Techniques for Improving Instructional Support
Watch this three-part video series to learn about ways staff can improve instructional support and effective teaching practices. Find helpful resources to support this work.
Teaching Practices
Effective, nurturing, and responsive teaching practices and interactions are key for all learning in early childhood settings. They foster trust and emotional security; are communication and language rich; and promote critical thinking and problem-solving. They also support social, emotional, behavioral, and language development; provide supportive feedback for learning; and motivate continued effort. Teaching practices and interactions are responsive to and build on each child’s pattern of development and learning. They can be measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) and other adult-child interaction tools. These observations may then be used to support professional development. Teaching practices also include how schedules and routines are carried out, how settings are managed, and how children’s challenging behaviors are addressed.
Behavior Has Meaning
Explore the importance of understanding that all behavior is a form of communication and has meaning. Discover ways to interpret children's behaviors and support their social and emotional development.
Focus on Instructional Supports: Resources to Help Head Start Programs
View this webinar for Head Start grantees undergoing monitoring visits during the 2019–2020 year. Discover resources grantees can use to help them focus on improving instructional supports for children.
Promoting Adult-Child Interactions that Support Higher-Order Thinking and Language Skills
Find resources to help education staff implement effective teaching practices, including interactions that facilitate concept development.
Mobile Tools for Home Visitors
Explore free mobile tools for home visitors from the Office of Head Start, including ELOF@HOME and Text4HomeVisitors. Discover effective practices and get text messages focusing on home-based topics and resources.
Bang! Squish! Leap! Supporting the A in STEAM with Infants and Toddlers
Learn how to integrate the arts into activities that support children's school readiness across the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) domains.
Infant/Toddler Effective Practice Series
These Teacher Time episodes focus on supporting infants' and toddlers' development and learning through all the elements of the Framework for Effective Practice, or House Framework.
Implementing Research-Based Curriculum and Teaching Practices
Explore these 15-minute In-service Suites, a professional development resource for busy staff. Find ways to implement curriculum and teaching practices for children birth to age 5 in various learning domains.
STEAM
Learn how children birth to 5 naturally engage in inquiry, reasoning, and problem-solving every day. Explore ways to help develop children’s science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) skills.
Connecting Research to Practice: Tips for Working with Infants, Toddlers, and Their Families
This series of briefs provides an accessible and usable overview of research on topics related to early learning and child development. They also include resources for families.