That said, I think this might spark some good comments. Have at it if you will.
Here is my favorite math problem; maybe you might enjoy it too.Your thoughts? Who has helped you be a better teacher more, the union or CPS? Fire away.
Since 20 minutes is the contractual amount of time a principal is required to observe your teaching, try this on for size.
Multiply 46 minutes by 5. That is the # of minutes you teach a day. Then multiply that # by 5, that is the number of minutes you teach a week.
Then, multiply that by 33 (we will just throw 6 weeks out the window to be fair to management, lots of half days, lots of assemblies, and lots of ACT testing, etc.). I picked 33 as the # of weeks and I think I am being generous to administration with this number.
The result is the number of minutes you teach a year.
You teach 37,950 minutes a year.
Divide 20 minutes of observation by the # of minutes you teach.
That infinitesimal percentage is the amount of time administration actually observes you doing your job.
So, one might ask one's self how can management possibly know if you are doing a good job based on the percentage of time they observe you?
Let's be honest, a factory worker gets more observation from a foreman than a teacher gets from a principal.
An even better question would be how your principal, as an “instructional leader”, can help you be a better teacher as your career matures over time. What valid advice can they offer, seeing as how they observe a tremendously small percentage of the time you actually spend doing your job?
2 comments:
My principal has been in my room for more than an hour this year alone. She has stopped in for a minute just about every other day this year, has come in and walked around four or five times and stayed for a part the period, and twice sat down for an entire lesson in two different classes. She talks to kids from my classes about what kind of teacher I am and why they feel the way they do about my class and me. She has consulted with me concerning how I do things, what I am doing, and how I connect with the kids. Her presence does not make me nervous. Seeing her pop her head around the corner actually kinda flatters me because I know she likes my methods and results. I have also been visited by my lead teacher (I teach in a small school), for shorter ammounts of time, but nearly every other day.
This is my 10th year teaching in Chicago Public Schools. I have been at three different high schools including 8 years at the first one followed by 1 year at a poorly run small school and my current principal is the first principal who I consider a real honest to goodness instructional leader. They're out there, principals who are instructional leaders, but they are few and far between. After years of banging my head against the walls of some poorly run, unsuccessful schools, trying to fix what I could and make them better where I could, having a leader who actually leads, knows quality instruction, believes in strong discipline, holding parents accountable for their children's education and behavior while also holding her teachers to some very high standards has revitalized me as a teacher and a person.
This is really encouraging. I agree that it can/does happen, but I fear not often enough.
I do believe that the more we support each other as colleagues, the better our profession will get. My experience is that the best professional development I ever had was conversations with other teachers.
I know that good principals are out there. But they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.
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