I've Had the Same Experience

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Home : 2002 : December : 7

I've Had the Same Experience
By S

The trouble is that principals have a lot to do. No, I'm not defending them ... I wouldn't do that to a fellow teacher. Anyway, my point is that principals often forget to do the observations until it's like the day before
the deadline for when they have to do your observation ... so they just decide to "pop in" whenever it's convenient for them. Ever notice how they pick the totally wrong moments? Hopefully your principal will remember from her teaching days that there are a lot of interruptions, and not every teaching moment will look like the ones you see on the videos they show you in college. If

principals just show up unannounced, they get what they get for an observation. If they want to see a perfect lesson, they have to warn you in advance that they're coming.

Oddly enough, most teachers at my school say they prefer an informal "pop in" observation because they don't have to plan a lot of stuff. However, like you said, what if you aren't even doing a lesson when the principal pops in?

Hopefully you'll get high marks in flexibility and dealing with crises.