Today was my first formal observation of the year. (For the vast majority of you out there who aren’t schoolteachers, non-tenured teachers typically get formally observed three times a year. Write-ups of those observations become part of the teacher’s permanent file and are part of the black box process that goes into deciding whether the teacher will be rehired.)
There were a couple of hiccoughs in the process with this observation. The dean who did the observation (who is extremely conscientious), had to reschedule twice. Both times were school emergencies, such that he wasn’t even able to tell me that he wasn’t coming. Third time’s the charm, I guess.
He observed my AP chem class. I’ve got a really strong rappor with these kids. So as a “favor” to me, they were really good during the observation. They didn’t do any of the things that usually go on in the delightful chaos that usually reigns during the class. They didn’t talk in class. They didn’t tease each other, or me. They didn’t engage in playful banter. They didn’t shout out answers, right and wrong. They didn’t interrupt me when they didn’t understand something. They didn’t interrupt me when they did understand something. They didn’t argue with each other when they had different opinions about what the right answer should have been. They sat in their seats and dutifully wrote everything down, including the jokes. (Unfortunately, I was trying to hold a discussion-based class, not a lecture.)
It was a double-period class, with lunch between the two periods, and the observation lasted only for the first of the two periods. When the kids got back from lunch, I asked them to take out a scrap of paper. On one side, I asked them to write down all the things they thought a “good” class ought to do when their teacher was being observed. On the other, I asked them to write the things that make the class fun for them. I then asked them to tear the paper so that each list was on a separate piece of paper. Then I had them tear the “good class” list to smitherenes, after which I explained why I was exasperated. Their response? “But we did it for you!”
*sigh*
And I so badly wanted to show them off.
