Thursday, December 17, 2009

Observe and Report

First and foremost....tomorrow is my last day of school before Christmas break. Not ONE of those kids is looking forward to it more than I am. =)

This year, there are several teachers and admistrators doing walk-throughs in the school. I am a little hazy on details, especially since there are two separate programs going on in the district, but essentially, the teacher or administrator comes through and just does kind of a checklist type of thing - is the teacher lecturing, are the kids doing a discussion, worksheet, blah blah. When you compile all the teachers together, you can get a picture of what kinds of teaching methods your school uses. They are generally in your room for about 2-3 minutes. Anyway, today, my Mr. Principal came to my room. I am a little terrified of this man. He is quite stupendously awesome at life in general, and I am more than slightly intimidated by him.

So he comes in, and the kids were in the middle of doing a project. Very hands-on, working in groups, etc. He stops and asks one of the kids what was going on in class - which is normally no problem, but this particular kid has been out for a week AND he's special ed. The kid tells him that we are working on the silk road (which we were - over a month ago). Mr. Principal leaves, and after lunch (same class), ANOTHER observer comes in. He asks THE SAME KID what is going on in class.

I seriously wanted to walk over and say, "um...please don't judge my classroom on the basis of his answers...." Their observations don't count for or against me, they just contribute to the overall picture of the school, but it still bothers me, and Mr. Principal still forms some kind of an opinion of my teaching when he comes in.

But...it's almost Christmas break. Excellent.

2 comments:

Finding Normal said...

My principal did walk-throughs last week for a similar thing...UDL. I asked if that's what he was doing, and then told him that there was currently NO UDL as we were reviewing for a math test. He said he didn't even have to go on what is happening when he's in the room, just has to think of the general nature of my classroom/teaching/activities.
It's the new thing!

Melissa B. said...

This must be a new "thing" in education. Not only are our administrator people doing walk-thrus, but we have to observe a colleague at least once a semester. Meanwhile, I haven't had a raise in 2 years (not even a COLA) and the building is falling down around our ears. But we're working very hard on our "best practices." Educators. Whatever. Enjoy your break!