All Things CLASS

My staff is struggling with the Instructional Support Domain.
Can anyone direct me to materials that I can use with my staff that will simplify the dimensions.
Really struggling
Thank you for your help

------------------------------
kathleen werner
Forked River NJ
------------------------------

​Thank you Kathleen for this ask.  My center scores high in the other domains, but, also scores lower in the instructional support.  They want ways to improve those scores, and I am also trying to find ways to help them with it and to make it more clear.  I would like a way to train them on this.  Thanks.

------------------------------
Tanya Losey
Tacoma WA
------------------------------

Hi Kathleen, 

I am not sure if you are just asking specifically about materials or ideas/activities that you can integrate into your trainings/coaching interactions? 

I training to create activities and experience that replicate concepts that we are addressing. For example in Language Modeling, I have the teacher bring a book form their classroom or if I have the money I will by everyone a book that they can take with them. Then I have them identify 5 open ended questions they might ask children while reading the book (individually or whole group). I have them write the questions on a post-it note. then they tape the post-it to the back of the book. I ask them to commit to doing this with on book each week as part of the lesson planning process. 
Another strategy is to identify 5 words in a book and come up with a child friendly definition...these definitions can also be taped to the back of the book. 

In Quality of Feedback, I use a ping pong ball to support of understanding of feedback loops. The person with the ping pong ball is the person doing the talking (Also helps with leaning to give more wait-time). The first person shares a thought or idea, then pass the ball to the other person, who will ask a follow-up questions that build off of what the other person said. Great way to see if they group is using open-ended questions and the conversions keep going or if they are more closed ended and taper off. Depending on the trust level of the group you might video record the interaction and reflect on the the interaction. Another QF strategy...is to build encouragement and affirmation into the meetings. We call them grows and glows. At the start of the meeting each person need to use encourage and affirmation to highlight something about their peer.  For example, during the last session __ committed to using a new strategy..I would use encouragement and affirmation. I might say, "I saw you using more self and parallel talk with I was in your classroom the other day. I know that you said it is not easy of comfortable for you...but I was excited to see you following through on your commit to practice and I know it will become second nature for you in not time."

Hope these are helpful!     



------------------------------
Andrea Cruthird-Mays
Merced CA
------------------------------

Hi @kathleen werner. A common concern, for sure! You can take a look at the Resources by Domain tab and you'll see a number of blog posts, printables, and webinars specific to the instructional support domain.  https://community.teachstone.com/resources/resources-by-domain​

I'd recommend checking out some of the printables that could be good to share with your staff. You could also watch this webinar together. 

Lastly, if you're interested, our team would be happy to chat with you about Instructional Support Essentials for Teachers or other products or trainings that may be helpful.

------------------------------
Liz Savage
Community Manager
Teachstone
------------------------------