Today I had my second formal observation of the year. (I had one between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but so many other things were going on during that time.) As of this writing, I am finished with observations for the year. (Except for my observation by the Scholastic representatives. More on that in a moment.)
My former principal did not announce her observation times. She just came. My current principal gives a time frame. Sometimes he also tells what subject he wants to observe; sometimes not. I think they (my principal and vice-principal) do this so they aren't seeing the same subject every time they come in to observe.
Anyhow, I gave my principal my time frame (yesterday) and he was in my room first thing after announcements this morning. He stayed for about an hour while we went through the first two pages of daily edit, talked about suffixes, and reviewed for our comprehension quiz tomorrow. He seemed to enjoy his time in the room, but I won't know what suggestions he has for me until the post-observation conference.
I don't necessarily get nervous when I'm observed; my main concern is making sure I stick to what I've written down for the day. You know what I mean. Sometimes the students ask questions that require more detail, you see that the kids need a bit more so you ask them to demonstrate an idea or concept, or there is an interruption of some sort (ex.: a student who gets sick in the room or has a nosebleed).
There are some teachers out there who go all out and put on a dog and pony show when they know they are being observed. I don't know why. If your principal is paying attention s/he knows it's a show anyway.
One observation I AM a little nervous about is the one by Scholastic. If you remember, I told you in December that I have been selected as a Scholastic Teacher Advisor. As part of the process, two representatives from Scholastic will come and observe my classroom for a day. They will take pictures of my room, inspect my class library to what things my students read, see how I incorporate books and extra reading into my day, etc. They will then take this information back to the powers-that-be at Scholastic and talk about it.
I spoke with one of the reps yesterday and they will be visiting me January 20. I'm excited but a little nervous at the same time. I think about weird things, like:
1. Do I have ENOUGH books? I have a LOT of books. I have some on my "personal" shelf--you know, the books you let your students borrow, but not keep because you don't want them to get messed up and/or are saving for later units--but all of them are not out right now. I like to rotate mine with my reading units, science themes, math units, and social studies concepts. I really try to have books for everything we will study over the year, in addition to the class library the students use.
2. Is the class library diverse enough? I have twelve bins of various subjects, from Junie B. to magazines, sports to fairy tales, animal books to I Spy, etc. I also have three additional bins to supplement what we are doing in class: one for the reading theme, one for math, and one for what we are doing in science--this one gets switched to social studies books when we are in that rotation.
3. Is my room organized and clean enough? The pictures they take can potentially be placed--gasp!--online via the Scholastic web site. Do I want thousands of people looking at pictures of my room and saying "Oh my gosh, WHAT is THAT?" (Not that they would, but you see where I'm going here!)
I'm sure everything is fine, but once in a while I get those feelings. Once the 20th is over, I'll be sure to give you a front-row seat experience of the day...even if it includes near-fainting or an unannounced nosebleed.
Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment