collect reliable CLASS data. You can run reports on your CLASS data. You’ve learned how to use data to tailor professional development in myTeachstone (see: Data Courses). But how do you show you are improving teaching practices?
