Education

Mighty strange, or just the stereotypical process of corruption in swift action.

Did you ever notice the way these things happen? The district unveils some idea...like calling some of us together several year's back to review the Framework, without suggesting any particular use of it, and get feedback. In the context of professional development, the feedback is reasonable.

A few years later it comes back with a new context: evaluation, and while we're scrambling to regain our balance, we are reminded that it was a "group effort;" something we decided with that reasonable feedback. We are encouraged to think that we, local teachers and admins, are at the helm of our ship.

Then we find out that it's a nationwide stampede. It was never a local effort.

The 15 minute walk-throughs aren't even Danielson. They are Ken Marshall. At least, that's what our evaluation committee tells us. The check lists...

We've been told that having our goals posted will be on the checklist and will affect our evaluations. By goals, of course, they mean standards that the current lesson addresses. Of COURSE we all want to be constantly posting standards for everything we do throughout the day.

I took another hit in the "team player" column when I voiced opposition to this idea at our most recent "PLC" meeting.

I fumed about it for a day, then wrote a short list of very broad goals, not standards, turned them into a poster, put them up, and am now remembering to ask the kids frequently what goal they are working on. We'll see if that suffices, or if my evaluation suffers because they are not actual standards.