Observations

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Home : 2002 : February : 6

Observations
By Leigh

I cannot relate to not having observations. My district requires the principal, assistant principal, and instructional specialist to make 30 observations a week. Being that we have 36 classroom teachers, we are basically
observed once a week (and they have been very consistent with this requirement). Thankfully, they are all very nice people, and have been very encouraging in all of my observations. They have always had positive comments. However, it is a little unnerving to have them in there so often. There is no down time, because an observation is always highly probable. Last week, they apparently

had a miscommunication with where they were to observe. One poor ole second grade teacher had three observations before lunch. My principal is also very involved. In one of my math lessons, she actually sat in a student's place and participated right along with the kids. They also come in to observe classroom procedures. For example, one morning one of them was sitting in my room and watched how the kids came in from morning hall duty, how I collected lunch money, the pledge, and other morning duties. And another time I got observed ten minutes before my related arts period. Like I said, this is a little unsettling but I cannot justify saying they have ever been unfair. I guess in the long run, this is good. I am slowly learning to see this as routine practice and not as an actual observation. It has also forced me to really snap down on my behavior problems. During the fall, my class was horrible. Now, I call them my little angels. Nothing short of a miracle can explain this--I believe in prayer for sure.