The last week for students usually finds me meeting my statutory requirement to “evaluate” building level and district level administrators. This means that I meet with them and provide them with both a summary of what I have observed over the year and share a focus for the following year. It is also a time of reflection my part. What could I have done that would have had greater influence on our journey? How have I supported this individual on their PLC and supervisory journey? What went well? What ladder might I have about this person and what assumptions am I making that result in this ladder? These are some of the questions that place me in the position of assessing my work and the influence that I have on the work of our school system.
From experience, I don’t believe that the words that I place on paper have much influence on behavior. In fact, when I ask about the focus identified in the previous spring there are many times, if not most, when the individual struggles to remember. This is both a reflection on my supervision during the year and lack of creative tension around the focus. A “meaty” focus must bring with it some tension, common understanding, benchmarks to identify progress, and conversation over time. This is an area that needs attention on my part.
I do believe, however, that I have influence in meetings with these individuals through the questions that I ask and through the feedback that I share. I can identify changes in practice at the building and system level that are the result of learning opportunities that we have developed to support our administrators over time. I strive to place administrators in situations where they must reflect on their assumptions, share their private thoughts, and continue to grow and learn.
I have much room to grow as a supervisor and I know that I need to become more visible where they do their work to increase my effectiveness. With teacher leadership training over the last few years I have lost some of this focus. The true assessment of my effectiveness, however, would need to come from one of those that I have the honor to supervise. Perhaps one of them might share their thoughts in a comment to this post.
How about you? At the end of a year what do you reflect upon and how do you measure your success?
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1 comment:
Success is trying your best to do what you know is right and having faith that your best effort will serve a greater good.
I take time each day to reflect on all the elements of my life (including family, work, community, my self-actualization, and more) to determine if I have put forth a “successful” effort.
I’m not sure you can accurately evaluate “success” of a teacher. What weight do you give rescuing a student from an abusive household? What value is it to inspire a student the last week of school, after the state tests are long over? Is there a way to record what good a family receives when their child gets evaluated with Asperser’s Syndrome because of your advocacy? How do you measure the importance of good ideas during grade level meetings? Is having 96% of your students pass the reading WASL a success, or do the 4% who didn't make it represent a failure? How many good things need to happen each day in order to make it a success?
At the end of the year I only ask myself if I am willing to make the commitment to giving my best effort to do what I know is right everyday in the profession. The day I say ‘no’ to myself is the day I stop teaching.
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