evaluation

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evaluation
By Jessica

I went through a team evaluation a couple of years ago. In this process, three persons, one of which was my building principal, observed me. I think the principal thought favorably of me; however, the other two (one was
a teacher and the other was a curriculum coordinator--both from another school, by the way) evaluated me poorly. We had sat down at the end of the first semester together to discuss the "problems" I had as a teacher (and I was not a new teacher, just new to the school!). One they unfairly mentioned was classroom management. If they had been with me every day and known the kids I was

teaching, they would have known that the guidance counselor put a large percentage of ADHD kids and kids with emotional problems in my room. My "room" was a joke. It held fifteen students, but the space was was no larger than my bedroom. I was continually bumping into desks, and the kids had nowhere to move around in that space. The observer wrote stuff that was petty (such as she could not SEE my discipline chart from the back of the room). In reality, there was nowhere to put it at the front. I had to put it at the side wall of the room. She also was petty in saying that the kids didn't use the charts I had on the wall. She gave me an unfavorable evalution for stuff such as this. Oh, and I almost forgot: She wrote that a child asked to use the bathroom (negative comment), and that I sharpened a child's pencil. I protested over the comments, so she nastily told me that she would fail me the next time she evaluated me. Imagine that! And she did!!!

Needless to say, I think that even if you don't agree with the evaluator(s), you should keep your mouth shut. Your signing of the evaluation does not mean that you agree with it, either, at least where I work.