Was I just caught with my pants down?
The other day the Principal and a Vice Principal came into my room un-announced. Why? To do “informal observations”.
I was given no notice, no inkling — didn’t even know they were in this wing of our school.
And still during the middle of 6th period they popped in, each took a position on one side of the room — checksheet in hand — and they observed.
I was at the front of the room at the time just having finished up giving a cloze quiz about the current book we are reading. My front board was kinda blank but that’s only because I needed the space for the next part of class where I’d be using the white board to draw a few things, jot down some of their own notes, and blah, blah… you know, I was just planning on using my board.
Thing was, at the time when they walked in, I wasn’t really using the board.
And the fact is, I can’t say, all that much was going on other than the fact that every kid was in their seat with their head down working.
The P and the VP didn’t say boo to me. And they were really only in my room for less than 7 minutes. They took notes but I never saw them. They “observed” things but I have no idea what they noted. Essentially, they did a fly-by, took a snapshot of my class and left.
Of course, the paranoid person in me thinks, “Hey wait! That’s just a snapshot. You gotta stick around to see this great stuff I have planned for later in the class. And then you have to see how it fits in with this really cool thing I am gonna do next Tuesday. And when you take it in context of what we did last Wednesday and you see how it relates to what I have planned in February, it really will add up to something.”
But alas, all they saw was the snapshot. And I gotta say, I feel a bit cheated by it. I mean on one hand, yes, give me 5 minutes in a class and I can tell a great deal. I do believe that is true. From the sense of classroom management and so on, 5 minutes can “tell” a little bit.
But does it really “inform”? Naw. And when they do this silent, stealthy drop-in, drop-outs, is there a teacher on staff that ever really feels good about it?
What did they see?
Do I need to go explain myself?
Will what they saw be “used against me” at a later date?
Maybe they loved it? If so, it would boost my morale if they let me know.
Maybe they hated it? Well, how might I improve?
But silence? That’s the worst!
Was I just caught with my pants down?
When I student taught, the thought of observations, especially by the principal, was really nerve-wracking. I remember spending days and weekends reading everything I could on classroom management and interesting techniques to teach content in new different ways, so that I could blow everyone out the water with my stellar lesson plans. Thinking back, I wish my supervisor, or cooperative teacher–someone– had told me to take it easy. To refocus my attention. To shift my lens back to the students, and not on the principal or some other administrator, in hopes of making a good first impression. After all, those adults weren't *really* the ones I was working for.
My school does this… but I have the P the VP AND a 'Teaching Coach' that is supposed to help us with classroom management and instructional strategies… during one 8 day period I had 6 such observations… it made me feel like a criminal… Big Brother is watching…
We get a copy of the page that they mark down everything they see on… whether there is student work up (why do they always come just as I'm changing my boards?) whether the teacher is instructing at the bottom of Blooms (why do they come when I'm reviewing?) whether the students are behaving (why do they come the day of the pep rally, right after there has been a fight in my hall, and WHY do they visit my worst class 2 times for every time they come to a 'good' class?)
I've given up being worried about these visits. If I am such a bad teacher they would have fired me by now!!
When I student taught, the thought of observations, especially by the principal, was really nerve-wracking. I remember spending days and weekends reading everything I could on classroom management and interesting techniques to teach content in new different ways, so that I could blow everyone out the water with my stellar lesson plans. Thinking back, I wish my supervisor, or cooperative teacher–someone– had told me to take it easy. To refocus my attention. To shift my lens back to the students, and not on the principal or some other administrator, in hopes of making a good first impression. After all, those adults weren’t *really* the ones I was working for.
My school does this… but I have the P the VP AND a ‘Teaching Coach’ that is supposed to help us with classroom management and instructional strategies… during one 8 day period I had 6 such observations… it made me feel like a criminal… Big Brother is watching…
We get a copy of the page that they mark down everything they see on… whether there is student work up (why do they always come just as I’m changing my boards?) whether the teacher is instructing at the bottom of Blooms (why do they come when I’m reviewing?) whether the students are behaving (why do they come the day of the pep rally, right after there has been a fight in my hall, and WHY do they visit my worst class 2 times for every time they come to a ‘good’ class?)
I’ve given up being worried about these visits. If I am such a bad teacher they would have fired me by now!!
I know what you mean! In my district we have the fly-bys, but our admins are good about telling us that they are coming through. Even our Super does fly-bys, but our admins tell us she is coming and when. The way I feel about it is that if my pants are down when they are not to be, then I need help to make sure they stay up. If the pants are up and I hear nothing about it then I'm doing fine.
Interesting metaphor.
Somehow I do not believe you are ever unprepared in the classroom. When an admin comes into my classroom, I am excited that they are actually observing the teaching process in action. Seeing real kids in the process of learning.
I enjoy it most when we are able to have a dialogue about what they have seen and what my goals were. But that will not always be practical. I am just excited that they cared enough to come in to see what matters MOST in schools-the interaction between students and teachers.
I know what you mean! In my district we have the fly-bys, but our admins are good about telling us that they are coming through. Even our Super does fly-bys, but our admins tell us she is coming and when. The way I feel about it is that if my pants are down when they are not to be, then I need help to make sure they stay up. If the pants are up and I hear nothing about it then I’m doing fine.
Interesting metaphor.
Somehow I do not believe you are ever unprepared in the classroom. When an admin comes into my classroom, I am excited that they are actually observing the teaching process in action. Seeing real kids in the process of learning.
I enjoy it most when we are able to have a dialogue about what they have seen and what my goals were. But that will not always be practical. I am just excited that they cared enough to come in to see what matters MOST in schools-the interaction between students and teachers.