Observe

Last week I had a lot of confidence in my teaching. I had what I felt was a successful observation and a great post observation discussion. Then cane back the dreaded evaluation sheet. I always get anxious for the actual hard copy evaluation that has my rating. But today when I walked into the office and saw the envelope waiting for me, I was confident that I’d receive high ratings based on our conversation. Unfortunately, there were more than a few “developing rankings”. This is the level 2 rank and is basically code for “not up to par”. These ratings on a few key elements including the pedagogy of the lesson, classroom management, and assessment were apparently not up to par. I’m really disheartened as I felt really confident and felt I’ve been making improvemts. This makes me feel like maybe I’m not so great after all. I can’t help but think of how students feel when they revive an assessment. I really try to give them real constructive feedback and give them the ways they can improve. I worry sometimes positive reinforcement can be flat and inauthentic and I really keep this in mind as I give feedback. Students should be praised but specifics are key and real feedback is so important. I’m hoping that this evaluation will just be a blip in my day and that ultimately I can do my best for my students.