"Teacher Evaluation "was a term that for awhile hindered me from pursuing my dream of being a teacher. I have many friends who are educators and you always hear the worst stories. You have the perfect lesson plan picked out and that day is the day the students act up, or the technology you want to use isn't working. Now everything you did for the entire year is now based on this one day observation. I have seen great teachers doubt themselves due to unfair teacher evaluations. Or the situation where all of your hard work as a teacher was determined on the scores of your students high stakes assessments.
I did my student teaching at an Anne Arundel elementary school in Fort Meade Maryland. During my student teaching for Teach-Now after every lesson I taught I was given a debriefing. I can remember the first lesson being torture. I had to video tape myself and I knew I was being watched, and I had to make sure that I covered all of the elements of the standard from my Teach-Now rubric. There is an old saying that goes,"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." My mentor gave me real honest feedback of my lessons. After I got my thick skin (lol) I appreciated being evaluated as they helped me learn about my strengths and weaknesses. I was able to use this feedback to better prepare my future lessons for the students.
I have only observed one teacher evaluation in Maryland and that was my mentor teacher's evaluation. My mentor was given a week in advance about her evaluation. She was able to prepare for them and knew what was expected of the principal. He came in and observed and gave her her results later. I wasn't privy to the results. I have also witnessed un announced observations at charter schools I worked at in NYC. The teacher would be in class conducting a lesson and in would walk in 2 or 3 people with laptops and they would type away and it was quite nerve racking for the teacher. This particular school their was an observer coming in at least 2 to 3 times a week. The assistant principal would come in every day to observe a lesson and at times would interrupt and add on to the lesson. This created a very uncomfortable situation at that school.
It was during my clinical that I realized the importance of teacher evaluations. They are critical in ensuring that teachers are providing quality education to the students. The only problem is that not every evaluation is fair. I have seen principals criticize teachers for every little thing so much so I have witnessed certain schools lose a handful of teachers due to this. I have also seen observations from principals where the teachers were so relaxed and the feedback was so positive and helpful that teachers really loved their job and worked harder.
In Baltimore City Public Schools ( a district where I may be working) The teacher effectiveness evaluation falls into 2 categories: 1) Professional Growth 2) Student Growth (SLO's)
In NYC under the current evaluation system, 60 percent of a teacher's grade is based on principal observations, while the other 40 percent is based on student test scores. NYC is currently getting ready to revamp their evaluation criteria. Instead of the principals conducting observations an independent evaluator would do the observation. The basis of this is so principals won't inflate their grades.
There are many factors that teachers should be evaluated on. To name a few:
- Observations
- Lesson Plans
- Student presentations/projects
- Test Scores ( to a certain extent)
- Engaged Learning environment
- Student feedback
I personally feel that the concept of teacher evaluations are needed to help improve the educator's instructional skill, and to improve the overall school community. It is important to know that the school has effective teachers and if not ,can work on ways to assist the teacher become more productive. This profession is not glamorous, the hours are longer, the pay is not that great and the culture of school has changed dramatically. Teacher evaluations should be a process to assist the teachers but at times it comes across as a punishment. They question why the turnover rate for teachers is so high.
I am quite sure that once I become a professional teacher my factors will change on how I feel we should be evaluated. I can only pray that a fair but effective process is created where everyone is happy.
Works Cited:
Components of the 2015-16 Teacher Effectiveness Evaluation. (n.d.). Retrieved June 25, 2016, from http://www.baltimorecityschools.org//site/Default.aspx?PageID=21584
Zimmer, A. (n.d.). Here Are Some Ideas Being Floated for Teacher Evaluations - Central Harlem - DNAinfo New York. Retrieved June 25, 2016, from https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160422/central-harlem/here-are-some-ideas-being-floated-for-teacher-evaluations
No comments:
Post a Comment