I had an interesting one recently and would like to share it with you this week.
I had overheard some administrative commentary regarding a struggling teacher, and the quote that stuck out was “it’s organized chaos”. So this person is obviously struggling in the classroom with management and ways to deliver content. But the same person also says “yes” to whatever administration asks: after school, during prep, and during lunch…. never says “no”. Also, worth saying, never has an opinion that runs contrary to administration either.
Take the same fact pattern, and a person who might have a few differing opinions in regards to administrative decisions, uses their prep time to plan rather than cover, and may say “no” to consistently working during their lunch, and may only attend a few after school events. This is chaos!
In essence, they are the same regarding performance; however, one will be rated as an “effective” teacher while the other will be rated as “minimally effective” or “ineffective”.
The same dichotomy exists in regards to the difference between "effective" and "highly effective" ratings! You just cannot quantify this stuff with a bunch of data points in a quick walkthrough. So many times it just boils down to if you are liked by your evaluator? The difference between chaos and organized chaos…….
Evaluation systems are broken. Thanks for letting me vent a little this week.
P.S. On a much more positive note, if you’re looking for a creative lesson to do with your class regarding Black History Month, please check this out by following the link.