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March 24, 2015
Workshop: Instructional Support
Workshop Goals:
To understand:
 Why the CLASS tool & instructional support is important in early childhood settings.
 How the CLASS tool defines instructional support and the three dimensions.
 When and how to use instructional support in the classroom.
Why is the CLASS measure & instructional support important?
The CLASS tool measures overall classroom-level interactions or quality. Having
high-quality classrooms in early education programs are crucial for positive child
outcomes. The three domains of the CLASS include: emotional support, classroom
organization, and instructional support. Today we are focusing on instructional support
because it is the domain that classrooms tend to score the lowest in.
Studies reveal that children tend to be inconsistently exposed to effective teacherchild interactions. It is important to practice instructional support to foster positive
outcomes. Research has shown that when children are exposed to good-quality teacherchild interactions, children benefit in both social and academic development (CASTL).
Definitions:
Instructional Support: Interactions that teach children to think, provide ongoing
feedback and support, and facilitate language and vocabulary development (CASTL). These
concepts can be implemented during a lesson, circle time, group activity, centers, snack
time, lunch, or in one-on-one conversations with children.
3 CLASS dimensions of Instructional Support:
1. Concept Development: encourage problem solving, brainstorming, and prediction.
Ask how, why, and when questions. Connect new concepts to other ideas or past
material.
2. Quality of Feedback: scaffolding, give hints, provide feedback, prompt additional
thoughts, encourage and confirm answers, do not just the answer
3. Language Modeling: begin conversations, repeat or expand a child’s response, map
child’s actions with language, introduce new words and connect them to familiar
words
Additional Online Resources:
 The University of Virginia, Curry School of Education:
http://curry.virginia.edu/research/centers/castl/class
 Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, Quality of Teaching and Learning:
https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/teaching
 Teachstone, CLASS:
http://teachstone.com/the-class-system/
Understanding the dimensions:
1=Concept Development 2=Quality of Feedback 3=Language Modeling
Identify which dimension of instructional support is being used:
_______ Ask a child a question and then follow up with three answers to choose from.
_______ When child says we are wearing the same color, explain what the word ‘identical’
means
_______ Child tells teacher about seeing a fire truck, so teacher reminds the child about the
week they dedicated to learning about fire fighters and safety tips.
_______ Help child come up with some ideas of what they could draw during a free draw
activity.
_______ When the child arrives at school, teacher asks the child about their morning routine.
(i.e. what do you do in the morning when you wake up?)
_______ (While reading a story) Ask the child, what do you think will happen next?
_______ Teacher says, it is time to change your diaper, “Can you show me where we change
your diaper?”
_______ Teacher is singing, “if your happy and you know it” with the children. Half way
through the song the teacher stops singing and encourages the children to finish singing
the verse.
Role-play Activity:
Get in groups of two and brainstorm some scenarios on how instructional support
can be used in the classroom. One person can act as the teacher, while the other role-plays
as the child. Identify which dimension(s) of instructional support you are using.
How to put Instructional Support into everyday practice:
 Videotape an activity to see if you are using instructional support
 Work with your assistant teacher or peer and remind each other to practice
 Set a goal and keep a record of how many times you intentionally provide
instructional support
 Pick one activity each day and use as much instructional support as possible
 Get staff member to observe your class and make sure you are improving your
instructional support
Instructional Support Log
Goal: Intentionally provide individual instructional support to each child in the class once a
week. Log it here and keep track of your progress.
Instructional Support: Interactions that teach children to think, provide ongoing feedback
and support, and facilitate language and vocabulary development (CASTL). These concepts
can be implemented during a lesson, circle time, group activity, centers, or in one-on-one
conversations with children.
3 CLASS dimensions of Instructional Support:
1. Concept Development: encourage problem solving, brainstorming, and prediction.
Ask how, why, and when questions. Connect the concepts to other ideas or past
material.
2. Quality of Feedback: scaffolding, give hints, provide feedback, prompt additional
thoughts, encourage and confirm answers, do not just the answer
3. Language Modeling: begin conversations, repeat or expand a child’s response, map
child’s actions with language, introduce new words and connect them to familiar
words
Child Name
Date
Classroom Activity
___ centers
___ freeplay
___ circle time
___ centers
___ freeplay
___ circle time
___ centers
___ freeplay
___ circle time
___ centers
___ freeplay
___ circle time
___ centers
___ freeplay
___ circle time
___ meal time
___ play
ground
___ small
group
___ meal time
___ play
ground
___ small
group
___ meal time
___ play
ground
___ small
group
___ meal time
___ play
ground
___ small
group
___ meal time
___ play
ground
___ small
group
Instructional Support
___ concept development
___ quality of feedback
___ language modeling
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
___ concept development
___ quality of feedback
___ language modeling
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
___ concept development
___ quality of feedback
___ language modeling
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
___ concept development
___ quality of feedback
___ language modeling
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
___ concept development
___ quality of feedback
___ language modeling
______________________________________________
______________________________________________