14 October 2012

I'm just satisfactory

I had my first principal observation on Tuesday of this week.  Had the post-ob conference on Friday.  I thought it went pretty good in class - of course there were things that could have been better, but it just happened that the two principals wanted to come in on Tuesday - the day I was teaching one of my favorite lessons.  I'm not one to change my plans just because I'm being observed.

I did do a few new things in the class that the principal suggested during our pre-ob conference, though.  They worked well and are things I plan to incorporate into my regular teaching.

The post-ob did not go as well as I would want.  They had a lot of good things to say, but also a lot of suggestions.  Looking at my notes from the meeting, they are all small things, some that only relate to that lesson when I redo it next year, but it was still a little bit disheartening.

I got a satisfactory rating.

Yesterday, I was still thinking about that rating so I had to email the principal to find out the heirarchy and what the upper levels above satisfactory are - to me, satisfactory is just not good.

Turns out that the only options in the city system are satisfactory or unsatisfactory.  That cheered me up a bit.  But I asked for more feedback from the head principal and she gave me a chart that she prefers and that shows more of a gradient for various areas of teaching and planning.  Using my own judgement, I am pretty high in some areas and only need to work more on a couple of things with regard to making sure my questioning includes more students in each class period and that my questions always include higher order thinking questions.

I feel better about my teaching after looking at those.

I don't want to just be satisfactory.

Today at Jana's Thinking Place Stream of Consciousness Sunday there was no prompt - it was free write day.  You can link up or see other's free thoughts on her site.

It's just five minutes of writing whatever is on your mind.

12 comments:

  1. I am sure the principal appreciated that follow up. I'm also happy you found out that you aren't just satisfactory.

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    1. She really seemed to - said so in her email reply back. Thanks, I'm glad to.

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  2. My experience with these teaching evals (having been on both sides) is that sometimes the people observing feel like they have to make recommendations, hone in on some small little things just to make it worth their time. I like that you are open to suggestions, but honestly, your students are the best judge of your teaching abilities: if they are motivated, interested, and showing progress, then you're set!

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    1. Thanks! This makes me feel much better. I wasn't looking at it from the admin perspective.

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  3. I'm sure you are way more than satisfactory. in my experience they have to point out a few things that you could do differently or they'd be out of a job :)

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    1. So kind - and good to help me see it from the admin point of view. Thank you!

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  4. You are hard on yourself because you're good! Keep questioning. You are way more than satisfactory.

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    1. Aw shucks! You all are bringing tears to my eyes!

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  5. It is hard to be critiqued. At least for me. I'm sure you are extra sensitive and harder on yourself than your evaluators. Hope it all turned out well.

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    1. It really is hard for me, too. Thanks. It will all make me even better (hopefully).

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  6. I guess it is all about perspective, satisfactory sounds pants until you realise it's the highest you could go. None of us are perfect at least the suggestions were things you could utilise ;-)

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    1. It was weird. I was definitely down until I realized it was a good thing to be satisfactory since it was the only thing better than unsatisfactory.

      I am definitely using the suggestions and more things that I am learning through the help at the school to make my teaching better.

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