Teaching can be stressful. It’s that time of year when students, teachers, parents, and administration are all gearing up for testing. The stress is high and the workload can be overwhelming.
Last week, I had numerous encounters with teachers who were dissatisfied and feeling overwhelmed. These teachers expressed that they felt unsatisfied and even misrepresented by their observations (walk-throughs and formal). The teachers that were feeling this way are many of our new teachers (not necessarily first year teachers but new to our school). During these conversations they shared that they had received scores that were unsatisfactory to them at the beginning of the year and have not seen any improvements in their TKES evaluations even after following their supervisor's advice. One asked me what she should do. I suggested scheduling a meeting with the administrator so that they could conference about the observation. The teacher said that she did not feel comfortable approaching the administrator with her concerns. One of the teachers even said, “Why did she hire me if she doesn’t think I am a good teacher?”
These conversations really made me question what the real problem was. The administrators at my school are very direct and have high expectations for their employees. I personally appreciate these qualities but after being at this school for four years it is obvious that some people do not work well under this type of direction. Last year we had around 15 employees leave our school. That was a huge turnover and it is not common for our school or county. We had a large group of new teachers and after hearing their discontent last week I worry that we will have more teachers leaving at the end of this year.
Has anyone seen situations similar to this? How did the administration address teachers who were upset about their TKES scores? Is it just the time of year that is making everyone feel so stress?
First of all, I love the candid nature of your post. While I can not offer you insight into how my school successfully addressed the stress of observations -- as we are in the same situation as you are. However, I do have my opinion about how our team of administrators handle the process. Overall, far too much emphasis seems to be placed on the score, while little time is devoted to how to improve instruction. A fairly new teacher around the corner from me has been given 2's in a few categories each evaluation. It definitely dampened his spirit and has him looking to switch schools at the end of the year. Did he deserve the 2's -- probably so. Has there been any effort to help him improve -- no, well, not exactly. He conferenced with his AP and DH on two or three occasions last year. That seems to be the extent of our school's version of instructional leadership right now.
ReplyDeleteTeachers are like students. We need administrators the way students need teachers to GUIDE us through the improvement process. Teachers don't just give an assignment and expect all students to perform well without some facilitation by the instructor -- neither should administrators. Most good teachers are born that way... they're groomed (at least, in my opinion).
I have heard the same complaints at my school. Much of my feedback has not been helpful either. At my school they tend to give the majority of the teachers low scores (mainly 2's) with the rationale that if the school is failing, how can we rate the teachers highly? In one of my observations the only feedback I received for one category was that I should not have waited as long to collect the papers. I asked if that was the only way I could have improved my lesson, and she said yes. My question is, what would my score have been if I collected the papers a little earlier? Would it have jumped to a 4 because of that? The lesson I was doing was also scripted, so the worksheets, and routine is mandatory.
ReplyDeleteI always hear of teachers complaining about their TKES evaluations. The part that concerns me is the fact the teacher does not feel comfortable approaching the administrator with her concerns. I probably would have insisted the teacher approach the administrator anyway. Most administrators would want to know of this feedback from their teachers. If I were a school administrator, I would want to know if a teacher had a dispute with an evaluation of mine. Teachers need to know how to improve upon whatever area they my be deficient. This would help with their professional development, and would also help them become a better educator.
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