As I looked through what I had noted throughout the year and wrote the evaluations I jotted down notes for myself for my second year as an evaluator. I ended up with 10 tips that I think will make me more relevant as an evaluator trying to increase student learning and facilitate teacher reflection and growth.
1. I need to do more walkthroughs. I felt like a I did a lot; I tried to get out of the office and into classrooms, but I didn't do enough to have enough data to give as much meaningful feedback as I wanted to. I may have done enough to make claims and issue a rating, but I'm hoping to have more impact than that.
2. I need to be more strategic with how I use my time. The administrative part of leadership really heated up after February vacation; I feel like I haven't left my office since March. There was much more time to get out on the floor and into classrooms in the fall and early winter; I need to use that time next year more purposefully as it relates to observations and classroom visits.
3. I need to make a rotating schedule in advance; I should use time in the summer to make a schedule of pre-planned walkthrough time of all teachers who I'll be supervising and fill my calendar. Furthermore, I need to treat the walkthrough time in my calendar like I do admin meetings; it is time that cannot be negotiated with, and I need to stop what I'm doing and tend to it when it's scheduled.
4. My feedback after walkthroughs should be organized consistently - make a claim, provide evidence from the walkthrough to support the claim, discuss how that impacts student learning, make a recommendation related to the claim, and asks reflective questions. If I keep the format standard, then the focus can be on the content and opportunities for growth and reflection.
5. I need to build in conversation time for each walkthrough; I learned this year that walkthroughs without conversation afterwards make little impact.
6. My feedback needs to be more clear. My words need to be careful and intentional. Sugarcoating is well intentioned but proven through experience to be ineffective. We can't achieve unclear targets.
7. I should include the students in my walkthroughs either during the class or afterwards. I know I need to do more walkthroughs, and I'm always looking for more opportunities to interact with students about their learning; it makes sense.
8. I should intertwine my feedback with our school's PD plan for the year - why not make both more relevant? I can use the PD plan to have pre-planned lenses to focus my walkthroughs each month, and provide feedback related that specific skill or practice of focus.
9. I need to find value in any kind of data. If I walk in on a test or quiz, then I need to find ways to take advantage of that kind of walkthrough. If I walk in on a test or quiz I'm not going to leave; I can ask the following questions to the teacher:
- how do you use the time when students are taking the quiz?
- what do the students do after the quiz?
- how do you plan for students finishing at different times?
- what are you assessing?
- how did you prepare for the assessment?
- how do you differentiate your assessments?
- what formative assessments have you done to prepare?
- how will you follow up after evaluating the assessments?
10. I need to be more active in August during the self-assessment process; the self-assessment is my chance as the evaluator to find out what areas of focus are relevant to the teacher. When the self-assessment is more meaningful the feedback is.
Some things to consider for next year. This year went well; I feel I was able to generate some great dialogue and reflection with many teachers I worked with. But it can always improve, and there's definitely a lot of opportunities for me to grow as an evaluator next school year. I'm looking forward to it.
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