As we continue discussing the common anxieties for first year teachers, I want us to keep in mind that it is natural for even veteran teachers to worry about the same things from time-to-time. I guess it is just part of the job. The important thing is that we don’t remain an island while drowning in stress or worry, but we collaborate and find small changes or solutions to make it better for us and our students.
This leads nicely into our next topic of the 5-part series for first year teachers, which is being observed in your classroom. In a nutshell, I would tell people to embrace it but that’s probably not helpful. Let me explain…
EXPECT IT
My theory is that since there are always going to be things or some things that we aren’t necessarily excited about as part of our job, we must try our best to accept it, embrace it, and then set expectations. Expect to be observed. If we set that expectation, part of the anxiety is reduced because we know it is a sure thing. And P.S., this is only a very small part of the teaching profession.
GET AHEAD OF IT
For the first few years, I kept my door open on purpose. I tried to keep this open-door policy for as long as I was anxious about being observed. It did a couple of things for me. For one, it set the expectation that every day was an observation day. I tried to be prepared every day so that if someone came into my room to observe or evaluate, I felt ready. This reduced my anxiety because I felt more in control. There was no feeling of mystery: Will I be observed today? I changed it to a guarantee: I will be observed today (even if I wasn’t).
Keep the Door Open
And by the way, I always reverted to the open-door policy if we ever got a new principal at the school because this allowed me to a chance to get ahead of the game and have the new leadership see my teaching and my students.
One more thing…if you are excited about a lesson or you see your students doing amazing things, please invite your principal and leaders to observe. Again, you are taking control and even bringing someone in when you are confident it is going to blow their socks off.
TALK ABOUT IT
The worse thing we could do is hold things in. Don’t be afraid to talk to your principal and/or leadership about your anxieties. Make sure that the standards and the expectations are made clear to you. I know that the state of Georgia has a rubric with the standards for teachers along with sample indicators. Visit your state’s department of education website to find any resources or information on teacher evaluations.
Lastly, you might get feedback on an evaluation that you don’t agree with or you find it is not very positive. This is probably a larger discussion for another day; however, I would say to keep in mind that we are not perfect. Try to see it as a learning opportunity and have a growth mindset like we teach students. I know that the evaluation platform for Georgia allows a teacher to respond in writing to their evaluation. So, if you feel that maybe the observer missed a component of your lesson that day because they just weren’t in the room, please share that in your notes. You can also upload documents, so in this example I would upload my lesson plan along with any assessments from the class.
The fact that teachers are nervous or anxious about being observed and evaluated only proves how much they care. The best thing you can do is make a plan that helps you feel most in control.
See You Real Soon,
Erin
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