Observations are over. After waiting in near torture for a week, I met with my observer to discuss the class. Let me say, I was nervous. Why is it that on the day of observation, my class decided to be rambunctious hellions? Why is it that I decided to try something new on that day, logical fallacy bingo, and it took the students nearly 15 minutes to completely fill in the Bingo sheets. Were their hands broken? Why did students challenge me with completely random stories and want me to identify the fallacies in those stories. Why did I not know what type of fallacy was being committed? Why did I forget to do my 'five mechanical minutes' at the beginning of class? Why did I run out of things to say five minutes before class? Why do I ooze confidence in front of my students, but freeze in front of other professors?
We, as instructors, are going to have those types of days. Thankfully, our observers know that. I walked into the office with sweaty hands, expecting the worst, then I was told that I was a good teacher. What? How could that be, did she sit in the same class that I was kicking myself about? Yes, there were things that could have gone better, but they were things that I could change. My teaching style was 'energetic' though and I had a handle on the information. I guess those things are harder to change. The observation made me realize that we can be our own enemy sometimes, and that professors with more experience are a great resource for advice and information. All-in-all, the observation made me question/tweak some of my techniques, and it also boosted my confidence.
Soo, I have no idea why I did this, but I scheduled my observation for the Friday before fall break, and my students were bugging me all period to let them out of class early. Way to represent, guys! (Eye roll.) Anyway, stuff like that happens. Observers understand that. At least mine did :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad your observer could see your strengths. Sometimes they don't. I just thought back to my first year in the public school. To make a long story short, I had a bad evaluation from an unannounced visit on the week before Christmas break. I, like you, was not myself because I was nervous, and my students were especially misbehaving. I wasn't sure how to handle the situation in front of him. In our meeting, he said that I didn't have discipline established and that if he made the same observation again, he would only rehire me with reservations. I left and cried to my mentor who said another 2nd-year teacher just left after crying from being told the same thing by the same principal. I was even more bothered by the specific accusation. I had survived a whole year with delinquent boys! My discipline was fine. When he returned the next time, I was sure to be even more strict than normal, and my students sensed the seriousness so they were better behaved even than usual. This time when I met with him, he told me that it was one of the best lessons he had ever observed. The kicker was that he said, "But just as a chef can't produce cuisines for every meal, you can't teach like that every day." Duh.
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