With a million things going on in your classroom all at once, it can get a little messy at times.
With a million things going on in your classroom all at once, it can get a little messy at times.
"An evaluation system that fosters teacher learning will differ from one whose aim is to measure teacher competence." Robert J. Marzano
Teacher evaluations provide an opportunity for educators to recognize what they're best at, as well as a chance to notice any areas with room for improvement. But, evaluations should be an empowering process and the teacher should leave the process feeling empowered to change, not criticized or disheartened.
Did you know that K-12 schools spend a collective average of $18 billion per year on professional development courses, of which $3 billion is paid to external providers (Gates Foundation, 2014)?
Doug Lemov believes great teachers are made, not born, and it’s this belief that inspired him to try and find out what makes a great teacher.
When teaching at a school in Boston, Doug never considered himself to be a brilliant teacher. In the staffroom one day, a colleague gave Doug some clear advice to help him with giving directions to students and it was exactly what he needed...
This professional learning toolkit, from the Office of Educational Technology (OET), provides busy leaders with a 5-step decision-making process to help schools achieve student learning and improvement goals.
Proof of this has recently been reiterated by the Best Foot Forward Project from Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research. The study found that:
1 - When using video, teachers and administrators both felt the observation process was more fair and productive, with teachers feeling that observers were more supportive and administrators finding teachers less defensive.
2 - With video, observations could take place at more convenient times, resulting in more focused and robust feedback.
3 - Teachers who used video became more self-reflective, tending to rate themselves lower than those not using video and better identifying opportunities for growth.
It’s easy to fall back on what we know, which means that the professional development that most teachers in America experience throughout their careers has limited impact on classroom practice and is very costly.
Watch this video of Instructional Coach, Mike Fleetham, live coaching Ian, a teacher at Sammamish High School. Mike watches the lesson from a different room in the same building – no need for him to disturb the classroom dynamics!
