Teacher Evaluation

For a teacher, someone who has more experience is coming in to watch them. It’s almost impossible not to be nervous when someone is watching you and you know they are judging you on what you have dedicated your life to doing. This is why is it so important include the three step process, of a pre meeting, the evaluation and a post evaluation debrief. 

First, a pre-meeting where the evaluator and teacher can meet. This gives the teacher an opportunity to give information about their classroom community and the way their lesson operates. This also helps the teacher to know what to expect from the evaluator, and get to know them. I love in the video on The Teaching Channel, called The New Teacher Survival Guide: Formal Assessment, when the observer said they have never observed nor taught a “perfect” lesson. This is the reality of teaching and you are lucky to get an observer like the woman in this video. 

In my experience I have had a director who came into my room for about 5 min once in the entire year, and that was the extent of my evaluation as a teacher. I would not call this an effective way to evaluate teachers. Quite frankly, it was a horrible experience. No pre meeting, no feedback, no follow up meeting. Nothing. Just a written report about a 5 min observation that went into my file. I think it’s safe to say this is what not to do when evaluating teachers. 

During the lesson, the teacher is going to be nervous, or at least this is likely. A student will act up for attention, your projector will malfunction, something will go wrong. This is why you should always have a back up plan. I do this with every lesson I teach due to where I live. However, a good evaluator isn’t looking for whether or not your projector works. They want to see if you are well prepared for the lesson, and how well you handle interruptions or malfunctions to minimize disruption to learning. 

The follow up is important for the teacher. They get a chance to explain what went well and what didn’t in the lesson. It is a chance for dialogue between the two, and for the teacher to gain feedback. Often the evaluator will notice things the teacher didn’t whether it is student behavior or a missed opportunity. Teachers should look at this as a chance to grow. 

SMART goals are what we do where I teach. At the beginning of the year we set our goals and have one Scheduled, and one drop in classroom visit. At the end of the year we meet with the director and go over the goals and progress made over the course of the year. The Director writes up a narrative and puts it in the teacher file. 

Overall it’s important to reflect on what the goal of teacher evaluation should be. As we look at the way schools’ conduct teacher evaluation it’s critical to note whether it’s being done to see if a teacher is "good"or "bad' or aims give constructive criticism and feedback to help the teacher learn and grow. 

I believe that teachers should set their own SMART goals, and be assessed throughout the year. Meeting benchmarks, deadlines, and creating timelines for their objectives set in their SMART goals. Teachers must be held accountable, however teachers also need an environment where the evaluator can give them constructive feedback to help them learn and grow. Whether you have been teaching for 1 year or 15, we all have room from growth. Educators are life long learners and working in a collegia environment rather than a punitive one, is far more beneficial for teacher growth in formal assessment. Self-reflection is key, and this is what teachers need to do, and should be acknowledged by the assessor in the final report.