All Things CLASS

Scenario: What if in a classroom setting one group is working with the teacher and another group is doing "free play". The free play children are not disrupting the class or the teacher focus group. The teacher doesn't engage with the free play group therefore there is no concept development or language modelling with that group. Does this score low or high or mid for productivity, behavior management, facilitation, etc.  

I feel this would depend on the circumstances.  Is the independent group participating in an activity related to the current focus of study? If the teacher is providing whole group instruction, and some children are choosing not to participate but instead to play in centers, this could be viewed as "wandering" and not demonstrating the awareness of routines.  Now, in some of our classrooms which are special education, we have children who have difficulty participating in whole group instruction.  In these cases, usually a paraprofessional will work with the student away from the group on a related activity that allows the child to still participate in a related learning activity that is more on that child's level.  In this instance, this is not seen as wandering and there are obvious objectives being met.  

I feel the teacher has already done a good job, as the kids in the free play are quiet, and not disturbing the other kids. This indicates that the teacher has educated the kids well and the kids feel safe around her. As they play together, the kids are themselves learning to be with each other, play and interact closely building a strong positive relationship with each other.