Formal Observation

So every teacher has to go through the dreaded "Formal observation".. It's the 30 minutes of ONE class that the principal comes to observe and makes judgments on whether you are on the right track or need some more guidance.

 I had my formal observation on Monday and let me tell you, I WAS NERVOUS! Last year I never got nervous for observations. I think that was because the standards at my old school were a lot lower. In other words, as long as my objective was posted, my students weren't stabbing each other or selling drugs during class, and they were actually doing something (or pretending to do something) then I was most likely going to get a satisfactory. At my new school, I feel like there is a lot more pressure to reach every student, assess every student and to make sure every student is reaching the objective. Furthermore if a student doesn't reach the objective how do you know and what do you do about it?! Its just a lot to think about and do! (especially for 170 students). Anyways, I was nervous. I really like this school and I wanted to impress the principal.

My principal was observing the last 30 minutes of my 2nd period Forensics class. Of course, my weakness is closure and timing lessons perfectly so that we don't have extra time at the end of class. However, I made sure to have an engaging lab that the students were working on when he walked in and then we had a discussion on the lab after we cleaned up and I had formal assessment of the students to find out who understood the lab and who didn't. Everything went well but I couldn't get a read on Mr. K's face. It must have gone really well because this morning on announcements, Mr. K said "Ms. Macary's class was well instructed and very engaging. Please congratulate her on a job well done"!! WOO HOO! It felt so good to get positive recognition. I am having a post observation meeting with him tomorrow so I can't wait to hear is feed back!

Until Next time..