This is why teachers are evaluated unfairly
As a teacher, I welcome feedback on my lesson, yet I still sometimes get nervous when I am being formally and informally observed, but I am going to share with you one time when I was observed so that administrators can learn from this.
Back in 2005, I was being observed and my supervisor was at my desk filling out the formal observation sheet. She left the sheet on my desk as she left after about twenty minutes.
She observed that we were reading a story and as we were reading, the word “save” came up and I happened to mention that the word “save” is often a replacement for “except.” It was obvious to some, but I wanted to just clarify it. My supervisor wrote, “this was not in your lesson plan.” Now she did not ding me points, but many times, the administrator is out to get the teacher instead of soaking in the big picture.
I am not that good of a teacher, but I am a leader and I always take advantage of a teachable moment. A teacher is evaluated by only one person and administrators have so many things to do that many times, they view teacher observations as obstructions . I have weak areas as a teacher, but there are many administrators out there who show they are accomplishing something by dinging teachers. We need new administrators, or they need to freshen their perspective. Teachers need to follow suit, but it all starts at the top.
