Hi
@Jana Underwood,
I have reached out to some colleagues to see if they have any advice I can share with you. What I've heard so far is this:
"
It's entirely possible the scores are just lower at this time. That's why we capture the Content and Format of the cycle at the top of the score sheet. If scores are really different from one cycle to the next, you'd want to see what activities were happening. It could be really helpful feedback for the teacher to know that mealtimes are an area for growth.
I can't think of anything related to Concept Development (CD) or Language Modeling (LM) that would look really different at mealtime that the observer might be missing (perhaps others can!). I think Instructional Learning Formats (ILF) can be a little sneaky though. There doesn't need to be a lesson going on while they eat. Eating is an activity, so for example, the food is a hands-on material, and talking about the food can count as reorientation statements.
Qualify of Feedback (QF) might have some sneaky interactions again, as the teacher could scaffold or provide feedback around some of the physical tasks of the meal (perhaps providing verbal assistance to a child trying to pour from a jug)."
I hope this is helpful! If anyone else has other ideas, please do chime in!
Best,
Allison
------------------------------
Allison Bloomfield
Charlottesville VA
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 10-02-2021 14:13
From: Jana Underwood
Subject: Meal Time Observations
As a new CLASS observer I am trying to perfect my observational skills and would welcome advice when observing during meal time. It seems many of my observations include meal time and I'm not seeing much in the way of mid to high scores especially in the instructional support domain. Any suggestions for identifying indicators within all the domains would be appreciated. Thanks.
------------------------------
Jana Underwood
Fort Worth TX
------------------------------