Building a Culture of CLASS®

CLASS® is more than just observations. To really see the principles work for you and your students, what you should be thinking about is building a CLASS culture that permeates the school all year long. How can program leaders do that? 

In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Dr. Mike Jacobs, Principal at Apple Tree Early Learning. He’s made building a culture of CLASS a foundational principle at his school. Listen to the episode to learn how Mike is thinking about making sure that teachers are getting what they need, separating lead teachers and Tas into different cohorts, and building CLASS practices as daily teacher habits. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode

• [00:01:00] Dr. Mike Jacobs’ background
• [00:02:43] How Mike builds a CLASS culture within his program
• [00:08:02] Making sure teachers get what they need
• [00:15:09] Establishing a culture of CLASS being bigger than just observations
• [00:18:25] Planning the CLASS program
• [00:21:01] Why Mike separated lead teachers and TAs for PD
• [00:22:56] The disconnect that causes teachers other than the lead to be overlooked
• [00:23:38] Building collective responsibility
• [00:28:49] Making sure to ask higher-order thinking questions
• [00:30:33] Turning CLASS practices into teacher habits they use all year long
• [00:32:35] Mike’s tips on burnout
• [00:34:17] Creating a path with the team
• [00:35:45] Barriers that program leaders face during implementation
• [00:41:08] The composition of Mike’s team

Resources

Marnetta Larrimer

Dr. Mike Jacobs