Strategies for Early Education and Developmental Success (SEEDS)

SEEDS is an online video-based course for infant/toddler teachers.  Available in Spanish and English, SEEDS is comprised of 14 professional development courses.  In addition to online courses that teachers complete independently, there is also a coach-facilitated option in which teachers meet with coaches weekly either face-to-face or in a video call, to review content and in-classroom practice.

SEEDS content covers:

• How to change the environment to help children grow and develop.
• How to respond in a sensitive and contingent manner.
• How to provide appropriate cognitive, language, and literacy stimulation.
• How to help children manage their emotions and behavior.

TO ACCESS THE COURSE SERIES:

• The courses are free to access, all you need to do is create an account on CLI Engage!
  • If you’re new to CLI Engage, click here to create your account. (Note: you will need a Google ID to create your account. Don’t worry, its free!)
  • If you already have a CLI Engage account, click here to login with your Google ID.
• Once you’re logged in, you will see the CLI Engage Dashboard. Scroll down until you see the purple bar for “Online Learning and Professional Development.”
• Click the box for “Full Course Catalog,” then find the box for SEEDS English (Self-Instructional) or SEEDS Spanish (Self-Instructional).
• Click “View Courses” to see a list of all the courses available in this series. Select the course you’d like to view by clicking “Enroll.” Now you’re ready to get started!
• Follow the instructions within each course, making sure to view all content and videos and complete the knowledge checks.
• Once you have viewed all content, you will be asked to complete a brief satisfaction survey and the post-test assessment. Shortly after you complete these, your course certificates will be emailed to you!

A typical weekly schedule looks like this:

Teacher completes the online sessions (approximately an hour)

• Listens, reads and reviews text, watches video clips
• Answers video and scenario questions
• Practices in the classroom daily

And, if participating in the facilitated version, then:

• Uploads one 5-minute video            

Teacher meets with Remote Coach (approximately 30 minutes)

• Review the weekly practice.
• Dialogue about new strategies learned.
• Watch a shared video with coach, who asks questions and offers suggestions to help teacher learn new SEEDS concepts.

 

Expectations for Teacher Coaches                                         

• Complete initial training and become familiar with SEEDS content.
• Learn Coaching techniques, strategies, and effective qualities.
• Participate in ongoing supervision.
• Support teacher completion of coursework.
• Review teacher video uploads.
• Consistently meet with teachers for coach calls.

 

Available Resources

Most resources are available on the Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) engage platform. Teachers and coaches can create an account and have access to the video-based courses, handouts, trainings, workshops, and coaching scripts.

For access to coach training and certification as a PALS coach, contact the CLI’s Solution Group.

 

Coach/Facilitator Access on Engage

• Log into CLI Engage using your Login.
• Go to Purple Online Learning and Professional Development bar.
• Click on My Enrolled Courses.
• Click Facilitating, click on the purple arrow next to SEEDS English or Spanish.
• Choose SEEDS Course you want to review, click on the purple arrow.
• Click on Overview, scroll down to Reports.
• Choose the report you want to review, Activity Completion Report, Course Completion Report or Learner Responses Report-to confirm that participant has completed the course and to review their course answers.

Face-to-face and remote trainings available:

Coaches

• Key concepts and strategies of SEEDS
• Coaching effectively
• Support for use of remote technology

Teachers

• Review of engage access and technology support, content introduction for signal-response-effect cycle
• Behavior/emotional development

 

Technology Support

Recognizing that remote coaching models are technology-dependent, and, that available resources change rapidly, CLI can provide guidance during trainings on utilized resources and strategies for successfully coaching remotely.

Some recommended tools to consider that are currently applicable (as of this writing, May 2020) are:

• Gmail accounts assigned to participants and facilitators to create ease of access to engage and other platforms/apps utilized during coaching or online coursework
• Google Drive to upload and share video content recorded by participants
• Zoom as a conference call tool—be sure to explore new password-protected options and determine if your agency would benefit from having an enterprise license
• Cloud storage options should be reviewed by each system for compliance with securing family and employee data