Investing in Technology
to Support Growth & Reflection
Judy Wood, Family Services Association (FSA) Director, was elated when her Quality Start Riverside County (QSRC) participating programs were awarded a 4 Star Rating, demonstrating the organization’s commitment to providing high-quality care to the 1,500, mostly low-income, students they serve. This accomplishment also meant that FSA qualified for a Quality Achievement Incentive, a financial award from QSRC to help FSA maintain its high-quality early learning environment.
As a big believer in the power of technology and the importance of professional development, Judy allocated some of the Quality Achievement Incentive funds to purchase tablets for FSA’s lead teachers—and this has transformed how they approach their work.
For one thing, teachers are now able to immediately document child observations—along with photos and videos—instead of waiting to make notes at the end of a long day. Additionally, the tablets are proving to be invaluable for ongoing professional development.
FSA’s mentor coaches, Janell Lawrence, Leslie Cox, Debra Milligan, and FSA’s QSRC coach, Maria Becerra, have incorporated the new technology into their work by asking the teachers to film themselves interacting with the children and then using the videos as a tool of self-reflection. Judy said, “Initially, it is very intimidating to be videotaped, but they are all able to see the benefit of it —it’s priceless.”
For instance, when working with teachers on the importance of high-quality teacher-child interactions and instructional learning, the FSA coaches ask teachers to film themselves during their routine activities. Leslie, who works with preschool teachers, once filmed a teacher leading a circle time that started well but fell apart towards the end, frustrating the teacher and disengaging the students.
When Leslie and the teacher watched the video, the teacher was able to reflect on her classroom interactions. Leslie remembers, “She was singing all these amazing songs, telling stories, and everyone was having fun, but when they started doing things that they do every day, that’s when the kids started moving around…”
Together, Leslie and the teacher developed a plan to incorporate new strategies to enhance her circle time, increasing student’s interest, engagement and learning. Now, her circle time is fresh, fun, and the kids love it!
The ability to share videos doesn’t just help the FSA teachers, the FSA mentor coaches benefit too. If they have questions on how to implement a particular technique, they are able to share questions, as well as, videos with QSRC coach Maria, who is always happy to provide support and feedback between her regular in-person meetings with the FSA team.
In the end, Judy Wood is pleased with her decision to equip FSA’s teachers with tablets. By investing the QSRC Quality Achievement Incentive funds into technology that streamlines teachers’ and coaches’ work, FSA is able to continue to improve the quality it provides.
