I knew that I was one short but did not think I would get an observation with just two days left in the school year. End of grade testing was over (really the school year was over too) and I had completed the pacing guide over a week ago. Honestly how many teachers really are teaching during this time of the year? Luckily for me I was. Since I was born and raised in New Orleans, I always tied in some way New Orleans to the North Carolina standard course of study. This year was no different.
After teaching about sea level, levees, mardi gras, and history of jazz funerals, my students were given supplies to make umbrellas used in traditional jazz funerals. Once I had them going with their work I put on some music (New Orleans brass bands) and started on my umbrella. Then my assistant principal walks in with her clipboard and sits at my desk. The music was blasting, students were scattered everywhere, and the classroom looked a mess. My heart started pounding and my hands began to sweat. I went from being nervous to angry in just a matter of seconds. I was angry because of the timing of the observation (couple days of schools left and no warning). So me being the “hard head don’t give a hoot type of teacher,” I sat there and continued doing what I was doing. After about fifteen minutes of watching the evaluator look around and talking to my students, I got up and went over talk to her. I pulled out my laptop and showed her the PowerPoint presentation I had used to teach before she came in and explained what the students were doing. She viewed the slide show and then left without any comments. I was bothered by the whole situation and was prepared to defend my lesson and actions. Well, after school I was pumped up and ready for a fight that was not there. My observation was superior across the boards. It was the best evaluation I received over the last couple of years. Even though I received a great evaluation I believe the timing was unfair and wondered if other teachers were observed that same day.
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2 comments:
Reading your comments made me wonder how many of the impressions used for last minute evaluations are obtained during the period that the evaluator is in the room. I am sure that your lesson on New Orleans was a very good one, and one that the students really enjoyed. However, I have to wonder if the evaluator did not also take into consideration all of the times that he had been in your room for other reasons than observations and all of the times that he has observed you relating with your class around the school during the year.
The bureaucratic paperwork requires a certain number of evaluations each and every year. And, in order to comply with that requirement, a lot of us receive observations during the last few days of the school year. Given that the evaluators have to understand the inappropriateness of the time period, I wonder how many are done from prior impressions and how many are just about the activities that are occurring at that time.
My guess is that prior impressions far outweigh the events of the evaluation.
You have to give the administrator credit for even showing up. In my first couple years my principal would call me in and say, sign this, so I can finish up my evaluations.
As the other comment mentioned, it was probably an endorsement of my overall work. But come on, what would happen to us if we used the same quality indicators in our classroom?
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