To increase knowledge of age appropriate child outcomes, a coach could show how they would incorporate relevant national, state, or program learning guidelines during feedback conversations. Learning guidelines are age-specific standards that describe expectations about what children or teachers should know and do (competencies and skills) across multiple domains of learning.
One way to facilitate deeper learning is to highlight the connections between teaching behaviors and child responses/understanding. In order to increase what teachers know about children’s learning and development, a coach should build on what the practitioner already knows about skill development, pedagogy, and evidence-based practice. Reviewing child data and progress monitoring results can strengthen the teacher’s ability to recognize opportunities to adapt instruction and interactions to individualize support. By having these types of conversations, coaches can help the teacher understand what is developmentally appropriate for the child to achieve, and what areas need improvement. The goal is to provide the teacher with support so that their lessons and interactions align with key child outcomes.
Consider using the following competencies to help teachers increase their knowledge of age-appropriate child outcomes:
- Refer to relevant national, state, or program learning guidelines during feedback conversations (e.g., Infant, Toddler, and Three-Year-Old Early Learning Guidelines; Texas Rising Star Standards for Family Involvement)
- Reinforce existing positive practices by providing specific feedback (e.g., highlighting the connections between teaching behaviors and child response and understanding, connections between staff development plans and increased staff qualifications)
- Provide content-focused feedback that references and builds upon what the practitioner already knows about skill development, pedagogy, and evidence-based practice
- Incorporate conversations about learning standards into reflective discussions to help the practitioner think about how their lessons and interactions align with key child outcomes
- Connect reflection opportunities to child data and progress monitoring results to strengthen the practitioner’s ability to recognize opportunities to adapt instruction and interactions to individualize support
Mentoring Prompts
- “To plan for your activity – let’s discuss student assessment results.”
- “Let’s discuss how we can align your lesson to make sure it is age appropriate.”
- “Using the standards, let’s plan for the activities, the materials you will need, and review the assessments relevant for the age group you are teaching.”
- “Let’s discuss how these instructional strategies will provide opportunities to address all students’ learning needs.”
- “Let’s discuss how you will address developmental gaps.”
- “Based on your data, let’s review how the students are grouped.”
- “When planning for a younger 3 year old vs. an older 3 year old in learning a new skill, we want to make sure we look at the standards such as the PK Guidelines.”
- “Looking at the milestones checklist, let’s identify some skills your student(s) can already do.”